I've sent you a PM is a phrase that is often posted to the chat forum. PM is short for personal message.
Some people view the posting of such messages as redundant. After all, if you've sent someone a message then you don't need to post a second (public) message telling them about the earlier (private) message. They should have already received the private message and thus not need notifying again. Besides, most people have "PM notifications" turned on. This means they will have also received an e-mail alerting them to the receipt of a new PM.
Publicly posting "I've sent you a PM" is like sending someone an email and then a few minutes later phoning them up to tell them about the email.
On the other hand, it can be useful when something is for sale in the classifieds section of the forum. The "I've sent you a PM" posts show that other parties are interested and have already PM'ed. If someone is interested in the article then they'll PM the owner to check if it's still free, but if someone else has already posted "I've sent you a PM" then it might be assumed that the article is already taken.
Interestingly, whenever somebody states "please do not post in this thread but send me a PM if you are interested", that almost guarantees that the thread will fill up rapidly with random (clueless?) people asking questions and saying they have sent a PM.
Two further points to note:
- PMs should not be used to share information that could be of benefit to the whole community. If you have interesting info or advice for someone, please post it to the public topic so that everyone can benefit. The forum is about give and take. The more everyone shares, the better it is for all.
- When organising an event, don't write "PM me if interested". Instead one should write "Post to this thread if interested". This way everyone can see how much interest there is in an event and who else is going. If there appears to be a few people interested then this in turn will generate more interest.
Related pages:
- Personal messages - general information
- I've sent you a PM - chat topic
- How to organise an event