Well, it's not just for high rankers. Have a look at
this[
^] - this member hardly has 1000 points and was able to post it. You by-far has a quite few points.
At the top, start of forum, there must be 'New Message' button. Try Cntrl+F5 to see if it works. Silly to ask but can try Cntrl+F for 'New Message'