Private Conversations
"Conversations" is what this forum calls Private Messaging, and is rather like web-based email (although there can be multiple participants in a conversation). You can access your conversations through your control panel (click your username near the top right), and start a conversation with somebody by clicking their avatar and click "Start a Conversation".
It is not good forum etiquette to seek a personal reply to a problem through a conversation (and the reason I created this post in the first place). The forum is about sharing knowledge, and we contribute to the forum in the expectation that the knowledge becomes available to all. Also, an enquiry directed to one individual might not be within that individual's knowledge, or he might be off-line for a few days, so you would probably get a more informed answer more quickly by posting in the open forum than through a private message to somebody you don't know personally (and who will probably be irritated, as above).
Reserve conversations for discussing matters which are not ready for public consumption, and only with people you have already established a relationship with, unless you really are trying to address that person specifically.
In the event that, for some reason, you have been unable to understand and follow the instructions (above) for posting in an existing topic or starting a new topic, but are nonetheless somehow able to start a Conversation, please ask for instruction on posting on the forum rather than asking the question you intend to post on the forum!