Its been said before and bean said it again here. Mods/admin are inactive and therefore we have useless threads and post. We also have excessive sales beyond what is "allowed" per "policy" without paying. And those of us that do pay for a "sponsorship" question why are we paying to sell and advertise when no one else is. For the forum as a business, the worse thing you can do is lose the people and businesses that are paying your bills.
I am still a hobbyist above all else and as a hobbyist I scroll straight past all the same 3-4 sponsors that post several times a week because they are not "local". This is a "LOCAL" forum and the 3-4 main businesses that post here are not local. They simply have a budget for advertising and use it to post on almost every forum in this hobby.
To me a local forum thrives from its local community. This site no longer is a community like it was back in the day (prior to the premiere reef days).
This is true. A community first needs to be built. This is done by spreading the word about this place. Said it before and I'll say it again. Amazed how many people I talk to in stores that never heard fo this site nor the other for that fact. But I always mention this one because it's where I am a member.
This site is less a CL than the other. You can't fault people for selling old/older equipment they've been storing and want to clean the garage a little that would be good for beginners to start with instead of new expensive stuff when they may not stay in it because of discouragement of the trials when starting. Or the people that have upgraded or are trying a different product. But I am on your side when they are obviously running a shop out of their garage Then don't pay the retailer fees like they should. Ironic I say that because I know about you, but you're paying the dues. I peronally buy something from every shop I step into as to give some type of business and keep the doors open.
Some of the old users have moved out of the area and thus no longer participants. May still be in CA. but not local to the imediate area. I'm not one to drive more than a 1/2 hour anywhere, and today that's like going 5 miles away.
Never been to your place but have mentioned to people about your shop. Looks like you like those BM curve 9s. Says a lot for them being used by a shop. I've been using BM for 10 years.