PM's are a great way to transfer information to another user without the chance of your main emails getting spammed up. Its really one fo the things that makes HWF stand out from others, especially since it is for one of the bigger titles.
Maybe a disgruntled forumer sent fake beta messages. It only resulted in some PM's and emails being sent around, as well as a thread or two. What would happen now should someone post something like that in a thread, say, when a mod isn't on?
Without anyone to actually control the rumor, it would spread like wildfire if posted in the open, compared to being sent through PM's, which is more time consuming and slows the rate that the rumor is spread. This is especially the case for the former when more new members join who would most likely be unable to detect it as a hoax and spread the rumor all over the place.
I can understand your frustration if alot of questions are asked in PM's, but couldn't you just block PM's from being sent to you, or even just ignore them? It would allow everyone else to stay as the happy campers they are and continue to exchange thoughts and ideas to one another provately without too much annoyance to any of the mods.
Sorry if the SOLUS SUCKS! thread offended you, someone made a bet I could not resist, as well as the fact that the name gathers ALOT of attention.
"The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath"-Led Zeppelin