Glad I stumbled across this.
as one of the many "long time readers, first time writers" I was trying to make a significant contribution to a forum, but was instead forced to spend a few minutes searching for a reply button only to not find one.
The PM restriction is Dumb IMHO: (wanted to send a PM to ask why I had no reply button. Didn't think "for some reason, I must have agreed not to post/PM people when I signed up BACK IN 2011")
The post limit, on a 2+ year old account is a pain in the behind. But such is life I guess. Spam is spam!