If I respond to a comment with a comment or question directed to the commenter, does the commenter necessarily see it?
If not, is there any way I can draw their attention to it? I assumed the site would have a personal message feature, but if it does, I have not been able to find it.
It depends -- if you use the @-reply feature and the other person is already in the thread, then yes they will receive a notification.
Let's look at an example:
In this picture, I've underlined the @-replies and circled various people who received replies in the course of the conversation. The user named Yannis is highlighted in gray because he was the owner of the post that these comments are attached to.
Through the course of the conversation, Yannis received the replies to @YannisRizos, both because he was "pinged" as well as because he owned the post. The user John Dibling received notice about any posts that included @JohnDibling in the body at all, just as Shog9 received messages directed towards @Shog9.
Later on in the conversation, someone else (not Yannis) responds to McCannot as well.
Noteworthy: you cannot ping more than one person in a comment. Thus, if you wish to respond to BOTH another commentor as well as the post owner, you must @-reply the other commentor and you can mention the post owner; the latter will be notified regardless of @ usage.
I hope this helps!
