How do direct messages work?
Direct messages let you have a private, one-to-one conversation with another member — to ask about a piece, coordinate a meet-up at a show, or just talk trains. Everything lives in one place: open Messages from the envelope icon in the top bar, or from the Marketplace area of the navigation rail, to see every conversation, including any marketplace inquiries.
Opting in and out
Messaging is on by default, but you're always in control. On your Account page there's a Messaging card with two switches:
- Allow direct messages — turn this off and other members can no longer start a new conversation with you or send you new messages. Existing threads stay in your inbox; you just won't receive anything new.
- Email me a message digest — off by default. When on, you'll get an occasional summary email of unread messages. We never email you the contents of an individual message.
Blocking someone
If a member is bothering you, open the conversation, use the menu in the thread header, and choose Block. Blocking is silent — they're never told — and it's a single setting that covers everything: a blocked member can't send you direct messages or marketplace inquiries. You can review and undo blocks any time from Blocked Users under My Account.
Reporting a message
Every message has a Report option. Reporting sends the message to our moderators for review; the sender isn't notified that you reported them. Use it for harassment, spam, scams, or anything that breaks the community rules.
What admins can and can't see
Moderators do not browse private conversations. They only see a specific message when it's been reported (by you, or auto-flagged by our spam filter). When a report is reviewed, a moderator may dismiss it, redact (hide) the offending message, or temporarily suspend the sender's ability to send messages. Redaction keeps the original text only in the moderation audit log — it's never shown back to members.
A few guardrails
To keep things civil and spam-free, there are limits on how many messages you can send per hour and per day, and the very first message to someone who hasn't replied to you yet is capped until they write back. Messages are plain text with clickable links — there's no formatting, images, or attachments.
What we don't do
- No per-message emails. We only ever send the optional digest, never a notification for each message — your inbox stays quiet.
- No SMS or push notifications. New messages show up as a badge in the app; check Messages when you see it light up.