[Mark]

The people banned violated the rules. These rules have been this way for a long time. Not sure what you expect us to do, make exceptions for people that certain you have a liking to. Do you want us to express favoritism towards certain members? How would that make people feel that we allow certain people to break the rules, while cracking down on others. Plain and simple, they broke the rules repeatedly. They were warned, but continued to violate the rules of this board.

Now if you think there is a conspiracy to protect our sponsors, I'll be happy to confess that it is in our interest to do so. Why? Because, if it wasn't for our sponsors, we could not afford run a web site of this capacity. It costs money to host and run the largest online reefing community in the world. Do you expect us to pay this with our own pocket? The only thing I can afford to give is my time, and I give it for free. So do the rest of the staff here at RC, including the ones responding to this thread. We do not pocket a dime for doing this, it is completely and entirely a volunteer effort. We dedicate time away from our jobs, family, and friends to keep RC clean, friendly, fun, and keep it on track with our goal of being the #1 online resource for reef hobbyists.

If people shill our members, then the free information our site provides is compromised. Think about how this community would feel if when you asked advice on which skimmer to purchase, the people responding had a commercial interest in which skimmer you buy. Furthermore, if people avoid sponsorship fees and use the forums to promote and market themselves, then what incentive does a sponsor have to continue to pay sponsorship fees? And then consider further, if we didn't have sponsors, how do you expect us to pay for the bandwidth and webservers that have the capacity to handle this site?

Please think about it objectively. Do you really think certain users should be allowed to repeatedly break the rules that all members of RC are expected to adhere by? And if you dislike these rules, do you really think it would benefit the board long-term to let commercial posts litter this board over time?