PMs stifled

The trouble with fanfiction.net having disabled email alerts on all PMs ('as an anti-spam measure') is that it makes it basically impossible to contact anyone who isn't actively updating their work. The only time I ever see that I have a new message now is when I check the page view statistics on my existing stories, since this part of the account isn't visible when all you do is interact with the site forums or other people's fiction. Someone who has no reason to log in at all because they have no reason to suppose that anyone is reading their work is basically out of contact for good.

Which sounds reasonable enough when you phrase it that way -- people who have abandoned the site obviously aren't interested in being contacted, right? -- except that it also includes people you were beta-reading for six months ago, people you previously had lengthy PM conversations with, people who read and review but don't themselves write stories, and people who have have left a given fandom but are happy to talk about their old stories.

Which ironically takes the site back to the old days of people leaving random reviews on stories as a means of communication, since review alerts haven't been disabled...