are we allowed to make friends using these forums?

Hi, sorry if this sounds like a silly question, but I'm looking to make online friends who I can talk to individually, as in by email or text, so we can provide each other with support in the future. It would help me a lot to find someone here who understands me more than the average

Are we allowed to invite other users to PM us for this purpose? Thanks!

Yes and no. There's nothing wrong about PMing someone and asking how they are or starting up a conversation. Just don't go around asking for people's phone numbers or addresses or anything along those lines. Some users (including myself) have paranoia issues and get a little freaked out at that stuff. I've made plenty of friends here, and there are a lot of nice people here, too.