Originally Posted by
Mackers
Inflates forum stats though which likely is why certain forums keep them around.
Possibly, but that's of little value compared to the information in the ad thread - a price, frequently indicators of condition, even sometimes knowlege that such an items exists (and should it be sold, the viewer of the listing would know to look for another).
But prices are the most valuable - it means that buyers can know the market, and sellers don't find themselves constantly reducing their prices to make things more lucrative (well, less for them, but they were obviously wrong to start with).