diff --git a/src/data/threads.js b/src/data/threads.js
index da61715..6e700b0 100644
--- a/src/data/threads.js
+++ b/src/data/threads.js
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ async function createNewThreadForUser(user, quiet = false, ignoreRequirements =
       const responseMessage = utils.readMultilineConfigValue(config.responseMessage);
 
       try {
-        await newThread._sendDMToUser(responseMessage);
+        await newThread.postToUser(responseMessage);
       } catch (err) {
         responseMessageError = err;
       }
diff --git a/src/modules/close.js b/src/modules/close.js
index 9b3463d..b3e7421 100644
--- a/src/modules/close.js
+++ b/src/modules/close.js
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ module.exports = ({ bot, knex, config, commands }) => {
     // Send close message (unless suppressed with a silent close)
     if (hasCloseMessage && ! silentClose) {
       const closeMessage = utils.readMultilineConfigValue(config.closeMessage);
-      await thread._sendDMToUser(closeMessage).catch(() => {});
+      await thread.postToUser(closeMessage).catch(() => {});
     }
 
     const logUrl = await thread.getLogUrl();
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ module.exports = ({ bot, knex, config, commands }) => {
     console.log(`[INFO] Auto-closing thread with ${thread.user_name} because the channel was deleted`);
     if (config.closeMessage) {
       const closeMessage = utils.readMultilineConfigValue(config.closeMessage);
-      await thread._sendDMToUser(closeMessage).catch(() => {});
+      await thread.postToUser(closeMessage).catch(() => {});
     }
 
     await thread.close(true);