Are they widely used?
Ought they to be disabled?
As far as I can tell they get very little use, and just risk genuine content / requests for help being squirrelled away and going unseen - as forum newbies can sometimes post there thinking others will see their messages as if it were Facebook - while leaving questionable content alive for longer because it's harder to detect for normal forum users.
I know some forums disable them for that reason (something I generally support tbh, because they either have minor to significant negative consequences, and no positives at all).
Ought they to be disabled?
As far as I can tell they get very little use, and just risk genuine content / requests for help being squirrelled away and going unseen - as forum newbies can sometimes post there thinking others will see their messages as if it were Facebook - while leaving questionable content alive for longer because it's harder to detect for normal forum users.
I know some forums disable them for that reason (something I generally support tbh, because they either have minor to significant negative consequences, and no positives at all).
