Hi,
Welcome to AnandTech Forums.
This is silly. Anandtech is not the only forum on the internet.
Sorry our rules bother you, but AnandTech Forums is the largest English language computer-oriented forums in the world which makes us a large target for would be thieves and scammers. In spite of that, our For Sale/Trade forum is widely regarded as being among the safest trading forums.
I've been moderating these forums for over 15 years, and our rules have evolved in response to the problems we have encountered over the years. During that time, our moderators have learned to spot repeat offenders returning under other user names, and we have been able to help law enforcement agencies to send a number of thieves to jail. If you stay around and participate on our forums long enough to join FS/T, you can read about some of them in our sticky "Traders To Avoid" thread at the top of that forum.
People active elsewhere might be looking around for for sale deals that might not be on other forums. None of these rules would actually stop someone determined to rob or cheat. They'd stop people like me who are just looking for deals. Blah
There must be other ways.
We intend our For Sale/Trade forum as a place where our members can buy, sell, and trade their personal gear while upgrading, NOT as a free wheeling auction floor for casual "drive by" shoppers. If you're serious about computers, you'll find plenty of informative discussions and good information about hardware and software and lots of good help with problems you may encounter. If you're knowlegeable, you may be able to help others with your knowledge and experience. If you're a good trader, we hope you will participate on FS/T as a member of our community.
If you want to trade here, you trade under our rules. If that is too much bother for you, there are "other ways," including lots of other trading forums and venues.
We hope you enjoy yourself on our forums... or elsewhere, as you prefer.