Unnecessary post deletion

[jhnpldng]

I don't have a problem with the no ad posting or having a specific forum for it. Didn't know about the rule but do now. (If you pay you can post the links though eh?) I was bothered however by my post and another being completely written over. Pointless show of power as far as I'm concerned. Or is it a marketing strategy? Aggravate them into paying? Could have just removed the links and gave a warning. Now the closed thread makes no sense as the op has been wiped along with another. Might as well delete the whole thread now. No one was trying to directly sell anything. It was just conversation, reference and people trying to help someone else out.

[Liz]

Originally Posted by jhnpldng

I don't have a problem with the no ad posting or having a specific forum for it. Didn't know about the rule but do now. (If you pay you can post the links though eh?) I was bothered however by my post and another being completely written over. Pointless show of power as far as I'm concerned. Or is it a marketing strategy? Aggravate them into paying? Could have just removed the links and gave a warning. Now the closed thread makes no sense as the op has been wiped along with another. Might as well delete the whole thread now. No one was trying to directly sell anything. It was just conversation, reference and people trying to help someone else out.

I do apologize that you were bothered by the way the staff is instructed to correct issues on the site, however, we have these ways in place for several reasons. The copy and paste keeps it uniform and not as if we treat different members differently by having multiple replies. This was a common retort to posts being edited before using this reply. It also gives members a direct link to the information, so that they do not have to ask or search. Again, another common retort to edits before.

Your comment about a pointless show of power could not be more off the mark. The moderator that edited your post, left all of the replies and information intact for you. This is not how a classified ad out of the classified section is typically handled. The moderator was attempting to help you out and be nice leaving it there. That is the exact opposite of a power trip.

A marketing strategy would be more toward a guilt trip, or adding perks, taking more away. If you look around, we have many registered members and do not treat them any differently than subscribing members in any other regard.

Our staff are volunteers, they do not get "paid" to post custom explanations to every member whom has not followed a rule. The rules, and members tiers as well as much other information is readily available in the global announcements, located at the top of every page in the forums. Ignorance of the rules is not the fault of the staff. The membership tiers have been in place since 2005 as have the announcements.

Your post stated that you could not find something, and were in need of one or two. That would be the definition of a classified ad, and used as a loophole to buy and sell by members unfortunately.

I hope this helps answer your questions.