Well the ability to *like* and create threads comes with posting in the main forums as was explained by Reality in the sticky thread. The posts in here do not count towards lifting any restrictions.
It's fine commiserating back here. This site has gone through its fair share of change, so we get it. It's the nature of having a large forum. There's no rules broken chatting it in this forum. It's different, but there's no rule against it. And it's been interesting watching the back/forth. But it goes back to what was explained earlier, chatting here doesn't lift any restrictions within the rest of the forums. But you're welcome to continue as long as you want as long as you understand that. It's not about time, it's about becoming an active member within the overall Zone community.