Hi everyone,
It recently has come to my attention that XTAR (user: xtarflashlight) has been ignoring the Commercial Seller Rules on BLF by creating a large number of different threads in random forum categories. This gives XTAR an unfair advantage against other sellers that do respect the Commercial Seller Rules by limiting themselves to just a few threads in the correct forum categories. XTAR’s behavior would normally be considered simply as spam and their threads would be removed and their account banned.
However, in this particular case, I made an exception due to XTAR’s status as a well known and generally well liked manufacturer of core products for our flashlight hobby, and also out of respect for other BLF users that contributed their comments to the plethora of xtarflashlight‘s threads. So as a one-time exception I decided to only remove xtarflashlight threads with few or no comments by other BLF users, and all of the remaining threads were re-located to the Commercial Sellers’ Spot and locked to prevent them from being promoted by further new posts in them. The unfortunate consequence of this relocation is that currently the first page of the Commercial Sellers’ Spot is full of all xtarflashlight threads (they get marked as updated by the relocation operation). My apologies to other commercial sellers and to all BLF users for the temporary clutter and unfair promotion of XTAR, especially given XTAR’s failure to follow the simple and lenient Commercial Seller Rules.
This is also partially my fault, because this issue has somehow managed to slip my attention for quite a long time. I’m willing to chalk it up to XTAR simply never bothering to read the BLF Rules and then assuming that their behavior was acceptable because they received no reprimands. But this is a warning to xtarflashlight that persistent disregard for the Commercial Seller Rules will result in closure of the user account. To the rest of our BLF users, before commenting in a commercial thread please check first if it’s in the correct category according to the Commercial Seller Rules, and if it’s not then please don’t post there and flag it with the SPAM button.
Here at BLF, we pride ourselves on being open-minded and respectful toward everyone, including international flashlight sellers. Commercial sellers, please make an effort to follow the Commercial Seller Rules; attention to these details is for your own benefit and reputation, and will result in a positive business relationship with your current and potential customers here on BLF.
