I have two very particular thoughts:
1st - This forum exists because of paid sponsors, like those on the list to the right of the Reply box. Kevin would much rather members patronize those businesses versus selling/trading ourselves. Having a buy/sell/trade section(s) isn't exactly following the business model, but Kevin allows us that.
2nd - we want to reward participating members. A 100 post count in four months is easily accomplished by nearly all members. We don't want to reward the casual member who opportunistically only drops into sell something. Trading is a little different, but there has to be boundaries. Why should a member who can't be bothered to participate in even the slightest way be rewarded with a special privilege? We want membership to actively engage in pipe related dialogue not just drop into sell or trade then disappear into the ethos.
This type of rule is enforce in EVERY other pipe forum out there. Well, almost, several require members to upgrade their membership to a PAID membership to be able to sell. We don't do that here, but only require a short membership time and a nominal post count.
So, I'm glad that you asked.
I might add that typically, on posts in that section that need moderation are created by members who are either very new or older one, but don't participate, who also can't seem to be bothered to read the Rules section.
