The idea of a template is to jog people's memory as to what has or hasn't been done or what might be expected by buyers and give potential buyers a quick heads up as to the probable condition of the machine.  There is a public record in black and white of how the machine was portrayed and any major differences to that description may then be brought to the attention of others.

The forum is meant to be for everyone and not just commercial sellers, that was an issue raised in another thread that the forum is viewed by some as being too commercial.  Restricting for sale threads to commercial sellers only is not a good idea in my humble opinion.  At the end of the day, the forum should not be held accountable for any deals turning sour, the deal is done between individuals with the forum used as a tool to advertise the machine for the seller and/or buyer in the case of a wanted ad and is a great asset to the pinball community.

I don't see any problem with being listed as either a buyer or seller of a machine, I've got nothing to hide and if it assists with honest and factual information being shared amongst up then happy days.

There will always be something not working 100% right on a machine, whether it is broken or damaged or just out of adjustment I haven't bought one machine yet that hasn't needed something done somewhere.  We all know how many moving parts there are in these machines and I honestly don't expect every single thing to be stripped down and thoroughly checked, ask someone like Nino or Mark C how long that would take and how much added cost to a machine there would be because of that.  What the whole aim of this excercise is to minimise any gross errors or omissions from a description.
Whatever the outcome is, it's great to see an effort being made in response to member's concerns and everyone being given an opportunity to contribute.