Advertised Posting
 

How about a hack that allows people to post authorized advertisement posts?

Here's the idea. You have a large forum full of services offered by many people. Your site is advert supported, so you want to make money off any types of advertisement, including posts.

Assume I am a member, and someone requests something I offer. The rules dont allow me to promote myself. Now assume that forum DID allow me to pay to respond and promote myself if I paid for it? I would have a credit limit that I could refill at any time to say, $50. When I respond to such a request, I tick a button. If the charge $1 each, I am now down to $49. Under my title on that post it says something like "Paid Reply" or "[Forum Name] Authorized Response"

This way I can respond to posts offering my services without breaking the rules. I get to self promote, and the forum makes money from it. Moderators would know it's a paid promotion, because of the "Authorized" part under my title.

Anyone up to the challenge of this great idea?