Andy,
Your ads were posted in july, not august...and dont expire till January (those early ads were given 6mo expiration dates) the ads are...and have always been public on the site.
When I log in under your name...and click the "ads youve placed" link as directed above... I see both of your ads.
The second one shows the message notification, when clicking on the number "1" in the message column, I see a message from a member.
This message was sent to you on 11/8/08...and would explain why you only recently recieved it. (as it was just sent to you a few days ago)
The message you clicked on notifying you that "you have a new message on tug" is only there until you click on it...after that the system assumes that by clicking on "you have a new message" that you actually went to read the message...and hence will not display again until you recieve another message.
However, the instructions given to you above would always let you return to your ads and view any old messages sent to you in the system unless you chose to delete them. (although not the case here)
So I am a bit confused as to your comments....perhaps there is some miscommunication via the forum posts? Wouldnt be the first time =)
Hope that this latest post clears things up for you