How do I ask a Freelancer.com project author a question before submitting an application?

Question

Freelance

Here (for example, but also in other places I saw) there is a text of the following content:

There is a public message board for each project, called the project clarification board. Sadly, this feature is constantly abused by contractors (who use it, against the rules, to put in proposals without having to consume their limited bids), and ignored by clients (in part because of the aforementioned abuse). In the time I was active on this site, I don't think I ever received a reply from a client to a question posted on the public board. For its part, Freelancer.com contributes to the lack of seriousness of project clarification boards by not notifying clients when a message is posted there.

OK, leaving aside "not notifying clients when a message is posted there", I never found a way to do it. How to write there? I looked at every centimeter of the browser window, I see a panel in the upper right corner where they go sequentially: the amount on the account, messages (if you hover the mouse over the icon, "Messages" appears, but I still did not find a way to write something), "Notifications and "Project Feed".
So how is it done? I searched in their help, searched in Russian and English in Google - to no avail.
Customers formulate their projects in such a way that I want to ask clarifying questions before the bid, but I can’t do it.

Answer 1

No way.