As I understand it (here at GW) you will get "private messages" sent directly to your email at home. There are 2 ways this can occur :
1) someone goes to your "page" and clicks on "send me an email"

or

2) when you create a new thread you can click the box (before committing) that asks you if you want replies sent to you.

Sometimes I will get an email directly from a poster on the GW. The emails may be someting I deem not to be private and will copy and paste the reply mail to a thread here. In some cases the email needs no public posting, but that all depends on the subject matter and whether its useful to others who post in the forums. Yes, there are some poeple here who prefer to be anonomous to all others, but if they send you a private email and its for something personal, it would usually be kept confidential if both correspondents preferred it not to be made public. Check your own web page and you have the option of making your email address public or private. Also, you have the opton of allowing another registered GW member to send you a note via the GW web site as well.

Another thing... if you don't want the person writing directly to you to have your email address you need to email them a reply through GW.... not always an easy thing to do. For most here who are regular contributers I don't care, but several times I haven't wanted a "stranger" to have my address.

Thanks for the information. Think I'm still confused, but I've printed out your replies & will re-read them. Appreciate the help!