I think it is because if someone says they are available for work then I assume the Mods are trying to stop other people posting about job opportunities that they may be interested in, which is in effect advertising (by giving the details of the job). Of course what that means is that if other forum users want to give advice (ie, give more details) they can't publicly. Personally I've never received as many as 10 responses from one post so I guess that isn't an issue for most users. The whole debate about why those offering jobs can't post anymore was long and heated and a long time ago. IOSH doesn't want free advertsing on here as it means they don't get the advertising revenue. We all think it's not very helpful for those of us trying to get work from time to time. By the way I have had job leads from posting on this forum and so I guess it does work even in it's current format.

Clairel and Jay have both identified the reason. We found that we were spending an inordinate amount of time hiding posts that were advertising jobs, which were against the forum rules. The record was twelve on a particular job-seeker's topic. We therefore have decided to lock them. This has the effect of preventing the rule violations while, at the same time, still allowing people to make contact with the job-seeker via the PM system. You do have to keep an eye on your in-box, as it is most irritating to have it jam up! Speaking personally, I usually find this out whan I am trying to send a message (don't ask why the system won't allow you to send a message when your inbox is full). Jane