Hello Michael,
Regarding working of the forum. As a new member your first five or so posts must be manually approved by a moderator before they appear on the open forum. Only after you have cleared that stage can you initiate conversations via private message, although you should be able to reply to those sent to you.
For info on the working of the forum, there is Rules and Regs section
Centralised information on the Rules and Regs for the Community forums
bushcraftuk.com
and a How Do I section.
If you're not sure how something works ask here :-)
bushcraftuk.com
and an Introductions and Welcomes section
For new members to be made welcome and tell us about themselves.
bushcraftuk.com
If you want to know about a member, click on their name next to their post.
Good luck
Chris