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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?

Hi, as a part of selling the discussion/questions on IDing etc. and the groups in catagories have been important and an asset in the past.  I am trying my best to try to figure out how eBay is addressing these discussion groups when it comes to talking about item categories like books, clothing, etc.  
As I was searching a response a person said many are hiddent in the Group area.  I went to that area and found barely any current responses.  It seems like most were from 2013.  I want to begin listing and do need help with IDing.  I do a lot of research, but honestly, I do find so many dead ends.  The eBay community has been the mainstay of helping sellers in this area.  
Part 2 of this question is, once I've posted I can't figure out how to go back and find the answers.  It used to be that I could put in my ID and it would search out all of my posts.  Also, I did click on the box, email me when someone replies.  Does that work?  How helpful is Message Tags, and how to use it.... 

 Thanks so much.. a little help from my friends heart

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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?

doug@ebay
eBay Staff (Alumni)

Hi @vintagegenie

 

You have a couple of options to track posts and responses. 

Your profile will show you posts you've made, and recent activity. You can reach your profile via your username at the top right of a page in community.

 

Within a thread, you can click the Options link which will bring up options where you can select to Bookmark or Subscribe to a thread. From there, you will recieve notifications on your profile page accessable via the "My Subscriptions" link in your profile dropdown on the top right of a community page.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,

 

Doug

 


@vintagegenie wrote:

Hi, as a part of selling the discussion/questions on IDing etc. and the groups in catagories have been important and an asset in the past.  I am trying my best to try to figure out how eBay is addressing these discussion groups when it comes to talking about item categories like books, clothing, etc.  
As I was searching a response a person said many are hiddent in the Group area.  I went to that area and found barely any current responses.  It seems like most were from 2013.  I want to begin listing and do need help with IDing.  I do a lot of research, but honestly, I do find so many dead ends.  The eBay community has been the mainstay of helping sellers in this area.  
Part 2 of this question is, once I've posted I can't figure out how to go back and find the answers.  It used to be that I could put in my ID and it would search out all of my posts.  Also, I did click on the box, email me when someone replies.  Does that work?  How helpful is Message Tags, and how to use it.... 

 Thanks so much.. a little help from my friends heart


 

Message 2 of 21
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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?

alan@ebay
eBay Staff (Alumni)

Hi @vintagegenie

 

I recommend checking out the category specific discussion boards, you'll find the list of all those boards via this link:http://community.ebay.com/t5/Categories/ct-p/12003. These boards are active and you should be able to get the advice you need. Let me know how it goes. 

 

Thanks. 

Alan - eBay Community Manager


If a member's response helped, please give it a Helpful. If you are the author of a thread and a member's response resolved your question, please click "Accept as Solution." More on Accepted Solutions.

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Message 3 of 21
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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?

I believe OP's question was about groups, noting that most groups show nearly zero activity since 2013.

OP is correct.   For most of the groups that were formerly discussion boards, activity has fallen to nearly zero.   Some would say ebay killed those groups.

For most of them, there is no comparable remaining board in which to ask a question.

For example, the music and musicians discussion board got dozens of questions per day, until ebay made it a group.   That group now gets fewer than 12 posts per year.

If OP has a question for which there still exists a board, fine, the question can be asked there. 

In any of the dozens if not hundreds of areas in which there no longer is a board, but only groups, OP is out of luck.  The response "check out the boards" is not useful if OP has a question in an area where there no longer is a board.

Almost nobody ever visits those groups, as indicated by the number of posts.

Sorry if that sounds negative; but the negativity lies in ebay's unnecessary changing of active, lively, fun boards to inactive, boring, and seldom-visited groups.

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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?


@all_fakes wrote:

I believe OP's question was about groups, noting that most groups show nearly zero activity since 2013.

OP is correct.   For most of the groups that were formerly discussion boards, activity has fallen to nearly zero.   Some would say ebay killed those groups.

For most of them, there is no comparable remaining board in which to ask a question.

For example, the music and musicians discussion board got dozens of questions per day, until ebay made it a group.   That group now gets fewer than 12 posts per year.

If OP has a question for which there still exists a board, fine, the question can be asked there. 

In any of the dozens if not hundreds of areas in which there no longer is a board, but only groups, OP is out of luck.  The response "check out the boards" is not useful if OP has a question in an area where there no longer is a board.

Almost nobody ever visits those groups, as indicated by the number of posts.

Sorry if that sounds negative; but the negativity lies in ebay's unnecessary changing of active, lively, fun boards to inactive, boring, and seldom-visited groups.


Given your observation that the Groups are "dead," would you recommend that I advise a member to post on a "dead" group? I am not sure that would be a good idea. 

 

My advice to check out discussion boards was given as we want members to receive replies to their topics, the best chance of getting replies is on our discussion boards - that's where most of our members spend most of their time. 

 

Thanks. 

Alan - eBay Community Manager


If a member's response helped, please give it a Helpful. If you are the author of a thread and a member's response resolved your question, please click "Accept as Solution." More on Accepted Solutions.

Check out the eBay for Business podcast! For your chance to be featured on the show, call in with a question at 888 723-4630!

Message 5 of 21
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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?

Hi, Alan ~ I hear the same complaint quite often about the former eBay boards being demoted and strewn willy nilly in amongst the groups started by individuals, which for the most part are rarely used.

 

Do you have plans to rectify this situation in the near future?

 

alan@ebay

How much better life would be, if a liar's pants really did catch fire!
Message 6 of 21
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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?

Hi @hidy-hoo

 

As we want the Community to be a vibrant, responsive and healthy place, we're always looking at the structure of the Community and the number of discussion boards that we have. Having dozens and dozens of discussion boards tends to result in an unhealthy Community, as conversations are scattered around, and members tend not to know where to go, so either they post and don't receive a response, or they end up not posting as it is too confusing. 

 

We'll continue to look at the structure and do what is best given the traffic we see and the requests from the Community, but at this moment in time, there are no plans to reintroduce content from groups to the discussion boards. 

 

Thanks.

Alan - eBay Community Manager


If a member's response helped, please give it a Helpful. If you are the author of a thread and a member's response resolved your question, please click "Accept as Solution." More on Accepted Solutions.

Check out the eBay for Business podcast! For your chance to be featured on the show, call in with a question at 888 723-4630!

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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?

Thanks for the reply Alan...and I agree that at one point there were too many boards, however several of the most popular and well used boards were demoted to groups, thus leaving a vacuum for unanswered questions and just plain ol' having fun...and having fun makes for a vibrant, healthy and responsive community, imo.

 

My suggestion would be to move the former boards to their own section under groups so they could be easily found and rename them eBay Groups, which will differentiate them from the groups started by individuals.  There could be two sections, one for the former "Discussion Boards" where off topic threads are allowed and one for the former "Category" boards ~ this would give those former boards the chance to be easily found and used.

 

The eBay.com site is the only eBay site that doesn't have a discussion area for off topic threads.  Off Topic threads contribute to a vibrant community, imo.

 

alan@ebay

How much better life would be, if a liar's pants really did catch fire!
Message 8 of 21
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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?

I do appreciate the response; but while in some cases it may have been true that "Having dozens and dozens of discussion boards tends to result in an unhealthy Community, as conversations are scattered around, and members tend not to know where to go, so either they post and don't receive a response, or they end up not posting as it is too confusing" in many other cases the demotion of boards, and their conversion to groups, resulted in the death of that board. It resulted in the conversion of vibrant, active, fun boards, with dozens of posts per day, into "dead" groups witih only a dozen posts per year.  

 

In the case of the musicians board, for example, thousands of people had no problem finding the board; they asked questions, and got them answered.  They cannot find the musicians group, apparently, and do not ask questions there.  The opinion that there were too many groups, that they were therefore confusing, and unhealthy, was in many cases utterly unsupported by facts or logic.   There were many boards where members had no trouble at all finding the boards, asking questions, getting them answered, and having a good time doing so - and also providing a service to ebay.   If there were cases where there was confusion, or something "unhealthy," I'd respond that was only in a minority of cases, and that for the vast majority of boards there was no issue with people being confused or having problems finding the correct board.

What exactly is unhealthy about having boards that are easy-to-find and frequently visited?

 

I'm not suggesting of course that anyone be advised to post to a "dead" group; but I am disagreeing in part that there was a problem with too many boards; or I am suggesting that in many cases the change from board to group was a bad one, not helpful, not liked, and was counter-productive in terms of community involvement and getting questions asked and answered.

I am suggesting that ebay recognize, as they are so reluctant to do, that they have made a mistake, and that it has resulted in a deterioration of the community. 

And that ebay should make changes to improve the boards/groups that they have affected negatively, not just respond with platitudes.

Hidy-hoo had some specific suggestions; and I might suggest that ebay consider whether some groups should be returned to board status.

Message 9 of 21
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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?

Hi there, Alan ~ I was wondering if you have had a chance to ponder my most excellent (Smiley Happy) suggestion regarding giving the former boards a place of their own in the Groups area which I outlined in post number 8 above?  alan@ebay

How much better life would be, if a liar's pants really did catch fire!
Message 10 of 21
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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?

I think that is a really good idea Hidy. 

 

The soapbox was always a "group" of strangers who somehow found a board that fit their needs. 

Basically, different views, and the debates that followed. 

 

We often got questions from buyers and sellers, and I generally tried to answer any questions that came along. Sure, many of those people didn't understand why the regulars were talking about food, and word games. They soon learned that those type of threads kept the regulars coming back. 

 

We were working for ebay for free. 

Now, we just complain about the slow loading time. 

 

 


I am not what you think I am. You are what you think I am.
Message 11 of 21
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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?

We often got questions from buyers and sellers, and I generally tried to answer any questions that came along. Sure, many of those people didn't understand why the regulars were talking about food, and word games. They soon learned that those type of threads kept the regulars coming back. 

 

And then, ebay, in it's infinate wisdom, started moving those questions off to other boards.....

 

:: sigh ::

Message 12 of 21
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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?


@hidy-hoo wrote:

Thanks for the reply Alan...and I agree that at one point there were too many boards, however several of the most popular and well used boards were demoted to groups, thus leaving a vacuum for unanswered questions and just plain ol' having fun...and having fun makes for a vibrant, healthy and responsive community, imo.

 

My suggestion would be to move the former boards to their own section under groups so they could be easily found and rename them eBay Groups, which will differentiate them from the groups started by individuals.  There could be two sections, one for the former "Discussion Boards" where off topic threads are allowed and one for the former "Category" boards ~ this would give those former boards the chance to be easily found and used.

 

The eBay.com site is the only eBay site that doesn't have a discussion area for off topic threads.  Off Topic threads contribute to a vibrant community, imo.

 

alan@ebay


Thanks for the suggestion. I do like where the suggestion is going in terms of differentiating those boards that live in Groups, but I don't think it's intuitive enough unless you're familiar with the move that happened years ago.

 

As I mentioned earlier, we want to improve the overall ease of navigation and the structure of the Community, we've heard from members that it could be improved upon - especially in Groups, we agree. 

 

In the near future, if our team plan to make significant updates to the Community platform we will contact our most active users to get their feedback - before we make the changes. 

 

Thank you. 

Alan - eBay Community Manager


If a member's response helped, please give it a Helpful. If you are the author of a thread and a member's response resolved your question, please click "Accept as Solution." More on Accepted Solutions.

Check out the eBay for Business podcast! For your chance to be featured on the show, call in with a question at 888 723-4630!

Message 13 of 21
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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?

In the near future, if our team plan to make significant updates to the Community platform we will contact our most active users to get their feedback - before we make the changes. 

 

Please forgive me if I seem skeptical, but you had a whole board about suggestions for THIS upddate.  You asked for our input, and you got a whole lot of response from the "active users" and then blithly ignored everything we asked for, and inserted all kind of carpola that nobody mentioned.

 

What would be different next time?  And what about fixing THIS one?

 

 

 

Message 14 of 21
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Question about seller's discussion groups. Is there much activity to ask a question?


@sheba* wrote:

In the near future, if our team plan to make significant updates to the Community platform we will contact our most active users to get their feedback - before we make the changes. 

 

alan@ebay

Please forgive me if I seem skeptical, but you had a whole board about suggestions for THIS upddate.  You asked for our input, and you got a whole lot of response from the "active users" and then blithly ignored everything we asked for, and inserted all kind of carpola that nobody mentioned.

 

What would be different next time?  And what about fixing THIS one?

 

 

 


sheba, Very wise to use 'carpola'.......I used the actual word and got 'kissed'. Who knew?  Smiley Frustrated


"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. " -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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