Ahh, nice, a feedback thread. I missed that the first time around.
This is a suggestion that I posted over in the 'Knifemakers FS Area / Fixed Blades' forum in the 'Sellers & Buyers - Read This' topic.
To me, it seems like the biggest source of confusion and complaints is regarding the commenting. Commenting is an especially sensitive topic in the knifemakers FS area, since many of the makers rely on those posts both for feedback and to gauge interest in a particular design.
What if there was a way to allow anyone and everyone to comment, the maker to respond immediately to questions or concerns... all the while, no bumping?
There is!
Actually, there are a couple of ways to address this.
The easiest way would be to simply change the sort order of threads in the subforum.
(Please note: these are instructions for vB 4.x, whereas BladeForums is currently using version 3.8. The process shouldn't be much, if any, different.)
-In the Admin Control Panel, navigate to 'Forums & Moderators > Forum Manager.'
-Enter the 'Edit Forum' option of the desired subforum.
-Change the 'Default Sort Field' from 'Last Post' to 'Thread Start Time.'
--Repeat for any number of subforums.
What this will do is sort that subforum's threads by the time of their creation, not the time of their last reply. Bumping would no longer exist for that subforum. As an amendment to the rules, you might need to limit how often someone may re-post any one particular knife so that no one is tempted to just make a new thread once their knife hits page three.
As a bonus, doing this would also make everyone's lives easier regarding the 'two threads in the top 25; four in the top 50' rule. No one need worry that someone might bump one of their older threads and prohibit them from posting a new knife for sale. The moderators would also have a much easier time policing this rule; as it is right now, if they see the same name on the first page three times, they have to figure out if it's a rules violation or just someone with a question about an older, unsold knife.
But... you just can't win for losing. People are just so used to having the ability to bump their threads that doing away with that will undoubtedly cause unrest similar to what you are already seeing with the new rules.
The other option is significantly less pain-free, so I wont bother going into much detail. Basically, have a mod/hack created for your install to make everyone happy. Forced no-bump-for-72-hours, postless bumping button, new replies don't bump threads, etc...
Now, I don't know if this is right for the whole of The Exchange, but I do think it is right move over in the knifemakers FS area. My advice? Try it out over there for a week or two... gather some feedback like you are here... see if it works well... consider the implications of doing it to the rest of the exchange...
Thank you for your time.