It looks like everybody is talking about the long-awaited beta languages, but I have just found a new great update: the “Request conversation” function! It looks very interesting and useful. Good job!
PS: As someone asked in another thread… what happened to the “add as friend button”? 
We’ve now added a post about all the other features that were included in this update: http://bit.ly/p5WBsC
The “Add as Friend” button appears to have been lost…we’re doing our best to find it.
How does the new function actually work? Do we get an e-mail or is it instant messaging within the site?
I am asking because I am not in my e-mal account all that often.
I’ve send you a request. Please check and let me know how it works
So far there is nothing in my e-mail. Nor can I see anything on the profile page.
I have just clicked the Request Conversation button on your profile. Nothing happened my end, did you get a request?
I received your request in my e-mail account a couple of minutes ago. The message time was shown as 10:34
There is a time difference between the message time and the time I created the request of 2 hours. Germany’s time is GMT-2 in the summer time. Probably this causes the difference.
I suggest a “request big hug” button for people who are getting despondent about their language learning.
@ Vera: I got the message twice.
In the meantime I have pressed your button at least 5 times, nothing happened, no box came up. So, I am only partially wiser: we get an e-mail notification, but how the actual requesting works, I don’t yet know.
@ Helen: what a sensible idea!
@SanneT: I hope Alex will explain it to us. Probably I pressed twice on the button because it seemed nothing happend firstly.
It seems there are still a few bugs to work through with regard to this new feature.
Rest assured that a conversation request will be sent, even though there is currently no confirmation page. If you are wondering whether or not the request was sent, simply go to the Lessons page or Speak page and you will see a line about the conversation request.
In the same way, tutors will be sent an email and can also see and accept/reject on the Lessons/Speak page. We don’t have any IM system set up at the moment, but let’s see how this feature gets used before committing to anything
@SanneT - Are you not seeing a popup when you click Request Conversation? Do you have popups allowed for our site?
The desktop wouldn’t play along earlier on, no popup appeared there. (I haven’t changed any settings, wouldn’t really know how to do it). I shall fiddle around with it tomorrow.
On the other hand, I am now on a notebook and do have a popup appearing, so I could use this to request a conversation!
Do you think you can add an IF statement to remove the “Add to friends” link when viewing your own profile page?
No puedes agregarte a ti mismo como amigo. (Bueno… técnicamente hablando)
aw man =[
@ Luke, I quite liked the response ’ You can’t be a friend of yourself (technically) Who else has tried?
This works brilliantly: I had a request (although I discovered it only fairly late), accepted it and the system did the booking for me. Wow, I like it.
I have received the following notice from LingQ:
"Has reservado la siguiente Sesión de Conversación: "
I think this is in Spanish.
You should no longer see the link to add yourself as a friend…sorry to those of you who liked it…