[Anthony]

I hate to say it Ben but this is a suggestion that I simply cannot endorse.

It is for the greater good of the community that we limit the slightly enhanced features of this forum to those who contribute a small amount in return. In addition to this, by having this rule in place generally we stop the one time members who come here just to spam and leave. Forum post spam we can remove and ban the offending member, private messages are a totally different ball game and we have no direct control over them.

We are actually considering raising the minimum limit of posts to secure private messaging privileges. Either that or we may increase the length of time a member must be registered combined with the current setup. This is to counteract the issue of post spam and ensure people are here for the right reasons and not to abuse our members or indeed our user agreement.

You mentioned that potential advertisers may be missing out on custom - As long as they have provided an email address or their website is listed within a thread, any browsing individual can pick this up. However, as far as possible we are trying to convert as many browsers into actual members, once again to benefit the whole community.

As always, I appreciate your suggestion never the less and hope my comments have gone some way to explaining my reasons for passing up on this one. Please let me know if that isn't the case.

Thanks.