With the debate going on in another thread about comments on cars in the CL and other classifieds Forum, maybe there should be some rules for the "other classified" forum like there are for our classified forum. There needs to be a balance between dumping on a car offered for sale and warning members about fraud, gross overpriceing, ... Think some guidelines might be helpful. In my opinion, the same rules could apply since seller could be one of our members and the buyer is a prospective member.
I think that would be a very, very tough thing to judge. For example: What if a member was selling a car, and another member was warning potetial buyers that the car had a VIN number that had been moved off of another car, lets say a Grabber. If essence, the seller was saying his/her car was a REAL Grabber, but in reality the VIN had been moved from a REAL Grabber to a plain jane Maverick. When brought to the attention of this mesage board, the seller might feel he/she, along with their car is being attacked, while the person bringing this to the attention of potetial buyers might argue that hey are warning potential buyers about fraud. Somebody would have to make a judgment call on that. I think that would be very, very tough for a moderator to do fairly. I think at that point, it would boil down to basic laws of buying and selling: "buyer beware", because in the end it would be up to a buyer to sort it all out, just as a buyer does in everyday life, without a message board. It is an interesting discussion for sure.
Its a discussion sub forum, so as long as the thread is within the rules its fine. Finding such a balance is subjective and enforcing such rules would do more harm than good.
That's a distinction I hadn't considered. So, people should be aware when they post a link to a CR, etc ad, the ad is fair game for criticisms/comments/opinions that could hurt a legit sale -- within the bounds of the general posting rules. That's not how I was thinking we should treat those ads but I understand what you're saying.