Regarding classified ads on this web site:
First of all, Jake is correct that the forums on this site, as with most sites, do not allow posting about things people want to buy or want to sell.

The exception is for things that people are seeking (usually as donations) for worthwhile nonprofit programs or projects (like to benefit youth sailors or the disabled or elderly or the Boy Scouts....)

I also don't have any problem at all with posts trying to track down hard-to-find parts for out-of-date boats. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of years of experience and knowledge among the users of this forum, and it is the best place to get answers. Classified ad probably wouldn't work well in those cases.

As far as the Classifieds section on this web site, it does not contribute to the support of the web site. When you buy a classified ad, you are buying an ad to place in Catamaran Sailor Magazine, which is a print publication that comes out eight times a year. The ad costs $10 per issue of the magazine. THAT is what the $10 supports, and I can testify that the magazine does not make a profit -- it does not even break even. It makes just barely enough to cover the costs of printing and mailing and we make nothing for our time in putting it together.

In addition to putting the classified ads in the magazine, we also put them on the web site, for FREE, as a bonus for advertising in the magazine. We just felt that it would give the ads a lot more exposure to be on the web site, as well.

If anybody is having a problem with too many scammers because of their ad on the web site, they can just ask us to leave it off the web site and only place it in the magazine, since that is what they are paying for.

By the way, most people do not have a problem with ad scammers on the web site if they just use their phone numbers and not their e-mail address.