I think it's the whole Premium thing that's started those rumors -- because you do pay for that (and no, I wouldn't touch it, let alone pay for it). But people took the whole Premium service way out of context and got the idea the the site's going completely pay for play.
Alot of people would quit...period if they made it pay site.
As far as that ebay things goes, that still makes me

, first they had advertised their (granted charity) auctions on the McDonald's page with a link to go to the auctions (so much for no clickable outside links) - the day I got a warning and all my guild board messages cleared for responding to another member who suggested ebay for an orange aisha plushie I couldn't find (and the other person who originally posted the word ebay? - nothing happened to them; go figure!). And they have ebay stock listed on their portal page. So if it's a supposed "scam" site, they're totally breaking their own rules.
And just saying ebay is not posting an outside link. If
the whole url for ebay was posted, then that's an outside link, but it's still not like someone posting a personal site url which could be a bad site.
Virtual, I'm in the same position - ever since my warning, I'm almost paranoid about what I post. Like, I wanted to suggest photobucket to someone looking for a good image host, but I'm almost afraid I'll get another warning for "outside link" or worse, since it would be my second warning for the same thing I'd be frozen.
I agree that there are plenty of places that shouldn't be posted, but I do think this whole thing has gone too far. We should be able to post a known, safe, trusted site.