Mass PMs

[Zimm]

A lot of forum owners and administrators send out mass Private Messages to their members. What are some reasons that you do send them out, and what are some reason why you don't?

I typically will send out a mass PM to all of my members to announce contests. Most of the time, members want to participate and they may not notice the thread that was created for that purpose. Some times I'll send out mass PMs to members if I am looking for new staff. I don't send them out very often.

[Midnight]

Most of my mass PMs are related to important polls that will change something major about the forum. The last poll-related mass PM I sent out was regarding whether or not we should let characters on the forum (which are not human) be non-binary and non-heterosexual. I like to let members know with mass PMs when something huge is about to happen plot-wise as well.

Every few months, I like to send out a survey asking members to rate the forum from 1-10, and asking them to tell me what they like the most about the forum, what they like the least, what I'm doing right as an administrator, and what I could do to improve the forum. I get some really good suggestions from that, and it's always great to have feedback from my members. I prompt them with the PM because many people don't like posting publicly with their opinion about a forum in fear that they'll end up accidentally causing an argument/disagreement, or maybe they simply won't think to on their own.