As a customer, I would find your advertising forum more useful if you added a rule that advertisers should specify the Intel/AMD model number of the processors they are offering as "P4 3Ghz" can be a wide variety of processors that could be 32 or 64 bit whereas "P4 930 3Ghz" tells me exactly what is on offer.

This would save a lot of time for buyers evaluating offers.

There aren't any requirements, or templates for the advertising forums. The threads are posted by independent members, and wht does not define what the users should or shouldn't include in their offers.

You should just reply to the thread with your question.

I could see this helping if the offer was for only one configuration. But they're often for several different offers.

I could see this helping if the offer was for only one configuration. But they're often for several different offers.
Precisely
Requiring model numbers is just a bad idea.
Of course, you could ask about said model numbers if you're interested in a thread or special.

Dont think it needs a rule.

If the advertiser feels it will be of benifit to sales or the protential customers decision, they include it.

Likewise if the customer wants to know the exact model they can always enquire with the host for the information.

Just my 2cents!

I think that would be great for a web hosting database...however its advertisements...And ads usually have personality in them which would not work if rules like that where enforced.

I think standardisation methods like that belong only on databases and places like that where the aim of the site is to compare every host.

From a practical point of view, this wouldn't work either.

For example, a Pentium 4 2.8Ghz processor comes in many different forms depending on when it was purchased - anytime from 2003 through to very recently.

Intel®Pentium® 4 Processor 2.8Ghz (the original ;))
Intel®Pentium® 4 Processor 2.8Ghz 'C'
Intel®Pentium® 4 Processor 2.8Ghz 'E'
Intel® Pentium® 4 processor 520
Intel® Pentium® 4 processor 520
Intel® Pentium® 4 processor 521

And then with the 3Ghz variety...

Pentium® 4 Processor 3.06Ghz (original, 533mhz FSB)
Pentium® 4 Processor Supporting Hyper-Threading Technology - 3Ghz (800mhz FSB)
Pentium® 4 Processor Supporting Hyper-Threading Technology - 3Ghz 'E'
Pentium® 4 Processor 524 Supporting Hyper-Threading Technolog - 3.06Ghz, 533mhz FSB
Pentium® 4 Processor 530 Supporting Hyper-Threading Technology - 3.06ghz, 800mhz FSB
Pentium® 4 Processor 531 Supporting Hyper-Threading Technology - 3Ghz, 800mhz FSB
Pentium® 4 Processor 630 supporting Hyper-Threading Technology - 3Ghz, 800mhz FSB
Pentium® 4 Processor 631 Supporting Hyper-Threading Technology - 3Ghz, 800mhz FSB.

Different sockets, different FSB's, different CPU 'features', different motherboard and memory requirements

While it would be nice, most dc's buy cpu's again and again as they expand. And thus, they'll very likely have more than one model in use. If there were only a couple of models, then it might be possible to list exactly what you'd get - but with the sheer number of models over the years, each with the smallest of variations, the inventory systems required to match CPU's to motherboards to memory and then to figure out what each server order is meant to have would simply add cost with little to no benefit to the majority of customers.