Arguably, we provide a useful trading noticeboard service to the community. With this service:

• we provide proactive enforcement (through TEs and general moderating staff)
• we provide a simple method (Report Button) to report infringements. which we are receptive to.
• we provide a channel for resolving trade disputes (Dispute Corner forum)
• we provide a pseudo-feedback channel (the Succesful Trades List topic)
• we provide guides to trading safely (among others) on the forum (Resource Center forum)
• and we've always opened the floor up to people for constructive feedback (Feedback & Helpdesk forum). Although it is sometimes misunderstood that "staff don't want to listen", when it is really the feedback which isn't sound.

So, I believe we've fulfilled our role in social responsibility - hence closing this trading section on your basis is out of the question.

We cannot make the right choices for the members. This applies to every real-time Internet site too (where posting is instantaneous). A fool can get cheated on Lelong or Ebay just as easily as he can here, because if you notice, those sites allow unverified traders too.

Finally, I would like to ask you to examine http://craigslist.org and compare their modus operandi to ours.

Making separate WTB/WTS forums involves doubling the forums in TZ. Due to the way the forum is written, this adds a lot of overhead.

A solution was proposed in the main Feedback, where post icons are used to signify selling/buying. I think that's a better idea.

Having a general WTB subforum may not be a good solution, because there are actually more WTB topics than you think (the WTS:WTB ratio is about 4:1)

Haha true.. didn't really think of that since it's been the culture here to say "WTB" or "WTS".