I would MUCH prefer to deal with someone in the club, because I DO expect that there is a higher level of trust that comes with an internal club-member deal.

I just don't think that it sends a good message to say "in order to trust us, you'll have to join the club".

Most (if not all) club members are gonna treat ANYONE fairly (my operating assumption, anyway), and I do very much appreciate that. Probably most, if not all, would do the same if they were NOT in the club (is my guess).

I tend to think that 99.874329847 % of most clubs will never have to worry about being in the sights of an "ethics enforcer", but it's nice to have the documented ability to keep the ranks clean.