Ok, I obviously have access to the message boards... here I am, however...
I have another family account, that is not subscribed to Pirates (its subbed to W101).
I had understood access to the message boards (and test realm) to be based on a recent purchase (within 30 days), perhaps I am mistaken. My other family account purchased a large bundle of crowns last night through the Pirate101 site, shouldnt they have access to post/reply on Pirate101 the message boards at least for the next 30 days? Or is a subscription required? I havent used any of the crowns yet, is that the part im missing? Must I login and purchase something "ingame" with my newly purchased crowns to gain access? Not a major issue, but from my perspective... somethings broke.
Edit: Later after talking to some of my more "crown" play experienced friends, I determined I was just "wrong" lol. No worries...

Thanks for the update, Zeppers! Glad you got that worked out.

You might have mistaken the purchase bonus with the test realm. In Wizard101, you can gain access to the test realm as a Crowns player if you have made a purchase in the last 30 days.