I get what most are saying about wanting to keep everything out in the open. I was mostly curious as to how often someone might try and clear up a disagreement or misunderstanding in PM before posting it. Even then I'm not saying that just because you tried to clear it up first doesn't mean you can't still proceed to post about it.
PMs are better regarding small grievances that can be easily resolved without much debate.
Topics should hold open discussion if external parties' influence is necessary (i.e. both are vehemently supporting opposing sides)
This was very well put, I found myself struggling to make with the good words for the explaining.
I agree that open discussion is nice in a thread about anything on topic. I don't even mind when you see 2 users go back and forth in a thread as long as it's relevant and still moving the topic forward. I've heard about some people not liking when they receive a PM, but I've never cared. It was kinda nice the first few times someone reached out for something, usually I could just direct them somewhere. Scammers have tried a few times, but it never really bothered me as I could just delete it and move on; similar to tagging and moving on in a thread.
I had to laugh in my haste I found myself not using the PM function and instead posting. It was a good reminder though to a benefit of the PM in that situation. Not everyone checks back to threads they've replied in. This isn't the same scenario but a similar situation where maybe the user wouldn't have seen the reply.
Or like a few hours ago when I PM'ed someone answering/clarifying something he pointed out in another thread (which doesn't fit the point of the thread).
Fuck that is a lot of pms.
If I had to guess I would say you have an entire page from me if not more. Some newbies are hard to teach. Good as time as any to say thanks again for all the help, and for replying to PM's.
Almost forgot. When I mentioned trust changes. For me specifically, it was letting a change to my trust list that affected a users position and my reasoning for that change. I have considered a PM for 1 or 2 users who I 99% want on my trust list, but that I disagree with only a few of their ratings. I haven't sent that PM yet or tried to engage in that discussion, mostly because I got busy this last while.