How do I send private messages to new people?

[JTurnblat]

I know it sounds dumb, but I've never needed to send one before. I'm not at my home computer right now so I don't have nor can download the Steam client at the moment, but when I was on it last, I would get IMs from people in my group or from my friends list.

How can I message someone who is not on my friends list? I met someone at college by chance and struck up a conversation about Steam, then we exchanged names. I found the other person, but they might not find me because I didn't realize that you cannot search by Log-in name, which is what I gave them. I've sent two add requests and neither has been acknowledged, and I can't leave comments til I'm added. I suppose I can just change my screen name to match the one they know just for familiarity, but to get around this in the future, is it possible to send PMs to people you are not yet connected with?

[UserU]

Yep, you can. However, the other party got to confirm your request. They have the rights to ignore/ reject if they don't know you.

[JTurnblat]

Originally Posted by UserU

Yep, you can. However, the other party got to confirm your request. They have the rights to ignore/ reject if they don't know you.

But if they confirm my friend request, I wouldn't have a problem. I need to know how to contact them beforehand to say, "Hey it's me!" so they will know I'm cool.

Well I changed my display name to match the one I gave this person, downloaded Steam here, and found out that I have indeed sent an invitation that has been neither accepted or declined even though this person was online several times since then. I hope I'm not screwed, I can't send a new invite with my new name on it. Is there no way to contact people who have not accepted you yet?

I wager if I am online while this person is online, both on the Steam client, I might be able to send them an IM - it may only mean that you need to have at least tried to add the person before you can contact them.