It has always been "proper" for members to post about vendors they use and have no affiliation.
However, anyone who has been around the forum for a while will know that historically TeaChat membership has had an aversion to vendors spamming their beloved TeaChat. However this has not stopped vendors from spamming the forum.
Often spam was guised in the form of false testimonials and the like. Sometimes it was a brazen first post (or 20 first day posts) proclamation with total disregard of the forum's clearly stated rules. I often wondered how a vendor could be so idiotic to think that a forum that is NOT completely and utterly plagued by advertising (in fact is completely devoid of advertising***) could be virgin territory ripe for their ad campaign, like a forum that no other vendor has yet discovered.
The no spam rule was not my creation, I simply wrote the generally unanimous wishes of members, TeaChat would be a spam-free zone ... an oasis from the www of advertising we are all constantly bombarded with as soon as we leave TeaChat.
There is a place for advertising, but TeaChat was simply not the place. This rule was strictly enforced for a number of years with countless bannings and post deletions. The worst offenders would sometimes receive "special enduring treatment" that would be left as a warning to the offender and others as well, a metaphorical of skull and crossbones with "stay out" written beneath.
You know it is truly amazing just how many people are trying to make a buck out of tea, many honestly and others unscrupulously
This is generally not bad per se, but many of the attempts have been an affront to our love of the TeaLeaf and accompanying Teaware not to mention our sensibilities. 
***The obvious exception is Adagio, the owner of TeaChat. However even they must follow the forum rules outside of the banner and the Adagio category.
