Namepopper,
This text actually says you need gold to SEND pm's. I interpret this as that you could still RECEIVE them, and certainly access the old ones. This is quite common on other websites as well: low-status memberships cannot initiate contact but they can be contacted by high-status members.
Anyway, I would have appreciated it if you would have announced this with a specific date so that I could have made a final check of my PM's to see if there is anything in there I needed to make a copy from.
Hans