I get a ton due to the nature of my role, but as a member, I almost never got them. I had one friend I would converse back and forth with sort of like a penpal, though. That was very nice.
Only ever got them here and the old place from the BST, or various mandatory messages from events etc.
Half the reason I like forums is the lack of needing to actually have a inner clique or friends to participate, despite the fact that it still does have a ton of the former.
Here? A couple of times because people wanted to continue conversation/had follow-up questions to something. Outside of that, never. No on thinks I'm cool enough.
Other places, all the time but that's generally because I'm pretty open to talking/being there if you need to talk/vent, etc.
I send a bunch, and mostly get replies to the ones that I send, but I don't get very many out of the blue. I like to think it has to do with me not making topics often and not having a definitive avatar.
I did get a few at the other place, like a person who explained things to me about going to eastern Europe, like what to do for the people I'm staying with.
I've received precisely 1 on this site and it's from a real life friend. At the other site I had a bunch and a couple were almost like penpals and we would message back and forth. It was cool.