Private messages (pm)
It's easy on Hive to connect with others. With micro-blogging growing on Hive, it's getting even easier. However, replies and comments are all open to the world publicly, forever. It's like putting a small child in a bare room with bare white walls and then giving that child a permanent marker that is truly and utterly permanent. Yikes!
Sometimes, it's more appropriate to communicate person-to-person privately. Other times, it's critical to use a secure pm/dm, such as when I shared private keys with LUV mods. Using something like Twitter or Discord is an option. But, then you wonder how "private" your pm really is when it cycles through, and stays on, a third party's server. With Hive's pm system, private messages are truly private, person A to person B. Period.
This post outlines two options to send a pm/dm on Hive. There are likely more ways, but these are two that I know and have used. For those who like videos, these two options are illustrated in real time at
Quickly, let's recall our Hive keys:
- owner key - total control of your account - most important
- active key - controls your Hive "money" - very important
- posting key - allows you to post, comment - important
- memo key - allows you to send encrypted messages
The memo key, I think, doesn't get used or discussed too often. But, if you're on Hive, you do have one and you can use it to send private messages to other Hivers.
Some notes up front
- If you use either of these options, one drawback is that the recipient doesn't get a notification saying, "Hey, you got a pm." They likely won't see it. So, I'd advise that you also send a regular on-chain reply such as, "I sent you a pm, you can see it at..."
- Hive Keychain is the simplest tool to use for this. You'll need to make sure your memo key is loaded into Keychain. See https://hive-keychain.com
- Each pm costs 0.001 HIVE. This is because what you're actually doing is sending 0.001 HIVE to the recipient and attaching an encrypted message. (0.001 HIVE is the minimum that can be sent.) The good news is that if the recipient replies, the 0.001 HIVE comes back to you. Good news #2 is that 0.001 HIVE is very cheap. One USD penny ($0.01) worth of HIVE currently gets you about 28 private messages. (See HIVE-USD converter.)
- You can read private messages in PeakD by going to your wallet, then scrolling down to transactions, then decrypting the jibberish-looking message. To send a private message, do one of the options below.
Option 1: hive.pm from D.buzz
The D.buzz team (@dbuzz) built hive.pm to send private messages on Hive (see announcement).
1. You can login with your master password (never advised) or Hive Keychain (this is a best practice on Hive).
2. From there, it's rather straight-forward to use. Click the + sign to start a new "conversation" (i.e., send a pm to someone new).
3. Search for the Hive user's username, then click/tap it.
4. Compose your pm at the bottom, and send it.
5. You'll need to confirm it using Keychain. That's it.
6. Again, you likely should send an on-chain reply or comment to the recipient saying something like, "I just sent you a pm, check it at hive.pm"
Pros
- Very simple and clean chat-like interface.
- Is built by a well-known Hive team: D.buzz
- Easy to remember URL in hive.pm
Cons
- Logging in with master password is a bad habit. Phishing sites or dapps could lure Hivers into revealing very important private keys.
- There is no "notification" that appears.
Option 2: Sting app from PeakD
PeakD's "Peak Open Projects" (@peak.open) came up with "Sting" which is a Discord-like chat app built for Hive (announcement). It's located at https://chat.peakd.com and Hive users can simply login using Hive Keychain.
Once logged into Sting, it looks and works much as you'd expect from a chat app.
1. To start a pm/dm, click or tap the + symbol.
2. Enter a Hive username, press enter or "Direct Message".
3. Enter your message and click/tap the envelope icon or "Enter" to send it.
4. At some point, the reader will likely need to click/tap "Decode" to see the message. I believe this only needs to be done once.
5. Again, you likely should send an on-chain reply or comment to the recipient saying something like, "I just sent you a pm, check it at hive.pm"
Pros
- It's like a chat app that we're accustomed to.
- It's built by the trusted PeakD team and is open source.
- There's no 0.001 HIVE being sent (I'm 99% sure this is correct).
- There is a pm notification inside of Sting.
Cons
- It's new and takes a little getting used to, but not too much at all.
- There's no pm notification outside of Sting. (It won't be seen unless the recipient logs into Sting.)
Summary
The Hive blockchain continues to mature and private or direct messaging is possible and will likely get cleaner and leaner. I think it will become more integrated into many apps in the future. For now, hive.pm and chat.peakd.com are two ways to communicate with other Hivers in a secure, encrypted, person-to-person manner.
Links
- D.buzz announcement of hive.pm: https://peakd.com/hive-139531/@dbuzz/announcing-hive-pm-private-messaging-on-hive-sneak-peek
- Peak Open Projects' "Sting Chat" announcement: https://peakd.com/hive-152386/@peak.open/inviting-everyone-to-test-encrypted-chat-on-hive
- tutorial post by @mes on how to pm: https://ecency.com/hivepm/@mes/private-messaging-on-hivepm
- 3speak video:
https://crrdlx.websavvy.work/wiki/doku.php?id=wiki:private-messages
Not on Hive yet? Watch the animation I made: The Hive Story Animation and you'll learn all about it. The top benefits of the Hive blockchain: (1) no ONE person/group runs it, (2) YOU own and control your content, and (3) YOU earn the rewards that your content generates. Learn more or consider using my referral link to get your free account here and I'll support you as you begin. Alternately, you can see other sign-up options here.
