I'd say you should get in touch with Marc, the site owner, he's usually pretty reasonable about such things, maybe he can make it a "sticky" for a while that will sit at the top of the forum where everyone can see it. The moderators, well, you can say it's a Sargeant Schultz kind of thing, they were only following orders, and I guess the rule is there for a reason...but I'd tend to think Marc would make an exception...can't hurt to ask.
Best of luck with it. I do think it was perfectly placed, both here and on any warbird forum, and I do think you would find new competitors through it, and it was just to everybody's benefit to have it here.