If I were to start a business selling goods and/or services in exchange for bitcoin and want to promote myself on this board:

- do I need to worry about my post-count or 'join date' as a mark of trust or knowledge?
doesn't bother me. it bothers some con people who can't run a real business and will attack you because you are from the real world and weren't in the first wave of bitcoin and therefore an "idiot"

- is it wise to start a new account separate from my 'personal' account?
not sure

- and I register a domain 'privately', does this make me appear 'shady'?
doesn't to me. Depends on the business. Protects you from that radical cranks on here imo.

- is it possible to remain somewhat anonymous?
yes, somewhat but you can only hide so much

- is it dangerous to post a 'brick and mortar' address, phone number, or my real name (even in a pm?)?
register a business name/ltd and use that address

- can anyone point me in the direction of a thread or two regarding BTC start-up do's and don'ts?
no me

- is it better to use a service like bips or bitpay? What are my alternatives to those services?
I use bitpay on a couple of sites and they are excellent

Thank you for any and all input in this matter...