Sorry, somehow I missed your reply. If this was the case then someone has to check the quality of posts as well, not just go by the the number of posts. And to be sure people are not using it for the marketplace do not allow PM's at all before the magic 50-post threshold is reached.   Also in...

I have the same problem...   Just figured it out - you need 10 posts or 5 posts + 15 days   http://www.head-fi.org/a/faq#user_using4

I have the same private message limit problem. Newbie with 2 PMs/day limit - sounds nuts, especially if I need 50 posts to have it lifted   This is #1