hiya lala and welcome. a thread is a topic that we all discuss, your introduction for example. a message or reply is what everyone posts in the thread, like how arch told you how to change your avatar. a PM is a private message that only the person you send it to will be able to read. to access any PMs you may receive, on the forum home page click where it says "private messages" under your avatar. to send a PM i find it easiest to click on the name of the person you wish to send a PM to, then click where it says "send username a private message" where "username" is the name of the person you will sending the message to. i think thats about it right now, anyway enjoy the forum.