@ebinkerd, you have made some very pertinent points. It is extremely confusing right now what is and isn't allowed with regard to posting classified ads in the regional sections. Bear with me, I had a larger reply written but I lost it...
The Terms of Service has been out of date for a long time. They were written in 2007 and have been on my TODO list to update for a long time (too long). I knew they were out of date when I looked at them last February, but I'd forgotten how far out of date they really were. That is my fault, and I apologize to everyone for that.
The Terms of Service do not reflect the current state of things, and the Rule For The Classifieds as of 2010 do prohibit posting outside of the classified sections. It was so clear and obvious to the administration and forum membership at the time, it seems that it never really made it into the rules clearly. The only hint of it in the rules is this: "Trades are subject to the same rules as the For Sale threads. If you have a trade post it in the For Sale section using the For Sale template."
That sort of hints at the state of things in 2010 when the rules got a major overhaul.
There is discussion in this thread that we can go back and read in 2010 that will make it clear that it was never meant for classified ads to be allowed in the regional sections after the changes.
However, I completely agree with you that the rules as written are fucked up on this matter. As such, I would not dream of holding any member to poorly written, confusing, and
contradictory rules.
I thank you for bringing this to the staff's attention. I am going to go right now and un-delete the threads I deleted, and unlock the threads I locked in the regional sections.
Everyone, please bear with me while I get the rules in order. My plan is to reconcile the Terms of Service and Rules For The Classifieds to make it clear that, based off our discussions in 2010, classified ads in the regional sections are no longer allowed.
Since this really is a proper change of the rules, I would encourage everyone to voice their opinion on this matter. I know we hashed this out in 2010, but things are different now and we should do it again.
Better yet, I'll make a thread with a poll. Please stand by.
@ebinkerd, I want to apologize to you personally. You should not have had to go through all of this trouble just to get some clarity in this situation. The staff accepts full responsibility for the poor handling of this situation and I want to thank you sincerely for bringing this to our attention and pushing us to do things correctly. You shouldn't have had to do that. I'm sorry.