Feedback Invite only area

Correct, we had a lot of members inviting and new members joining, but few were posting, so we opened up the registration.

What do you mean by an "invite area/thread" and how it would it solve the problem you mentioned?

Keep in mind that trolling or posting off-topic is against our rules. Please report such posts and we'll clean them up and issue the offenders warnings. Every 3 warnings leads to a temporary slowdown of the offenders access to the site to give them extra time to think about not breaking our rules. Don't hold back on using the Report feature. Every post has a Report link at the bottom of it and it will bring it to our attention so we can take action and keep the discussions productive.

That's by design. First, a lot of Spam happens behind the scenes through Private Messages. By having very high and strict criteria to unlock that feature, we minimize that risk. Anyone who is still here after 300 posts is most likely not a spammer. Furthermore, once it's unlocked, it's unlocked forever, and those with PM privileges can start private conversations with any members, and those members will be able to reply privately even if they don't have PM privileges. But to unlock the valuable privilege of being able to start private conversations with any member, you will need to invest time and effort into our community to prove you are in it for the long haul.