Thanks for the sympathy John hahaha, almost all are back up already but still need to be sorted through.
What a breed for tangents. I think that the only real problem was that threads got deleted with no notice, but it was accident so it's no one's fault. The way the section was managed and moderated before this happened was perfect, and in my opinion it went smoothly since the adoption of the latest set of rules. I don't think any changes are necessary really.
I do agree though John, your originally proposed method of personal transactions would eliminate lots of BS, including undercutting sales, and useless post-whoring. I just don't think the problem has gotten severe enough yet, or should I say it hasn't become a problem yet even (just my opinion). I'd rather deal on a personal basis than publicly anyways, but then again private transactions don't display any reputation or get any type of advertisement out publicly, so that would be a down side to a seller.