Besides the removal of the *github messaging service*, usage was often not necessary due to many githubbers communicating with- and advocating [twitter][1].

The **advantage** is that there is:

- full transparency
- better coverage
- better search features for tweets
- better archiving, for instance by the US Library of Congress

It is probably no coincidence that stackoverflow doesn't allow private messaging either, to ensure full transparency. The entire messaging issue is thoroughly discussed on meta-stackoverflow [here][2].


  [1]: https://twitter.com/
  [2]: https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/431/any-way-to-send-a-personal-message-to-another-user