We did not get the email that has been standard practice in eBay groups for at least 15 years during our tenure in Groups. The email gives the opportunity for members that are interested in keeping the group open to just post.
Also, if Groups are scheduled for a makeover or anything, it appears in Announcements, which is also standard practice. Nothing was posted in Announcements.
Those of us who have been part of the Groups platform for many years have seen a decline in participation. From our observation, it first started with a sellers boycott of eBay, then sellers continued to have more dissatisfaction with fees and such. With the facelifts of Groups, the various changes in the platforms interface, seemed to anger many on the Group platform. Then the rollout and popularity of social media platforms, there was a continued migration away from the Groups platform, even though the format of eBay Groups was a better platform for interaction.
eBay Groups platform was once vibrant and full of fun and information, and sadly, with all of its decline, it fell further by the fact that many groups were deleted, further adding to the decline of the platform, eventually making it feel like a ghost town.
We lost two important groups just the other day, without even a warning of any sort.
As disabled seniors, we may not be able to put all the time and dedication into the groups as we should or would like to, and eBay may even have restrictions on less capable individuals such as us, being less able to care for our groups as we should. Plus, having to battle cancer for the past few years has further hindered our participation, however, we have a dedicated assistant on the DA platform that is up for the task of what they call “bring in fresh blood” into the Groups platform, to add more artists to the group and such.
To put a face on our perspective . . . we fell into Groups just 2 years after the ACEO movement was birthed, and the founder of ACEO started another group, and handed it over to us. Then from that offshoot movement sprung another group. This is the historical context of the lineage, and it is important to us and other artists within the art movement(s).
So, with all that has transpired over the many years in Groups, some beautiful moments, some heart-wrenching, we would not trade those moments for anything, and are more enriched by it.
Please tell us why we were not informed via email or Announcements, and if you can restore both BALLS XR and XR to Groups platform.
Thanks for your consideration,
~M & T~
