People want all kinds of things, most of which either make the game easier for everyone, or make the game easier for their play style. Neither of those things is good justification for a change. This will absolutely disadvantage the thousands of players who are not in fellowships, and the thousands more who are in small fellowships who will practically never again see three star trade offers as those will pretty much always end up being internal.
Fellowship-only trades is 100% about keeping the good stuff for your friends and close to 0% about making the game more interesting.
That the three star trades will "pretty much always end up being internal" to the fellowship may be true -- or not. Generally speaking my three star trades go outside the fellowship exactly because I use them to draw needed resources into the fellowship. Why would you expect your fellowshipmates to pay extra for goods you offer? If the point of the fellowship is to help each other making your fellowship pay more is hardly helpful, and if you are offering three star trades to get something isn't it exactly because no one in your fellowship is offering you a two star or below for the same goods? And if the basic premise that three star trades will "pretty much always end up being internal" is wrong, then the inferences that it "disadvantages" "thousands of players who are not in fellowships and the thousands more who are in small fellowships" is also wrong.
Think carefully about 3 star trades. In my experience they are usually done for two reasons: 1) To bring in resources to a fellowship (or more precisely, perhaps, to increase the number of people seeing my need and encouraging them to meet my need -- in the fellowship or out); and 2) to assist a smaller player who has a need but not the matching amounts needed to trade for that need. In the first case the 3 star trade doesn't change as the intended audience is both inside and outside the fellowship and all will see it. In the second, the intended audience is inside the fellowship (most of the time I would think anyway) and thus to "advertise" the three star trade outside the fellowship is counter-productive. It's not just a matter of making it easier, but of making it reach it's intended audience. The trades are, in essence, advertisements and thus to target the right audience is important.
Let's say though, we continue with things as they are. I want to give one of my fellowship mates a boost by providing him/her some extra goods. Right now I can guess what they need, anticipate what they might need, or wait for them to post their need -- either in a message or in a 1 or no star trade. If I guess and post at 3 star levels I can only hope they see it before somebody takes it. Ditto to the "anticipation" route. If I post a three star level trade to a large audience it's usually taken pretty fast. So, in addition to guessing and anticipating their needs, I now have to guess and anticipate when they will be on line, and when they will check the trades. Of course another way to do this is to engage in a conversation with my fellowship mate about what he/she might need. Great! Except many of the new/inexperienced/uninformed players aren't aware of the traditions of the game (where older and more advanced players are willing to share), and in fact are often not even aware of the "star system" enough to make those kinds of trades and thus don't know how or where to make their needs known. You can, of course, assume they don't know all this and reach out to them to give them instructions about trading and all that, but really? How many AM's actually do that consistently?
The point is that a system of restricting the advertising of your trade to those with whom you want to trade, is more efficient can be used to encourage new/inexperienced/uninformed players to stay around.
Here's what I do in my fellowship especially during an event if I need a certain amount of something for example I let my fellowship know ahead of time that im putting up a trade so that my fellowship can grab it before any outsider can grab it , it's called communication with your fellowship
Here's a problem with some fellowships there is a lack of communication and I have been in some fellowships that don't communicate so I leave that fellowship and find one that does To me communication is vital especially during an event if you want to have a awesome fellowship you have to communicate with you're members talk to you're members let them know when you are putting up a trade
The key phrase is "I let my fellowship know ahead of time that I'm putting up a trade so that my fellowship can grab it before any outsider can grab it." You have an intention that it be grabbed by your fellowship. You don't have any way to protect it from somebody else grabbing it. Thus, the trade you envision has the potential of being twarted by the system. What if you are in a small fellowship in which your and our fellowship mates are seldom on line at the same time? What if you are a new/inexperienced/uninformed player and don't know how or that you can inform others "ahead of time?" How many players go searching when they are small for trades they can take to meet their needs only to find there are none? If I were in a fellowship with new/inexperienced/uninformed players and I could restrict a trade to my fellowship I'd fill the board with all kinds of favorable trades for those new/inexperienced/uninformed players and thus encourage them to grow. And then, having done that, I'd send them a message about those trades and why they are there. But I can't do that now since my neighbors will take those favorable trades long before my fellowship mates arrive on the scene.
Now of course, "lack of communication" is an idea that needs attention. We want to encourage communications, right? And certainly if there are a bunch of trades up to meet my needs I'm not going to be sending out messages about those needs. On the other hand, if I'm in a fellowship of new/inexperienced/uninformed players isn't it more my job as a veteran/experienced/informed player to initiate messages? And wouldn't those receiving messages from me about the favorable trades I've been posting -- be better received, instructive and encouraging than waiting for them to tell me what they need? New/inexperienced/uninformed players need encouragement and that doesn't come easily in the current system.
Thus, there are two great reasons to adopt this idea. First, it protects trades and makes them go where they are intended without risking their going to other players. Second, it provides a way to actually encourage the new/inexperienced/uninformed player, again, without risking goods flowing in directions the poster does not wish. Neither of these are trivial and while they might be somewhat reflective of how I try to play the game (i.e. encouraging others to grow and be excited about being here rather than discouraged), they are good reasons to add a check box to the system to restrict trades to fellowship only.
AJ