Are you sure it's not messages from a few days ago? I haven't had anything pop up in my folder in over a week. I think DGAF already took care of it.
About new members, we need to stop the spam, but when new members can't join, things will stagnate. This already happened on another forum I belong to. Spam was an issue, so no members could join. After 6+ months people left, no one filled their spots and fights between members broke out and now the whole forum is practically dead.