Are most people here just using pm rather than using the forum ?

I have used PMs a lot with other people on the site, typically for subjects they don't want to discuss publically, either for the sensitivity element or because they fear judgement from some people on the forum.

I believe you need to make a friend request to the person you want to DM and have them accept it before you can communicate though. It is a bit more restrictive than many other sites.

There was also a lot of fuss over the fact that PMs are not strictly private (ie some mods have the ability to access them) which caused a number of people to leave the site at the time. I think this put a lot of people off using them after that.

I don’t think you have to accept a friend request from someone? I’ve had a couple of DMs with people I’m not friended with.

I don’t think you have to accept a friend request from someone? I’ve had a couple of DMs with people I’m not friended with.

Stuart333 said:

you can change it to let anyone message you. It's in one of the menus.

If you click on your profile pic on the top right and select Settings, it is indeed in here:

Thanks for reminding me.

Ohhh! Okay, that makes sense.

You have to change one of the settings for this to work.

By default you have to friend someone  and then you can PM them.

But you can change it to let anyone message you. It's in one of the menus.