Hi Mike,

Links to eBay for any purpose are prohibited. We would like to allow them if they directly answer a question in a post, but unfortunately the shills these days have become more sophisticated and will initiate threads just to be able to insert a link and drive traffic to a particular item to generate bidding and a sale. I don't think most folks on SMC are aware of how much is deleted by the moderator staff that is solely designed to promote websites, products, or auctions. The latest wrinkle is reviving years old threads and then inserting a link to a product or website that might or might not be related to the topic at hand. Mostly when the IP address is checked out we find the offenders originate in Pakistan, the Phillipines, China, Taiwan, India, or somewhere else in Asia.