the process of a PM goes like this.

You write a PM, and click the send button. It is placed in your outbox until the person you sent it to opens it. Once it has been opened by the person it was sent to, it then goes to your sent box. I think I have the limit on PM set to 10. That means you can have ten messaqes in any given "folder" at a time.

As for the ones sitting in your out box, that just means that the person who you sent them to hasn't opened them. I have an email being sent to notify PM's. I have the POP-UP window notification turned on (when you come to the site, and you have an unread PM you should get a pop-up, unless you are blocking pop-ups, then your on your own).

As for backup's and restores. I do backups all the time. I have only had to restore once, and that was some time ago (two months now I think). So people should have opened their PM's since then.
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Charles Gallant