Posting in Apothecary - have I misunderstood?

I understand that Junior Members are confined to the Entrance Hall......however, under the Sticky "New Posting Limits for New Patrons" in the Apothecary section, there's this;

Quote:

new patrons may now reply to topics in the apothecary (this forum). this shld make it easier for folks to get their computer woes sorted out. it shld also increase our ability to handle other's woes, since we'll have more folks that can post solutions as well.

To me this indicates that new members ought to be able to reply to and help out with problems other than their own - or, at least, that this is intended. It doesn't work like that though - you can only reply to your own topic. I'm not trying to bend the rules here - it's just there's a couple of problems in there that I think I might be able to help with. So, have I misunderstood?

.....and as I can't actually play the game at all at the moment, there's not much in here I can usefully comment on.
~D