If you're a basic member you can receive private mail but you can't read it unless you upgrade to VIP status. The thought is, if you get enough "You have mail" messages when you log in to TER, you'll eventually want to read them. It's a little gentle arm twisting.

More and more of the ladies are upgrading to VIP status if only to get full access to their own reviews (although there are other benegfits).

When you see a username without an envelope beside it, that tells you the name is an alias. When someone posts using an alias, the envelope is not visible and the link to the reviews that the poster has written is also hidden.

thirsty