Many good things can come from personal messages. But I have decided the good does not out weight the bad.
I made the decision to not accept private messages many years ago. Things went really bad during the Bush, Gore Campaign and got worse through the ballot recount and the Iraq War 1. It was about that time that 'Around the Campfire came into being. But even that did not fix the problem. Eventually two groups split and started their own boards. One was 'Unto the Breach' a conservative members board. The other was 'Campfire Soap Box' a mainly liberal blog.
I enjoyed members from both. Some from both were very intelligent and well spoken. It ended that I was despised by some of each group because I refused exclusivity. It was a situation that became impossible to manage.
People actually were becoming members just to be able to send hate messages. Many threatening physical harm.
Some people became jealous because you choose to take one persons personal message and not theirs. You would be accused of sending personal messages so two members, could conspire to gang up on another.
I don't take personal message on any board I am a member of, because of my experiences from the past
