Since this policy became regularly enforced, I've gone from never having sent or received a PM in this entire forum ever, to having had to email all my sent and received PM's twice (and soon a third time) in just over a month's time to clear the quota we're given for such things. I think that amounts to some 200 or more messages sent & received.
It's not really that big a deal in practice. And if anything maybe it increases some of the contact I have with individuals that I wouldn't have had otherwise, except in public. So in a twisted sense, the policy has been somewhat helpful.
The unfortunate thing is that in addition to pricing, sometimes quite a few other discussions take place offline, too, just out of convenience, and what's unfortunate is that those parts of the discussion then end up nowhere others can really benefit from them.
This thread will get closed by a moderator. I'm pretty certain of that. But I do hope it doesn't get deleted, but instead remains around just to give others a little guidance in how to deal with the policy in place (the PM'ing thing). I've noticed several PM's I've sent in response to inquiries I couldn't answer in public have gone unread, and I'm sure it's just because the person getting them doesn't quite know they're there, being unfamiliar with the forum software...
Maybe the moderators could adjust the default settings for new users so that a popup message on PM's happens and emails get sent, et. al. At least I don't think that is the current default!