Two items of info:
First, I get a new message notification on loading any page on the server as soon as the pm posts... It appears in a colored dialog box at the top with a link to go to the message. I also get an email notification of new messages via the email I registered on the forum signup.
Second... and this may be unique. For images uploaded to the EBF server (not those linked from photobucket, etc.which just appear in the posts) clicking on the link for a non-displayed pic gets me an empty image file downloaded, BUT left click in the blank area where the pic should be overlays my browser transparent darkened window field with a gallery to view all the pics posted within a given individual post. This field has a string of small preview boxes at the bottom for selection of individual pics, or the entire thing will play like a slideshow. It just takes a minute or so to load depending on the number of pics... and I suspect the image files are large and likely Hi-Def.
The important point is the functionality is apparently there. It just wasn't intuitive due to the speed of loading... which could even be my connection.
Hope this helps others who have had a simiar "problem"
It is interesting to me that my phone and tablet (both iOS7) display avatars... while all my computers (5 in three locations tried with MacOS (two versions) and Win 7) and every browser but Chrome only display some, while others are blank outlines or malformed/incompletely loaded... This could be a java issue or a server timeout on communications (ping) issue.... more after I figure this one out.
