I am locking this thread now. Points have been made for and against and we'll leave it at that. I don't want this forum ending in a load of fighting between members.
At the end of the day Alan has done this for his own gain too which is against the forum rules. In other words he is running a business and therefore his posts are classifed as commerical postings, he just chose not to mention that at the time.
These forums are for sharing information, not profiteering. This site is funded solely by advertising and Alan should have paid to advertise his service, just like everyone else has to. Without advertising this forum wouldn't exist at all.
Justin