Are you an actual paying member to date? If not, just the other day I noticed that I cannot now see the "Members Only forum" posts. I am thinking that they are finally actual catching up on the folks that have not paid membership dues. But that will soon change on my end here.
NOT REALLY SURE but my guess is, your issue may very well be a change in a non-member -vs- an actual member, for the change in the allowed PM's .
Jeff B.