Controlling Whether an Advocate Accepts Messages

Two independent settings control whether prospects can message an advocate: the permanent Accepts Messages? toggle, and temporary time away periods. An advocate accepts new messages only when messaging is enabled and no away period is active.

The Two Mechanisms

Accepts Messages? — permanent

Found in Edit Profile under Messaging. Uncheck it to hide the message form from the advocate’s public profile indefinitely — for advocates who prefer to be contacted another way, or shouldn’t be messaged at all.

When unchecked, you can set an Alternate Contact — rich text shown in place of the message form (e.g. a store’s phone number or email) — with an optional custom heading. See Editing an Advocate’s Profile for the full field reference, and Map-Only Advocates for the “on the map but not messageable” recipe.

Time away — temporary

A scheduled period (vacation, a break) during which new messages pause automatically, then resume when the Back on date arrives. Advocates schedule their own, or you can from the Time Away card on their page. See Managing Advocate Time Away.

Time away never changes the advocate’s saved settings — when the period ends, the profile returns to exactly how it was, including any alternate contact you’d set up.

What Prospects See

In place of the message form, prospects see the first of these that applies:

The away message, if an away period is active and the advocate (or you) wrote one.
The alternate contact, if one is set.
A generic note that the advocate isn’t accepting new messages right now, if an away period is active with no message.

An advocate in a Paused away period is also hidden from the advocate listing and map entirely.

Time away only pauses messages from new prospects. Existing conversations keep working, and introductions you make aren’t blocked.

Troubleshooting: “Why can’t prospects message this advocate?”

Check both mechanisms:

Is an away period active? Look for an Away or Paused badge in the roster, or check the Time Away card on the advocate’s page. Use End Now to end it early.
Is Accepts Messages? unchecked? Open Edit Profile > Messaging and re-check it.

If the advocate has an active away period, re-checking Accepts Messages? alone won’t restore the form — the away period still pauses new messages until it ends.