Yes, it took me some time to realize that you couldn't send a message to anyone, but you could, if you followed someone, post a comment to one of their posts, etc. However, there are times when a private message is useful/important; for example, I had a Giveaway recently, and it seemed that no one had received the books I sent. Booklikes gave me their e-mail addresses, but not everyone checks their e-mail as frequently as their blogs, so I got almost no responses. How much easier if I could have simply dropped them a line on Booklikes. As you suggest, it's awkward without it, but it should remain between Followers and be subject to all the normal rules.

I have the same frustration, Joshua. I wish to gift my book to those that have asked for it before the end of the giveaway.
Perhaps we just have to be patient waiting for private messaging to be developed. This is a very new site after all.
I would love to put more effort into Booklikes and I will do so if and when private messaging becomes possible.
Obviously the messaging between individuals needs to be blockable, so that those that feel threatened in any way can switch off individuals. However, nervous the principle owners of Booklikes are about trolls, spam, mobbing etc. these are not reason enough to restrict functionality so severely. Individuals have to be trusted to be reasonable, and then restricted or even site wide blocked if really necessary. Social media just doesn't work when making communication between members difficult.
I guess we could all start our own group (chat line). However, that would be very clunky.

I am delighted to say that this discussion is now redundant.
The new private messaging system seems to work very well, turning a good site into an excellent one.
Of course this opens up the site to the nasties, however, they are a tiny minority.
Have a great Yuletide all.

Nice, I was just going to say I agree. I'm new here so haven't figured everything out yet lol.