Buehl, The message you are seeing at the bottom of the email (PLEASE NOTE: The member responding to your post has chosen not to reveal his or her email address. Therefore, you cannot reply to this message via email) only means that you are not able to respond by clicking Reply within your email account (gmail, yahoo, outlook, hotmail, etc, etc). However, there is a way to send them a response ... go to their 'My Page' and respond to them from there.

You do not have to respond via your email account. If they are set up to be able to receive email, you can respond to them from their My Page the same way they emailed you (they went to your My Page). NOTE however, if they do not have their account set up to receive emails as in your instructions above, you will not be able to reply to them from their My Page either.

Finding a member 'My Page' ... http://members.gardenweb.com/members/search.cgi
I believe it IS upper or lower case sensitive

Using your instructions above, you also have the choice to have your email address revealed or not revealed in your settings on that same page (show my email address to: none). I have mine set up for 'none' and I see that you have your account set up this way as well which I think is smart . . . .

I noticed something that made me change my settings ... When you email someone, if they have their email revealed, GW will automatically show you the person's email address. Just in case any spammers ever come trying to harvest email addresses, I thought it would be a good idea to change my settings. Because I use my real, work email address in GW, not a fake throwaway address. Click the first link below and you will see an example of how you can see that person's email address.

Typically, when I send a private message to someone using GW, I include my email address in the body of the message, so they can respond without having to search me out using My Page. But I can still keep my email address private within my gardenweb settings. This way it makes it easier for the person I am messaging. I can choose to send/receive emails and neither of us has to unblock our email address.

I have sent a suggestion asking GW to make this message that appears at the bottom of the email more clear, because it is very confusing how they have it worded. It makes it sound like you cannot respond at all to the person emailing you. You can send a suggestion too ...
Here ... http://www.gardenweb.com/auth/nph-logincheck.cgi?action=public_profile&user=/gwtamara
or here ... http://letters.gardenweb.com/letters/nph-ind.cgi

I know all about that Angela - but I think that if someone wants to email me privately, they should expect to reveal their email address to me. I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to respond.

How do you normally reveal your email address when you send a Private message to people ? Do you put it in the body of the email message that you send ? Or do you go in and change your settings each time you send a message ? As you have your settings right at this moment, I get the message above that you have chosen not to reveal your email address.

Email Test

I have had the same thing happen. I always want to email responses to questions. I now know to go to their members page first.

It's another one of iVillages so-called "improvements". It used to be that if you emailed someone privately (via that member's "My Page"), the email address of the person sending the email automatically showed in the "From" field. However, with recent changes, that is no longer the case.

Personally, I think that if someone is going to email you privately they should not be able to do so anonymously - they should be required to show their email address. It would reduce the potential for anonymous bullying. (No, it wouldn't eliminate it, but it would reduce it.)

buehl, I'm with you. I did send a reply to NJHM via her Member's Page/send me an email, but honestly, wasn't really thrilled about having to do that in order to respond.

In general (this is NOT directed at NJHM individually), besides the anonymity factor, it's one extra step that shouldn't be asked of someone who is already taking the time to answer questions, or provide advice or information, etc. If you are going to send a private email to a forum member, then common courtesy dictates that you should make it possible for that member to reply to your email, either by checking the appropriate box in your member profile/acct., or by including your email address in the body of your email to that member.

As you know, I (along with many, many GW'ers) am more than willing, and happy, to share what I've learned before, during, after my reno's. I jump in here on the forums where and when I can, and reply to GW-sent emails from members as well. But, "reply" is the operative word here. When I reply to an email, any questions posed by the person emailing me (or any other pertinent information relating to the questions at hand) are right there in the body of my reply email. I can refer to specific points contained within the email, I can refer back to any pertinent information, concerns, parameters, etc.

If, in order to respond to a forum member who has emailed me, I have to first go to their "member page" and then open "send me an email," well, I'm already less inclined to respond. And then, if in order to keep track of all the questions or points needing to be addressed, I have to cut and paste the info from the email I had received from that person or jump back and forth between email and the GW email form, well, now I'm even less inclined to respond (and sometimes just don't have the time for the extra steps, whereas I might have had the time to at least shoot back a quick reply email).

On the iPad it's even more of a PITA.

Rant over.