Thanks for asking, skeedaddy.
We try to keep the Forum as non-commercial as possible, because we know our members like it that way. We think we do a pretty good job of keeping the never-ending Spam under control, and we have policies to keep "commercialism" at a low level. You mentioned members
buying and selling here. Our Classifieds forum is provided as a benefit to our members, and is intended to allow members to sell boating-related items that they no longer want or need. We don't allow
commercial businesses to sell their products or services there, or any where else on the Forum.
The "slight" exception to that policy is our
Commercial Vendor program. We are happy to have a number of members with commercial interests who've demonstrated through their participation here that they are willing and able to share their particular expertise and experience with our
membership, without overtly "selling" their products or services. These members are designated CVs at our discretion, and have a special set of rules that apply to how they conduct themselves here.
"Networking" through posts in our public fora to sell your services to other members wouldn't be appropriate here. On the other hand, we don't control what is exchanged in PMs between members, unless a
member receiving a PM complains about it to us. And, of course,
email exchanges off-forum are totally at your discretion. We don't encourage nor discourage that sort of
member interaction via PM, and would only get involved if it somehow became abusive.
There are a number of places in our
Community Rules that apply to members with commercial interests. You might want to read through them.
I hope this helps. We'd be glad to answer any questions.