1. It stops the drive by people that just sign up to post a for sale ad and never return to the site because they can be reached by phone/email. Allowing this would ENCOURAGE scammers. At least this way they have to come back to the site to answer questions and finish the transaction.
2. It stops most members from getting spammed to death because their email is out there publically. Gold members make this choice on their own, and that was a decision the Gold Members made back when I created the rule. I disagreed with it back then and still do. But since its unlikely a drive by is going to pay to become a gold member just to put his phone number in an ad. By the way, the one repeat scammer we have, does exactly this. He PMs members in the wanted forums, asks them to contact him via email, and never returns to the site. We have worked hard to keep him from bothering the members through various actions we have taken to stop him.
I have had a number of times where someone asked me to remove information months later because it came back to haunt them. One member was having trouble getting a security clearance because he had his personal info in a post.
Those were my primary reasons for the no emails and no phone numbers in posts rule. I don't just do things willy nilly, and most often there are many reasons you guys haven't thought of which factor into my decisions. I am always looking out for the good of the site and the good of our members.
