Direct/private messaging

[nv-vn]

A feature that I've really missed in Github is a way to directly message users/organizations from your personal account. This would be useful for discussing things with repository owners if you're not comfortable saying them in a public channel. Some examples:

• If you find some exploit and want to disclose it to the repository contributors without letting the attack information go out in the open until it's been fixed
• If you have a personal issue with a repository (specifically, things like licensing/trademark/copyright disputes)
• Asking for discussion on issues or pull requests to be reopened without having to create a new issue/PR

[TPS]

@ least set it ↑ such that there's an option, so that folks can turn it off, as desired.

Also, this is (partially?) #565.

[cirosantilli]

Closing as possible duplicate of: https://github.com/isaacs/github/issues/37 / #565 Feel free to clarify description and reopen if you think otherwise ;-)

[TPS]

@cirosantilli Please clarify how #37 relates to either this or #565.… I must be missing something obvious.

[nv-vn]

@TPS #37 is pretty unrelated IMO (not specific to users/organizations, but rather to repositories). #565 is almost the same but it would only be directly to users (not organizations). this problem would mostly be solved by the functionality of #37 i guess

[TPS]

@cirosantilli Huh, like that.… It'd never occur to me to use a DM/PM that way, but only for non-issue contacts between users, or things I'm not comfortable posting online.

[cirosantilli]

What would be the effects of such private message? A notification + line on the user's dashboard or something even more visible? I mentioned #565 because it basically allows for that:

• the organization / user subscribes to a repository topic of interest, possibly issue only with no code
• when you open issues related to that repository, people who are interested they get notified

This has the additional advantages that:

• people can unsubscribe from those notifications when they are not interested in a topic any more, without being an additional spam entry point (yes, spam is also doable with repos).
• everyone who is interested in the message can see it and possibly solve the problem later on, even if you didn't know this person existed

I think this solves well your use cases.

Yes, it does require an extra repository follow step, and there is a chance that someone will miss your notification.

How about we convert this into a: "Direct/private messaging an entire organization at once" to differentiate from #37 ?

[TPS]

I suppose none of the above covers the case of needing to put a private post into a public issue specifically, but that's definitely 1 of the use-cases here. (I.E., "PM us your account # & we'll look into it"-type bug reports, &c.)

[klaustopher]

GitHub used to have this... Was removed by the Spring clean in 2012 ;) See https://github.com/blog/1091-spring-cleaning

Private Messaging The Fork Queue was a stepping stone towards a bigger and better feature. Private Messaging, however, was a step backwards: nobody wants another inbox. And a sub-par one, at that. Email is still the best way to contact someone. Today we're removing Private Messaging from GitHub. If you want people to contact you, please provide a public email address for your profile.

[ioilmio]

As of 2020 Github is more mature and has many users than 2012, Github is not a social media, full of great people, that do amazing things with a common interest and passion. Or is it? People need to communicate. If I want to congratulate for the good work done or just say Hello to a developer that I admire or maybe complain about a bad move, I need to contribute in an issue like I'm doing right now and not just send a DM like this?

GitHub used to have this... Was removed by the Spring clean in 2012 ;) See https://github.com/blog/1091-spring-cleaning

Private Messaging The Fork Queue was a stepping stone towards a bigger and better feature. Private Messaging, however, was a step backwards: nobody wants another inbox. And a sub-par one, at that. Email is still the best way to contact someone. Today we're removing Private Messaging from GitHub. If you want people to contact you, please provide a public email address for your profile.

[alextriaca]

A practical example of how this feature could be incredibly useful is rolling out MFA for an organisation. Currently an organisation can list its users and it can see whether those users have got MFA enable. But there is no way to reach out to these users as their email address is hidden (email is private by default). If an organisation enables MFA, all users who do not have MFA enabled are automatically removed from the organisation would have to be re-added. While reaching out to half a dozen users and asking them to enable MFA is quite feasible, larger teams and especially if there are external contractors is far less feasible. This only gets exaggerated if the IT team that manages GitHub is separate to the devs who use it. Being able to message these users would make this far easier. Or simply making a users email accessible to organisations that user joins 😋

[danra]

This would be very useful for coordinating work with someone specific on an issue, in the context of the issue (and not via some other direct messaging e.g. Slack), without creating extra noise for other people