Oh, I agree - I've been a lurker since 2009. My point is that I would like to buy/sell some apple gear now and cannot because I need another 240 or so posts. It almost encourages quantity over quality to achieve the goal of getting to the forum.
Now I think that saying "an account 6 months or older, or having 240 posts may SEE adverts, but may not place them." or something like that
We have seen many spammers here, that registered an account months or even years ago and reactivated it later to post their crap. What prevents a scammer from doing the same? 250 posts are done quite fast, even with 5 posts per day, it takes less than two months to get to 250 posts. Just look for threads via Advanced Search, that have had no answers yet and which you could answer or browse the sub-fora of your interest, to see, if you can contribute in one of the threads with help or discussing fourth world problems.
I am not a good example for post counting, as I am a post nut, but even when I started I had lots of threads I could contribute too, but then again, I pretty well versed in many of the standard problems that get repeatedly posted here. Don't ask me about repairing permissions though, leave that to
calderone.
Just remember, the limit (250 posts AND 180 days) is there to protect the seller or buyer, or the one, that has honest intentions. A scammer with 10 posts in 180 days can easily exploit a rule, where only one limit had to be reached first. It would be just playing the long con, easier than posting drivel, that would be discovered and lead to an early ban.