For most of WK’s life the forums didn’t have a PM feature and everything was fine.
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I think even if they were going to implement some type of safety features they would still have to take the PMs down until those were finished. They might just keep the PMs gone forever but I can agree that might feel like a little much. Maybe not allow PMs for people under a certain age? There is a lot of responsibility put on the owners of the site for an issue like this and it is easier for them if they don’t have to have the possibility of something like this happening again.
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Like I said… I wouldn’t know. But it would also be a shame to deprive users of the possibility to make life long friends because there was one sicko out there.
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It’s an interesting argument because do we really need to be able to PM someone anywhere? Let’s take Facebook for example. Just post anything you need on their page so that everyone can see your conversation. Or how about Twitter?
I do not think PMs are necessary but I also believe this argument to be flawed. Privacy simply stands on its own and people are responsible for the information they share about themselves. No one else is.
As I have stated above, people are responsible for the information they share about themselves. No one else is.
Needless to say it’s easy to bypass such an implementation. It also punishes people that had nothing to do with this.
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Alright but for a while, IPhones didn’t have fingerprint identification. That doesn’t mean removing them would be a good step. (Regardless of one’s perspective on this issue)
The only person I’ve ever met in RL from this site happened when we started talking way before PMs were a thing.
@xyzbuster Except those are easily fooled and actually make your phone secure while appearing to be beneficial. So actually yes, it serves little real benefit but actually makes things worse. So it’s a perfect example.
Frankly, anyone complaining about this is missing the actual point by a mile.
No not really.
The point is you can’t make the internet safe. For no one. No matter how safe you think you are.
People get deceived on the internet quick. Be it by a guy saying nice things or a nigerian prince or whatever.
Removing the DM’s is again a false sense of security which can also be easily bypassed. And then WK can’t help with the safety measures they could implement to at least get those people from their website. 
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True. The problem here is with the age difference/abuse, not with the tool used.
People with ill intent will always move their victims into a more private communications channel to avoid detection by moderators, friends, parents etc. By supplying a private channel within an already closed community - defined by a single interest and effectively ring-fenced from social networks - WaniKani was making it easier for bad people to operate. Easier to gain somebody’s trust (we all have so much in common!), easier to bypass the moderators, easier to take things off the website and then potentially into the real world.
As apps and websites mature, they have to take on responsibility for stuff like this. WaniKani is a great language-learning tool with a great, all-ages community. I don’t think it needs to jeopardise its core offer by taking on additional risk for the sake of PMs. It’s a good call to draw the line there.
Let’s keep our younger members safe, please.
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If I might say, the premise of this move seems to be that a language learning site in particular should avoid the type of risk associated with private messaging, but why? Why specifically a language learning site can’t have private messaging but other sites can? And if not just because WaniKani is a language learning sight, couldn’t the idea of removing private messages to make things more safe apply to the internet as a whole? I want to know all the arguments to feel more settled.
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To be fair. That won’t stop with the removing of DM’s. The only thing that will happen now is that people need to actually share their email address, on an open forum. To get in touch with each other. Also something not really safe. But that is my opinion :).
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You can’t make anything 100%, that is not a real argument, it is just a straw man.
It’s real simple, so I’ll put it in blunt terms. Rather than pointlessly crying about a very unnecessary feature when there are many ways to accomplish the same thing, why don’t you instead trying and look at why Japanese related things (Perhaps one in particular) attract pedophiles. The worst part of the story is that I’m not surprised or shocked by any of this. And frankly I have my doubts this is the first time, just the first we know about.
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Yeah ive seen old posts of people posting their LINE and stuff in order to get in contact with people. Whether or not that is better than PMs is debatable.
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I can still access PMs and reply. Admins now think the system is private. Isn’t that worse? 
Not sharing how I did it though. Reporting to the team.
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So if I’m reading this thread right, PMs were enabled only 5 months ago.
This is not a feature integral to the WK service or forums. Everyone will get along just fine without them.
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I can as well, and I’ll be in touch with the team.
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I’d question the assumption behind the words ‘need to’ there. But equally, that’s just my opinion. 
That depends on the ease at which the fingerprint technology can be tricked. Are the risks of it being hacked greater than it being hacked normally and are those risks worth it. Although, I admitingly don’t know enough to meaningfully discuss removing or keeping that particular technology.
That’s also why I asked the question above and am rereading the comments. I’m trying to understand why the risk isn’t worth it. Why specifically a language learning sight needs not to have this feature.
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TBH we should just destroy anime.
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Oh I understand perfectly. I wish there wouldnt be any need to have this discussion. But it actually is a real argument. WaniKani is essentialy anonymous. People do not know anything about me, only the things I am sharing. People can’t see my name or anything. Now if I were to post my email adress people have an active link into my life. I use that adress daily. If I were to share my facebook people would have photo’s of me and a lot of information. This site is actually safer than email and facebook. Why? Because you can also flag private messages and make moderators attentive of unwanted behavior. I would actually be positive to not sharing other mediums and only conversing here in DM. It would be safer and at least I know people here take action and something is being done with flags / reports. Not the same can be said for Facebook or Google+.
The crux of the matter is recognizing if someone is dangerous. But that is a task that is hard on any medium.
And that stands and falls with education and awareness. Not prohibiting DM’s. Just speaking from my own experience as a 16 year old. I wouldn’t let a No-DM option stop me. I would find other ways.
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It’s easy to get absorbed in the moment and just act without thinking about all the aspects. One feels the need to do something about this to make the community a better place. That is understandable, however let’s also consider the other side.
If more than 90% of members are using said system (in this case PMs) as intended, and one person does something awful at some point, is it reasonable shutting down the entire thing? Could further such situations truly be prevented by doing this? Could it do more harm than good (by taking more away from those that were using PMs as intended, rather than helping)?
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