Really quick update, this is likely important for a few of the lurkers...
In order to prevent spam we recently instituted a change which prohibits users with less than 5 posts from sending private messages. We did this because spammers were signing up just to spam other members with PM's. Since these users never took the time to post, we thought it was a good idea to limit this ability based on participation.
We are also prohibiting users with less than 5 posts from creating a forum signature AND entering a "home page" link on their user profile because, once again, spammers like to join, setup a signature, post once, and move along. or worse, enter their spammy website to the profile, never post, and move along.
I spent some time working on this and I think this solution is the best way to slow the spam without greatly affecting our user experience.
If you'd like to increase your privileges to a full blown member, all you have to do is leave a few replies in the forum. 5 posts may seem like a lot but, there are guys here who do that during trading hours alone
If anyone thinks this is a stupid idea and I have ruined their day, please let me know, maybe we can all come up with a better solution together.
Thanks guys.