What do you mean when you say you lost your PM's? Your inbox contents were deleted, or permissions to PM were removed?

Also, I believe that if a customer has a problem, and you have a forum, which they post in, it should be kept. I don't think that a forum should be cleaned up to make yourself look good. I would rather be honest to any potential customers and let the see exactly the problems that customers have, and how a resolution is found. In my book, honesty gets you far.