Tip #2 doesn't work for me, as even though I have a special character in my name, there's no extra dash in my conversation URLs. I guess that could kind of be considered a good thing, but it still means they don't work, so maybe not...but that's not what I'm here to post about
I did find another kind of "work around" for the VM problem. I'm not sure whether it would work in browsers besides IE (I only use IE so my knowledge of others is minimal to none

) but if you can open tabs in your browser it can work. You'll need to open two of them for SS. In one you should have your profile up on the VM page, and in the other you should go to the profile of the person you want to talk to. This way, you can reply to their VM and still have their previous message to you as a reference so you can see how to answer them even without the conversation link.
You could also probably just do this in one tab and just reply on that person's profile without a second tab open onto your profile, but it depends on how great your memory is and whether you prefer to see their previous message to you or not.
Just a thought.

And of course thanks again to all of you working to fix the problem *gives you all hugs*
EDIT: Ah! It seems my VM conversation links are working now! =D ThankyouThankyouThankyouTHANKYOU to ALL of you who've been working on them! I wish I knew you all in real life so I could give you all hugs. E-hugs will have to do for now!