How come there is no way to send private messages?

Do I have to have a certain number of posts before I can send private messages?

I was just curious about this. I feel that being able to send private messages would help to improve the site, I believe it would also help to improve friendships on this forum.

There are just some things that I don't want to talk about in public. But I would be willing to talk about them if I knew it was private.

Thanks for reading this thread.