Sheila,
You're not making it up, there was an allusion to it in the beta, but as you know, the prioritization list for development moves stuff down sometimes. Direct member to member communication is indeed something we hope to provide at some point, but I think for now, the 2 ways to best connect with friends in this way are, are as you said, by watching your Updates portlet for posts your friends make to their comment board. But if you want to be sure to efficiently reach them, it might just be best to find their email on their member info, as long as they choose to share…if not, maybe a note on their comments telling them you want to connect and direct them to *your* member info/email.
I’m going to encourage you to keep your eye on the
Site Feature Requests group for additional deets on this sort of development update, and for a place to keep your suggestions brewing.
