For those who want to switch on DMs - so that other Strawman.com Premium members can send you a private message ("Direct Message") that can not be read by anyone else (except Andrew and any other site administration people), click on "My Account", top right corner on the PC version, and choose "Direct messages" from the drop-down box that appears. After that you'll get a history page of all members who you've communicated with via DMs, and there's a toggle box at the top to switch Direct Messaging ON or OFF. Obviously there will be NO history if you've not used this feature before. But that is where you can turn this feature ON (or OFF).

To send someone a DM, first call up the profile page of that member, which you can do using the "Members" section at the top of the home page, and use the search function to locate them. Once you have navigated to their profile page, IF they have switched on the "Direct Message" option, then directly below their user name and to the right of their profile pic - in the dark blue box near the top of the profile page, you'll see a "Direct Message" button - it doesn't look like a button but it will turn white when you hover over it, and it will allow you to message that member.

If, on the other hand, there is NO "Direct Message" button there for that member's profile, then that member has NOT switched on DMs, so you can NOT send them a DM.

For example, click here for Strawman's (Andrew's) profile page - and you see that Andrew HAS switched on DMs.

Once you've DM'd someone, or they've DM'd you, you can send them another DM or reply to theirs from the DM section of your own profile page ("My Account", "Direct messages") because they will be added to your DM history and the option will be there to DM them from there.

If you're not interested in DMs, no need to do anything. The default setting for everybody is that DMs are switched OFF. That feature will only become enabled if you switch it on. And you can switch it back off again any time you want.

Examples of when you might want to DM someone could be (a) if you want to ask them a question that the rest of the membership may not be interested in or don't need to read, such as asking if they follow a particular company or if they've had any direct experience with a company's management. If the answer to the question is "No, sorry." then that conversation just clogs up the news feed and it doesn't need to. Or (b) if you want to point out something such as an obvious mistake you think they may have made with something they've posted, or the way something reads, to give them the opportunity to fix it without having to involve the entire community through the newsfeed. There would clearly be other uses for DMs. One would be to DM Andrew (email is the other option) about a perceived issue with one of your trades that either didn't go through and you think it should have, or because there is some other issue with it, or a dividend or distribution that you have or haven't received for a holding here, or because the shares this site shows you holding in a particular company doesn't look right. That sort of thing. Something that doesn't have to involve the entire community but still needs to be communicated, one way or the other.

Hope that helps.