Apparently, new community accounts aren't automatically set up to generate e-mail notices by default when there are private messages.
According to this thread,
http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Check-Your-Private-Messages/m-p/120606
there are some people who have waited longer than necessary to have their service issues addressed after posting in the forums because they didn't have their accounts set up to get e-mail notices of private messages, and they haven't checked their inbox to see if the PM moderators have sent them a message. These customers were probably expecting replies from moderators directly to their posted threads, whereas private messaging is the moderators' preferred method of communication because service issues inevitably require personal information that cannot be posted in a public forum.
I propose that when new members create a community account, e-mail notifications for private messages should be ON by default, simply because many people are signing up for the purpose of obtaining help. Delays in service corrections due to members not being aware of private messages are unnecessary. When customers don't check their private messages, this forces moderators to also post back to the forum thread to prompt the customer to check their inbox, resulting in more work and wasted time for the mods.
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Edited to add:
For those who don't know how to turn on e-mail notifications for private messages, from the community home page, go to My Settings -> Preferences -> Private Messenger.
There will be a checkbox next to "Receive email notifications for new private messages" which you can toggle on or off. Remember to click "save" after changing the setting.
For your convenience, a direct link to the page:
https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/user/myprofilepage/tab/user-preferences%3Aprivate-mes...
