This is another of those decisions that will likely not be popular with many of you, but we are going to ask that everyone read it and comply with it.

This forum is truly blessed with many talented individuals. Over the last few months, we've seen examples of excellent craftsmanship, whether it be crafting a kilt, leather-working, metal-working, etc. Many of these artists have started cottage businesses to meet the demand for their handiwork. Several of these artists have been fortunate enough to turn their part-time hobbies into growing businesses. And we wish this same level of success to everyone that decides to strike out on their own.

But we need to point out some hard and cold facts about promoting those businesses here on the forum.

As you browse the forum, you will notice there are several ads in the forum's header, there are ads that appear after the first post on each page of a thread and there are ads that appear in the left-hand column of the forum's index page. It is our hope that you will take note of these ads and visit the Web sites of our advertisers to place orders for their respective products. We appreciate our advertisers and we urge our members to support the companies that support this forum.

Each one of the companies represented in these ads is paying for the opportunity to place their name in prominent locations on this forum. They know the levels of traffic that visit this forum on a regular basis and they feel the exposure they receive is worth the amount they pay for that exposure.

Unfortunately, many of the hobbyists from our membership have seen a demand for their work and have begun advertising/sales campaigns of their own, here on the forum. And while that is certainly easy to understand, one factor that is not immediately noticed is the fact of one individual paying a portion of his profits to advertise here, while another is paying nothing.

The operation of this forum takes a considerable amount of hours, but it also consumes more than its fair share of dollars, as well. We offset the operational expenses through the sales of advertising, plain and simple. That is what allows this forum to be here, no two ways about it.

Our advertisers expect a bit of bang for their bucks, and when an individual comes along promoting products that are in direct competition with our advertisers, whilst paying nothing for the advertising opportunity, the bang goes away. We simply cannot expect one person to pay for advertising, when others are paying nothing.

As a result, we are going to start enforcing the following policies, effective immediately.

1. If any individual or company has a product they want to advertise or promote on the X Marks the Scot Forum, please contact a member of the forum staff for the various advertising options we have available. These options range from simple text ads in some prominent locations, to rotating banner ads on every page of the forum, along with exclusive forums for you to promote your products with pictures and descriptions and share communication with your potential and existing customers.

2. If you choose not to advertise with the X Marks the Scot Forum, you will be allowed one, single-line link in your signature, linking back to your own Web site. Beyond the signature link, no further product promotion will be allowed. No descriptions of products, no prices on products, no mention of product availability and no pictures of products will be allowed. In other words, if you want to present your products here on this forum, purchase advertising. We've been noticing some very creative posts, submitted by some business-minded individuals of late and we will be paying particular attention to these types of posts in the future.

3. As mentioned in the forum policies and guidelines, the For Sale forum is for the advertising of used, personal items that you no longer want or need and not for commercial sales or promotion.

4. Members are encouraged to continue posting reviews of items they have purchased and will be allowed to post a single link to the supplier's Web site in their review. Pictures of the purchased product will be acceptable, as well.

Please understand that the X Marks the Scot Forum staff reserves the right to delete any posts that we feel are becoming advertisements by proxy.

And with that out of the way, let me try to end this on a happier note. There has been some concern about future availability of X Marks the Scot items, such as the kilt pins, t-shirts, etc. There will be more details on this soon, but I can tell you that Highlandtide has been in negotiation with one of the forum advertisers and this individual's company will be handling all future sales for these types of items. I've seen some of the ideas and suggestions that have been getting banged about and it looks like there will be some exciting X Marks items available in the near future.