There are a number of members of this forum who are professionaly involved in the classic bike business, their input is generally helpful and informed - in some cases by decades of experience, I think these people should be encouraged to continue to contribute and not shuffled off into a siding.
There have been a number of instances in the past where people logged on and their only reason for doing so was to sell something. My observation is that this was generally not welcomed by many of the site members (including myself). I personally do not like a hard sell, or even a soft one when I'm indulging in my hobby.
The build threads are not generally my favourite unless there is something unique or non standard about the machine in question - one pair of main bearings in a sandwich bag looks much the same to another in my opinion, however many people obviously enjoy them. I don't have to look at these threads and I support them staying where they are.
We must never forget that Jerry has set this site up and more recently administered it with the help of L.A.B. purely as a courtesy to fellow enthusiasts, should we really be expecting them to put in more time and energy with ever more complicated layers of admin? Rather, shouldn't we, who are guests and beneficiaries, excercise more self control and guard against being uncivil, or indulge in other activities that might be misconstrued, or offend.
So to sumarise; I am against selling items or services except on the excellent page already in existance for this function, or an additional page as you see fit. But I do support L.A.B.'s suggestion of some kind of 'trader' or 'professional' title assigned to appropriate members.
