Ricrunner,
I understand how the forum is suppose to work. Unfortunately it is not functioning correctly. Yesterday I started the day with 8 posts, I posted 5 messages (I know this because it wouldn't let me post a 6th message, which is apparently another newbie limitation), for a total of 13 posts. Yet after posting 13 messages, I'm still receiving the "The administrator has restricted use of the private message system to members with less than 10 posts."
This morning, the forum claimed I've only posted 9 messages....