To clarify too, if an account is less than 28 days old we manually approve any threads in that section (we've never not approved one) but same reason, to avoid scammers/spammers/resellers. I personally like the trade section being a privilege - I know the people I'm selling to will actually use/enjoy the things I'm selling for a reasonable price instead of reselling on eBay. And the same for buying - I know it's someone who will be trusted in the community to accurately represent what they are selling.
I agree that Friends of TD is a good place for vendors to post publicly and be indexed.
There was no policy around this but was made early on when we were initially setting up the forums/sub forums. I think it's clarified in the
https://tinkerdifferent.com/pages/trading-guidelines/ now.
I can fully understand and appreciate that members who post here are doing so as a privilege, and that posting here should require account registration with a history. I can also appreciate that you would encourage those who want to sell something and be contacted, that the contact between buyer and seller should be done so on-site, and the intended buyer(s) need to register an account in order to contact the seller. Posts there that would include off-site links and email addresses wouldn't be desired/allowed.
What I don't understand is why viewing of those posts requires account registration. When a member here posts something for sale, and then reaches out to someone in the public (who isn't a TD member) with a link inviting them to view the item for sale, that public member must first register just to view the item for sale. I would think that simply viewing what is for sale and requiring an account to contact the member would encourage more people to join.
Secondly, I was not aware, and correct me if I'm wrong, of the policy and procedure for being on the 'Friends of TinkerDifferent' section. From what I can tell, navigating the site, there is no way for someone to post a new section there, and that it appears to be 'invite-only'. If selling a product (not just a one-of-a-kind item) means I should be posting there, why wasn't this addressed when I made my 'for sale' post initially, which was approved? If members are encouraged to list their products in 'Friends of' section, that should be made clear to members posting. Additionally, if this is the suggested place for a product offered for sale, why aren't other members who sell a 'product' having their own sections?
Perhaps, if you want sellers of products to have a 'Friends of TD' section, that should be addressed in the 'Trading Guidelines' link you mention, to provide clarity as to what the section is. If this is mentioned somewhere, please let me know, as so far I have not seen any guideline for the 'Friends' section.
I am trying to address this concern as a user of the site, and therefore I am posting my concerns here as 'feedback'.