You can open a private chat with another user. The messages on these chat tabs can only be seen by you and the person you're chatting with (and admins, if it becomes necessary).
You can open a private chat with someone in one of two ways:
- You can hover over the user's avatar displayed in the messages list. This bring up a user info popup, with the user's name, rank, and custom text fields. Beneath the first link on the user popup, there is an "Invite to private chat" link. Click on it to invite the user.
- On the top right of the chat box, there is a tab labeled "Who's Online". This is the users list. You can scroll through it, or search for a user by name (case-sensitive). Once you locate the user, hover over their row, and click the "plus" icon to invite them to a private chat.
A private chat tab will open while you wait for the invitation to be accepted. When the invitation is accepted, you will see a message in the tab saying the user has joined the chat. If the user declines, the tab will close and you will see a notification stating that the user declined your invitation.
You can also receive private chat invites. When another user invites you to private chat, a popup on the bottom right corner of the chat box will appear, with three options:
- Accept: this opens a private chat tab with the user who sent you the invitation.
- Decline: this dismisses the invitation.
- Don't bother me again: this will prevent the user from inviting you. Please note that there is currently no way to unblock a user from inviting you to private chat, so please take careful consideration before using this option.
Each user may have at most seven private chat tabs open at a time. That means if you have seven chat tabs open already, you cannot open a new private chat with another user, and other users can't invite you to another private chat. Tabs where the other user has not accepted the invite are also counted towards this limit.
Private chat messages are stored on the site database. If you have used private chat with a particular user previously, the same private chat will be opened when you invite or join a private chat with that user. You can browse through older messages even if the other user hasn't accepted your private chat invitation.
To close a private chat, click on the X on its tab. Confirm that you want to close the tab, and the tab will be removed from the chat box and a slot freed for another private chat to open.