How to Stop People From Messaging You on Facebook
By David Nield
Facebook is designed to aid social networking and communication, but you can prevent particular people from messaging you, too. If the person involved is a confirmed Facebook friend, you can filter the relevant messages out of your inbox or mute your conversation with the user; if you're receiving unwanted messages from non-friends you can filter these out of your inbox, too. The only way to completely prevent someone from messaging you is to unfriend and block the user.
Step 1
Log in to Facebook and click on the padlock icon on the toolbar. Select "Who can contact me?" and then choose basic or strict filtering -- use the latter option to filter messages from all but your closest friends out of the Messages inbox. Filtered messages appear in an "Other" folder where they won't prompt a notification or email alert.
Step 2
Click "How do I stop someone from bothering me?" if you want to block another Facebook user completely. This process unfriends the user and prevents the individual from contacting you on Facebook.
Step 3
Type out the username or email address of the person you'd like to block. Then click the "Block" button to confirm your choice. Follow the "View All Blocked Users" link to see people you've already blocked or to unblock them if necessary.
Step 4
Click "Messages" on the news feed page to see incoming messages that have arrived in your inbox. Select a conversation and choose "Actions" then "Mute conversation" if you no longer want to receive notifications or see new chat boxes from the message sender.
Step 5
Select "Move to Other" from the Actions drop-down menu to filter the conversation out of your main inbox. Future messages from the user will also go to the Other folder -- click the "Other" heading to see messages it contains.
References
Tips
- The Other folder works in a similar way to the spam folder on a traditional email client, though messages aren't deleted or labelled as spam. New messages sent to the Other folder won't create a notification on the Facebook toolbar or generate an email alert, so it's worth checking this folder occasionally to ensure genuine messages from friends you want to hear from haven't been routed here by mistake.
- Blocking a user is the only way to prevent someone from contacting you at all. In addition, the user is unable to see any of your activities on Facebook.
Writer Bio
An information technology journalist since 2002, David Nield writes about the Web, technology, hardware and software. He is an experienced editor, proofreader and copywriter for online publications such as CNET, TechRadar and Gizmodo. Nield holds a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and lives in Manchester, England.