John, I've seen it done

John, I've seen in done often, with the focus on the project, and coincidentally on the vendors of parts used.  This should be especially true if you reference several sources, as you are clearly not advocating a single vendor.

Eventually someone will ask...

John,

Eventually someone will ask you what parts you used and where you go them.  So, it is not a problem doing it the way you described.  Many a post here has had references of part numbers and where to get the parts.  Go for it!

Den

...

When time comes to go get one yourself, tell the company how you got there.  If enough people do it, it may very well net MRH another advertiser...

Yes, readers can link to most anything

Yes, we have no problem with readers posting links to most anything related to solving a particular model railroading need. If you post a link to a vendor who is not an advertiser, an extra courtesy is to notify them that you've posted a link to them and to include a link to your thread on here in the email you send to the vendor.

Where we have a problem is if a vendor (or someone affiliated with a vendor) starts posting links promoting their own product. That's advertising and that's not free.

Readers also cannot freely post for sale notices on here for free, or post things like links to your eBay listing, and so on.

Essentially, if money is changing hands because of the link being posted, then it's advertising and not free.

But for readers wanting to post links to vendors who have items that have been useful for a project or whatever, go right ahead. It's one of the values of this site - reader-to-reader assistance.

Classified ads?

Joe, have you ever considered creating a "Classified ad" section here, kind of like your own in-house "HO Interchange" group?  Seems as though you could drive a lot of traffic here by doing so, though I understand it could also lead to more headaches for you.

Classified ads on MRH site

We talked in staff about classified ads and it could develop into some challenges quickly was the conclusion.

The ads will need to be really cheap to compete with eBay, and to make them profitable we'd need to build a custom system to handle them well in a hands-off manner.

Custom system = development costs, and it could be a couple years at $5 per classified before we'd pay back the development investment needed to do this right.

Bottom line, if you have stuff you want to sell, go to a web site that does it well like eBay. We can never become an eBay replacement, so it's probably silly to even try.

Forum

Thanks Joe.  I figured this was probably something you'd already pursued, but thought I'd ask anyway.  I guess what I had in mind, though, wasn't anything fancy, and I wouldn't think it'd take a great deal of development given your current format.  I was just thinking of a new forum, just like those you have today, but perhaps restricted from showing up in the "Posts Index" listing so that ads didn't choke what for many of us is our preferred viewing portal.  If my thinking is accurate, with what I would hope would be insignificant startup costs, perhaps the service could be priced much lower, or free from fees altogether, drawing more traffic to MRH.  Admittedly, though, my software development background is in a totally unrelated area, so I may be all wet.

I'm not trying to belabor the point, or look a gift horse in the mouth given the great things you're already offering us with MRH.  Just wanted to clarify.