I would like to see some changes made to the personal messaging service on shapeways.com I'm thinking of ongoing conversations instead of the email style we have now, also I would like to see which of the available SW employees is online and at the same time being able to DM with them asking all kinds of cray things (would also be very helpful for new customers to keep in the flow, not having to wait for hours/days for some small questions) I've been in contact with sw employees thru every social media channel I can think of over the past few years, it would relieve them a lot I think, not having to answer to shapers all over the place and it would help me to keep track of all my internal lines..
I strongly suspect the PM functionality is a component of the (third party) forum software, so probably not easy to change. And I think you can already see who of your correspondents is currently logged in from the status icon on their mails in your PM folder (though that does not tell you if the person is actually active, let alone ready to attend to your questions).
I'm STRONGLY in favor of this update, believe me As mkroeker stated, its part of the forum software we're using right now. Both are on the radar for upgrades but probably won't happen until 2016. Until then however you want to get in touch feel free.
Yes I have seen forum posts about not having much room for any big changes in the current forum software but wanted to give it a shot. (Just thought about it when wanting to contact Kat if she recieved my email haha, but sending another mail is a nogo for me after one day and contacting her on FB too much as well) Ok really nice, I can wait for this !