Can I message someone on Steam if they've sent me a friend request?

Every so often I'll receive a Steam friend request from a user whose name I don't recognize.

I don't want to deny the request, since they may be trying to contact me for completely legitimate reasons. (Item trading, mutual friend, etc.)

Steam doesn't allow messaging users who aren't on your friend list, so I end up having to accept their request just so I can ask them why they friended me.

Is there a way to message a user on Steam without accepting their friend request?

Solution 1:

If they have not set their profile to disable comments and is public. You can go to their profile page and comment there and it might be good idea to follow the comment thread. At least until you establish communication.

However if the profile is private or disabled comment. In which cases, I don't know of a good way to reach potential friend without accepting the invite friend first.