Hi--I discovered that, if you click on someone's name, you can send them a private (I think) email. Is that allowed, or polite, or whatever? Once or twice I've really wished I could ask someone a specific question, especially about doctors in my area. (I did topic searches on those subjects but didn't find much.) Most topics work just fine on the public forum, I realize. Thank you for your help. By the way, this forum is wonderful!

Those private messages are not e-mails, but messages from one forum member to another only. And yes, of course they are allowed, that is what the feature is there for!

So, if you want to ask somebody a specific question that you don't want to publicly post, go right ahead.

I thought there might be a permission box to check or something. Thank you!

Well, there is. When you set up your personal preferences, you can allow or disallow personal messages. So, with some people, you won't get through. But I think most people allow the personal message feature.