No need to apologize 
The five-minute timer is something different than the new member post limit, and it is meant to be there.
You can read more about the topic timer here: Forum Update & Announcement : August 9, 2024 ☀ (topic timer)
But here is a short blip about it
Unlike instant messaging or chat rooms, our forum is designed to be a message board (Read about the difference between a chat room and a forum). In large message boards like the Spells8 Forum, many people within a community contribute, often over a longer period of time. Community members are spread out across time zones and schedules, meaning that conversations are enjoyed leisurely over days, weeks, or even months.
With such a large group exploring topics over a long period of time, it’s only natural that communications mirror their community. The hope with this timer is to help encourage both mindfulness and time to allow others a chance to share their voices, too.
If you want to reply to multiple people at once without the topic timer getting in the way, you can tag them or ‘copy quote’ what they wrote. And we have a tutorial for that, too 