Updated Community Guidelines

[sheila@ebay]

Hello Community,

We want to make the Community a safe and enjoyable place for all to come participate and learn from one another. The Community team has recently updated the Community Guidelines. You can find them here.

I'll keep this post up for until the end of day on July 6th for feedback on the Guidelines.

Thank you for participating in Community!

[katzrul15]

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@evry1nositswindy wrote:

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@katzrul15 wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

Agree with axing the names/titles

What do people think about Kudos?  

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sheila@ebay 

Wish they would make the whole business go away.  Helpfuls are subjective and often have zero corollary to the subject matter at hand.  I may "like" a post as it is helpful to me, but not to the OP's question, post, rant, diatribe, etc.

Have never understood the whole "Rockstar" thing - it gives off the wrong vibe anyway.  

The "leader board" needs to just go away - it means nothing anyway.  No reason to keep track of "helpfuls" or whatever in the first place. 

And the boards need to limit the number of IDs folks post with.  We have people constantly creating new IDs to be just be disruptive to the boards overall.  Who needs 10+ IDs to post and create under-current??

If you are truly here to post, share, learn and help others, why do you need multiple posting IDs?  You don't.

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Exactly.  I read one post where the OP answered with one of their other IDs and was making themselves seem like they were in the right.  They got busted for it too by one of our astute 'rockstars'. 

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Yes, we have a poster with many, many IDs and they bring out their "posse" of IDs to support whenever someone disagrees with them or they wish to drive home a snarky post or dog pile or whatever.

This Community needs a true "re-set".  And it is shame - something to learn each day and someone new to meet.  There are always just a few that ruin it for everyone.

[maxine*j]

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sheila@ebay wrote:

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@maxine*j wrote:

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sheila@ebay wrote:

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@maxine*j wrote:

From tne new guidelines:

"Get the help you need.

"Please ask for recommendations for tools to help run your business, to find items to purchase, or to share your items or listings to get feedback or provide examples to other users. It’s appropriate for users to also respond to these types of questions with listings, products, or services."

Frankly, this concerns me.  It has always been the policy that the boards are not for buying and selling.  Despite that, people constantly try to do so.  

Now it seems eBay is inviting such activity.  If the forums become the place for "Want to Buy" and "Wish to Sell," such activity will overwhelm every other type of inquiry or discussion. and render the boards pretty useless. 

Or at least that is my opinion.

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@maxine*j if you see a post that you think is violating the guidelines please report it and the Moderators will take a look. 

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sheila@ebay 

I don't understand the new guidelines, though.  ARE overt buying and selling activities now allowed on the forums, in a major change to previous rules, or not?   I'm not going to play policewoman, in any event.  I was, and remain, just concerned about the fate of the boards if they're going to devolve into a swap meet.

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@maxine*j 

I can see how this one can be a little tricky and I had to consult with someone on my team about this so I can provide a good example.

In a nutshell, users can't promote off of eBay. Say you found great packing tape on Amazon, you won't be able to post the link to the tape on eBay.

On the other hand, responding to a genuine question with a response off of eBay would be allowed. The Community team rarely believes there's only one source or solution. Always promoting a single option may get a Community member  into trouble, but genuinely answering with multiple options, letting the seller decide. The difference is helping vs promoting.

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sheila@ebay 

Well, unfortunately, to me that is as clear as mud.   However, It looks like the basic answer is that the forums may now be used for buying and selling.  That's regrettable, and I'm sorry to hear it, but c'est la vie.

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[wastingtime101]

I could be wrong @maxine*j, but the way I read both the policy and the response from Sheila is that you can't simply post to promote/advertise. Anything you post in terms of a recommendation or a link to a listing needs to be in the spirit of helping someone or asking for help. Someone first needs to ask a direct question. Like ...

Selling or Shipping: I'm trying to find the best packing tape for my shipments. What do you recommend?

Posters could respond with whatever packing tapes they prefer, including links to listings if they want (if it's not their own listing).

Buying: I'm looking for a new power drill. What brands/models would you recommend?

Posters could respond with brands, models, etc - links to eBay listings (if it's not their own listing).

To post ones' own listings it needs to be because you're asking for help with that listing. Either a critique or a tech issue or whatever. It can't be done because you want to advertise your product.

If you're a buyer you can post a link to a listing if you need help with your purchase (shipping question, etc), but you cannot post the link if the goal is to name/shame the seller.

Is this a correct interpretation of the policy sheila@ebay?

[wastingtime101]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

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The "leader board" needs to just go away

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Agreed.

[brian_burke@ebay]

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@allthingssurplus wrote:

Looks like eBay has decided to not want to hear what is wrong with the platform or what costs Sellers money any longer.  In the eBay world free speech is not legal or wanted.  Looks like only eBay facts are real and those of long term sellers with ligit complaints will no longer have a voice.  When you only want to hear praise, you will never get corrective change.  This is along the same lines as if your tell a lie long enough and hard enough it begins to be the truth.  So no matter how damaging new programs, like listing tool, come along we will be told how great it is for the Seller and Buyer experience.  This is how countries fall and this is how eBay will Fail.  SAD

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@allthingssurplus  - I'm sorry you feel that way. It's the opposite of what we want from our seller community and you will find our executives are more than willing to listen (and make changes). 

For us on Community, every week via a weekly "Voice of the Customer" report we identify key topics and send them to a wide group of people internally, including executives. We also identify key questions being asked by users and highlight them. In addition, I'm part of a team that manages a panel of 15,000 sellers who provide feedback via surveys, phone interviews and small discussion groups on a host of topics throughout the year.

If you would like to be part of the panel, let me know and I will include you. 

If there is a specific issue about the site you would like addressed IM me. 

Thanks for selling on eBay.

Brian

[partfinds]

Community id should be different from selling id to avoid retalliation when you disagree. I shouldn’t fear false returns because I posted something someone don’t like. I also don’t want to be targeted with false reports because someone wants to eliminate selling competition. One account -2 different ids with 2 different log ins-that sould ne fair and safe

[pburn]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

Yes, we have a poster with many, many IDs and they bring out their "posse" of IDs to support whenever someone disagrees with them or they wish to drive home a snarky post or dog pile or whatever.

This Community needs a true "re-set".  And it is shame - something to learn each day and someone new to meet.  There are always just a few that ruin it for everyone.

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I see that happening with groups of individual members, too--not only one person with multiple ids (which I personally rarely see). Members have their cyber-cliques and give each other helpfuls for posts like "Cool!" or "Agreed!" It's no surprise to look at who gave a post helpful and see the same member ids  showing up for each other every time--and they are definitely different people.

Speaking now strictly for myself, I'd do away with helpfuls, ranking monikers, solutions, signature lines and the tagging feature.

[nocoolnamejane]

That’s why posting IDd exist. Make one.

sheila@ebay

Any chance of bring back the ignore function? It was very useful in preventing disruptive postings and never ending pile on arguments.

[wastingtime101]

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@pburn wrote:

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Speaking now strictly for myself, I'd do away with [...] signature lines 

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I have great news for you. You can turn off signatures within your profile settings so you don't ever have to see them while logged in. Go to this page and uncheck the box that says "view signatures in posts" then save changes.

[brian_burke@ebay]

benz_li - We allow a user to have multiple ID - some have separate buying and selling IDs, but I always encourage sellers to use their actual ID. Retaliation is a rarity and for most posters who are engaged in constructive dialogue or genuinely helping they have nothing to fear. 

Two advantages to using your actual ID: 1. Credibility - everyone can see how experienced you are as a seller. 2. A buyer (or seller) may like the items you are selling and you pick up a sale. 

Each seller gets to decide, they shouldn't decide out of fear of retaliation when they disagree - you can disagree with another user without angering them.  So if that is the reason why you are afraid to post with your actual user ID you can eliminate that fear by how you respond to others in the Community. 

Brian

[nobody*s_perfect]

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brian_burke@ebay wrote: ... you can disagree with another user without angering them.  So if that is the reason why you are afraid to post with your actual user ID you can eliminate that fear by how you respond to others in the Community. 

Brian

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Brian, maybe you should spend more time reading the boards. Some people will have a tantrum and swear to take revenge when they don't hear what they want to hear, not matter how tactful we try to be. And some of us still remember the July 4 massacree of 1999. Experience over the years has made us cautious.  I post with an ID that has past sales feedback for the sake of credibility, but wouldn't post using an ID that has active listings.

http://www.oocities.org/footballboyisme3/id.html

[pburn]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

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@pburn wrote:

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Speaking now strictly for myself, I'd do away with [...] signature lines 

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I have great news for you. You can turn off signatures within your profile settings so you don't ever have to see them while logged in. Go to this page and uncheck the box that says "view signatures in posts" then save changes.

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Already knew that, but thanks?

[pburn]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

Brian, maybe you should spend more time reading the boards. Some people will have a tantrum and swear to take revenge when they don't hear what they want to hear, not matter how tactful we try to be. And some of us still remember the July 4 massacree of 1999. Experience over the years has made us cautious.  I post with an ID that has past sales feedback for the sake of credibility, but wouldn't post using an ID that has active listings.

http://www.oocities.org/footballboyisme3/id.html

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Couldn't agree more. I've seen it happen, too, to a long-time member who dared to disagree with a newbie problem-poster (and I've been registered only since 2018, so it happened as recently as that). It was ugly. Problem poster came back with another member id or two, as well. I'd never post with an active selling id, either.

[maxine*j]

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brian_burke@ebay wrote:

benz_li - We allow a user to have multiple ID - some have separate buying and selling IDs, but I always encourage sellers to use their actual ID. Retaliation is a rarity and for most posters who are engaged in constructive dialogue or genuinely helping they have nothing to fear...

Brian

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brian_burke@ebay 

It may be a rarity, but I can tell you from personal experience that once is enough.   And, come to think of it, maybe it has become rarer because so many of us learned the wisdom of using posting-IDs, so there's far less opportunity for retaliation.

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[partfinds]

brian_burke@ebay 

I Private messaged you explaining issues of me not having other id and retalliation . Please, read. I noticed other people complaining of same.