well?
the Used Instrument Marketplace
although it’s been tried…
I think the separate forum is a good idea. Makes it easy to see quickly what’s up for sale.
I do have a question, however. The rules say: “It is against the rules of this forum to comment on the forum about the instruments listed by others or the prices posted” and “Those who post here may be contacted by email or PM or other means, but not by replying to posts.”
Does this mean you can’t ask a general question (such as ‘When was this made?’, 'Is this tunable?") that might not have been mentioned in the original post, but which would probably be of general interest? Is it against the rule to say something like ‘I know this person selling the flute–fine human being’ or ‘I owned this whistle and it’s fine.’
I’m not writing this to be cantankerous. I’m fine with whatever rules you want to set. Just wanted clarification.
Yeah, it means exactly that: no public commentary from outside parties (moderators, of course, have exemption in an administrative capacity when deemed necessary), and such comments will be deleted. The idea is to forestall blowups and crankiness, and let the FS/WTB posts stand on their own. PMs and Emails only, please. 
rather non traditional ol’ boy!
how is one supposed to hijack a thread that one is not allowed to post to?
Precisely.
Yep, I’d treat them as classified ads, as in a newspaper or craigslist. If, as a result of direct queries, the poster wants to clarify or amplify their listing, they can easily do so with follow-up posts.
so, how 'bout them Mets?
well, it wasn’t as snarky as “yer welcome”
seemed non confrontational…
had nothin’ to do with anything…
what part didn’t ya get?
I agree. Nontraditional and somehow . . . disturbing. I hope this is not a harbinger of repressive tendencies toward what is, if not an outright art form, almost universally acclaimed to be a delightful pasttime.
No worries. As MTGuru so well put it, the Exchange, rather than a forum in the usual sense, is more along the lines of classified ads, and so the profile of that sort of thing is being followed. As for the rest, business as usual.
So why does the Used Instrument Marketplace have a little folder icon on it on the index page?
← that thing.
Because the Sold and Old archive is a sub-forum.
Another level of complexity. 
boyz with toyz, eh…they gotta play with 'em 