This has been a difficult area for us moderators for a long, long time.  We wish to do what is best for our members, but of course members have differing needs; so it's not easy to find a policy that works for everyone.

After much discussion, we are making the following change regarding posts in the For Sale section, as is now stated in the stickie at the top of that section.  This change of course applies throughout all sections of the board.

"This is not a public commercial market place, meaning that commercial entities are not allowed to post items for sale unless they are an authorized Alembic dealer."

Right on!  I almost commented on this earlier today when I read what I thought was an inappropriate sales post.  Thanks, Dave.

Bill, tgo

Thank you.

How does that affect members like myself who have in the past posted many links to alembic instruments for sale from numerous sites that are not authorised dealers?
Would posting such a link in the future be a breach of the new policy?

I believe that this only pertains to the For Sale section of threads. One could still post what you are referring to on the Seen on EBay, Craigslist and Elsewhere

And we are all still free to sell our own instruments on this site.  As I understand it, they are trying to avoid having commercial stores using this forum to advertise their wares.

Bill, tgo

That is exactly how I read it. Individuals representing themselves remain free to list their items in the For Sale section of the site. However, as this "is not a public commercial market place... commercial entities are not allowed to post items for sale unless they are an authorized Alembic dealer."

We can still post interesting deals that we see on the net from commercial organizations in the "Seen on Craigslist, Ebay and Elsewhere section."

Thank you moderators. I've always seen the For Sale section as Alembic People trading or selling to Alembic People. The Alembic dealers I know and respect, for example, Will Gunn, avoid posting in this section even though theoretically they could on the basis of what the moderators have stated. Respecting this policy will continue to make the transactions that take place within this section between Alembic lovers as opposed to organizations that exist to make a profit. It's certainly not perfect as we have had people who work for commercial entities post here in the past posing as individuals but between our moderators and the sharpe eyes of members, they eventually seem to get found out.

Bravo, moderators! Makes sense to me!

Thank you!

Nice work, team!  Fully support this change.

Excellent!