von Marwitz
Forum Guru
Thanks, Randy. This is helpful.Advertisements seek to sell the product or service. You have seen ads on TV, newspaper, magazines, Facebook, etc.
What Broken Down did (as have others) was product development seeking input from potential customers to fine tune the final product. Gunner Scott's reviews or previews of products do not include (IIRC) a specific appeal to buy but are more like 'be on the lookout for this once it goes on sale, it's good stuff'.
Looks like he was advertising within the forum rules as he understood them. He bought the special membership so he could advertise without having to submit posts to GS before posting on the forums.
Promoting sales of your own creation (Justicar's [Andy] Fight for Seoul) is an advertisement. Telling others about what you created, highlighting contents, maps, counters, etc. without a reference to sales can be viewed as type of review / preview.
Cheers,
von Marwitz