XF 2.2 Setting private conversation preference for all users

[Jakko W]

On the forum I manage, there is a recurring problem with users being unable to receive private conversations, which I suspect was caused because we migrated to XenForo from phpBB. This results in me, or a few helpful users, having to point out how to fix this every time someone complains “I can’t start a conversation with <username>!” — namely, that <username> needs to change a preference setting.

Is there a way for me as the forum’s admin to set everyone’s private conversations preference to a different value all at once?

 

[Paul B]

There's nothing built in which will do that.

 

[Jakko W]

I figured as much, but thought I’d ask anyway … Is it doable via an add-on, or directly in the database? (I don’t have access to that, but the technical guy does. And yes, I know it’s not a good idea to tinker with it )

 

[Paul B]

It's possible with a direct DB query.
This for example will set it so any member can start a conversation with any other member.

UPDATE xf_user_privacy SET allow_send_personal_conversation = 'members'

Manually editing the database is not something we condone though but if you absolutely have to, ensure you take a backup first, just in case.

 

[Jakko W]

Thanks. I’m not saying this will be the option I want to take, but if nobody knows a better solution, I’ll have to take it into consideration