Okay, I was hoping that one of the big guys would post the answer here, but they posted it in the Mod Forum.

Quick answer - I was right!

Long answer:

Direct links are okay if:

1. They are in response to a question:
   "Hey, I'm looking for a stick, where can I find one?"
   "Well, check out Stickman's Stick Collection, volumes I - V, at sticksgalore.com/store."

It doesn't matter if another member posts the location or Stickman does.

2. It's a member not affiliated with the merchant remarking on a product:
   "Wow! I didn't realize just how many types of sticks there are until I saw Stickman's Sticks at sticksgalore.com/store!"

3. It's a free add-on to a commercial product:
   "I just made a neat brown texture for Stickman's sticks. Oh, you need the buy the Stick Volume IV at sticksgalore.com/sticks5 to use the textures."

Direct Links are NOT okay if:

1. The link has nothing to do with the topic at hand.
   "Help, I can't get Vicki's eyes to cross properly."
   "Yeah, that is a problem. Check out sticksgalore.com/store"

or even

"Help, I can't get Vicki's eyes to cross properly."
"Well, set REye to -9 and LEye to +9. And while you're here, check out sticksgalore.com/store"

2. The merchant starts a post about the commercial product. That's what the Product Showcase Forum is for.
   "Need sticks? Come to sticksgalore.com."
   or
   "Hey, I found a neat new way to do dancing sticks. Buy my Sticks Collection Volume VI to see how it works."

Mind you, if a merchant posts about how to do a technique, explains the technique, and mentions at the end that one of their products has a good example on how to do it, that's okay. (Yes, it's a bit of a gray area, but we're trying to balance sharing knowledge with advertising.)

Now, if we see a pattern of "coincidental questions" about products, we will look into it.

What does this mean?

"Hey, I'm looking for sticks that have jagged edges."
"Well, I just released my Jagged Stick collection 5 minutes ago at sticksgalore.com/jaggies"

2 days later ...

"I need sticks that bend at 38.26 degrees."
"Oh, well, you're in luck. My Bended Sticks package was released 10 minutes ago at sticksgalore.com/bendies and if you act fast, you can get 3 double-bent sticks for free."

3 days after that - same posters again ... you get the idea.

Hopefully this is clear. We don't want anyone to abuse the system by pretending to need a product so a merchant can post an ad in a non-commercial forum, such as the Poser Forum. It's not fair to all the merchants who play by the rules. I know we've bumped some posts for the reasons above.

If this needs any clarification, please let us know. We're floating some ideas on how to make this easier and clearer for everyone. Thanks for your patience!