When are PMs / DMs enabled for new members?

Continuing the discussion from New Local Friends:

Yes, sorry about this @Pepsicola, @Reann. The PM / DM restriction is basically a technological measure to stop spamming, but also perhaps a ‘carrot’ to encourage positive behaviour and engagement on the forum. You wouldn’t believe that we probably average at least one spammer sign up a day, most of which are automatically detected before they make spam posts, and all of which are unable to spam though PMs / DMs due to this restriction.

There’s some more info on the criteria needed for automatic PM enabling in the following how-to guide:

Possibly here is a good place to mention the index of howtos:

I hope that’s helpful and answers your question.