It is wise to lurk a-while and get the flavour of the community before posting - you can see people & how they operate - eg phrase badly and get mis-interpreted. I don't think the one-on-one kind of conversation works here unless you join and can PM people (bit like e-mails but only your handle needs to be known). Public conversations attract trolls and misanthropes. That's human nature. Try a looking at more popular forum and see the flak fly!
We are relatively benign here (as a whole). You have to ignore inanity.
By clicking on the User Name, you will requery the forum for that user. You will see everything that he or she has posted with that Mudcat name.
By clicking on the Thread Name, you will be sent to the Forum on that thread as if you selected it from the main Mudcat Forum page.
By clicking on the Subject, you will also go to the thread as if you selected it from the original Forum page, but also go directly to that particular message.
By clicking on the Date (Posted), you will dig out every message posted that day.
sj