It seems like I have been getting more e-mails on this lately. Generally, I think it is bad practice to comment on this in a public thread but since it will likely end up in a rule clarification, I wanted to put it out there for reference later.
Currently, there is a question of whether selling a volume of gear in the FS/ FT forums qualifies as a commercial seller, and thereby prohibited under rule 9. That rule has been referenced as a "commercial seller" rule in STH terminology.
Our original charter of the FS/ FT forums was for members to sell/ trade items they have. The goal was to prevent the FS/ FT forums from being overrun with listings from every corner of the planet with every hardware imaginable. It was indeed meant to be extremely restrictive. In practice, I think this has generally worked well.
Over time, we started to allow a few commercial posts. The few commercial posters we do allow I have personally spoken with and either myself or another moderator has purchased from them (unsolicited with no ties to STH) and seen operations first-hand. This is not an easy process.
Early rule application was that we used to have people posting $10k of goods in FS, and not posting elsewhere and the treatment was that that put them into a "commercial seller" category.
Established businesses posting get automatically banned. That has kept the signal to noise ratio high in the STH forums. The downside is that it has negatively impacted posts/ day metrics.
I do think we need a rule clarification in this area. I am fairly busy the next few days but will draft and post when I have something decent.
Currently, there is a question of whether selling a volume of gear in the FS/ FT forums qualifies as a commercial seller, and thereby prohibited under rule 9. That rule has been referenced as a "commercial seller" rule in STH terminology.
Our original charter of the FS/ FT forums was for members to sell/ trade items they have. The goal was to prevent the FS/ FT forums from being overrun with listings from every corner of the planet with every hardware imaginable. It was indeed meant to be extremely restrictive. In practice, I think this has generally worked well.
Over time, we started to allow a few commercial posts. The few commercial posters we do allow I have personally spoken with and either myself or another moderator has purchased from them (unsolicited with no ties to STH) and seen operations first-hand. This is not an easy process.
Early rule application was that we used to have people posting $10k of goods in FS, and not posting elsewhere and the treatment was that that put them into a "commercial seller" category.
Established businesses posting get automatically banned. That has kept the signal to noise ratio high in the STH forums. The downside is that it has negatively impacted posts/ day metrics.
I do think we need a rule clarification in this area. I am fairly busy the next few days but will draft and post when I have something decent.
