Suggestion for classifieds

[lyric911]

I realize that there was just a thread a couple days ago that went down a kind of ugly path. I'm not attempting to re-hash the argument in that thread. I also realize I've not been here very long and I don't want to be stepping on any toes or anything. My suggestion is based on how I handle things on the (admittedly smaller) forum I run.

For the classifieds section, any registered user can read the classifieds, and any registered user can reply to threads that already exist. This allows them to purchase items others are selling even though they've not yet earned the right to sell things themselves. They can only start new threads (and thus sell things) when I've manually approved them to do so. That last part wouldn't work here because of the number of users I don't think, but the 50 posts to sell could still be the rule there.

Thoughts?

(I'm obviously posting this because there's something I might want to buy. Their email nor any other contact info is listed in their profile, and I obviously can't PM anyone either.)

[Scutter01]

We've actually already gone down that route a number of times. The rule isn't in place to stop new members from selling things in the classifieds. It's to stop them from buying things. When the Classifieds were set up, they were intended to let members trade with each other and offer each other good deals. Then the ads started getting picked up by search engines and non-members would swoop in and grab the deals before the contributing members could, and then vanish forever. They were leeches, taking but never giving. Prices started to rise as a result and the good deals went away.

The classifieds are (and always will be, I hope) nothing more than a perk for contributing members and not the main reason INGO is here.