It's not "fishy" at all - it's the same reason you are only able to post in this subforum! The admins implemented a new policy requiring posters to have 50 posts before they can post on the rest of forum. It's a universal thing, not just targeting you or the OP. This was put in place due to all of that virwex / bitcointalks spam that was filling up the forums. Now, we have a better chance to catch the spammer, delete their threads, and ban their accounts before they are able to flood the main forums. And OP - I replied to your PM!