Source of Spell Check Feature

[eleanor*rigby]

sheila@ebay 

In early 2019, the Community switched to a browser/OS-based spell-check feature. Those of us who noticed were informed by a couple of threads/posts from Community Team members. I had bookmarked two threads on the topic.

The spell-check feature came up in another thread again today. When I went to my bookmarks to post links to the threads from 2019, one had already been archived. Isn't that somewhat of a newer thread to already to inaccessible? Especially on such a general topic as the spell-check feature?

I found the other thread which included a post from a Community Team member; however, the link he provided in his post was to the same thread that had been archived. 

The other day, I looked for the thread where you had introduced yourself as a new member of the Community Team (posed on this board, as well), and it was gone, too. That thread would have been from autumn of 2020, if I recall correctly. That thread would have been barely a year old!

So--my questions are:

How are decisions made regarding when a thread gets archived and when it doesn't? What criteria are used? Is this process being accomplished by Community Team members? If not, is the process being supervised by someone from the Community Team?

Does the Community software rely on a Community spell-check feature, or does it rely on a browser/OS-based spell-check feature?

Thanks!

[coffeebean832]

In the past we've been told threads are eligible for archiving after 6 months unless there has been regular posting activity in that time.

Edit to add a recent confirmation of the time frame- https://community.ebay.com/t5/Share-Community-Platform/Policy-on-Necro-Threads/m-p/31500365

Of course- Khoros doesn't appear to actively archive on the main boards because we see year old discussions bumped all the time.

[eleanor*rigby]

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

In the past we've been told threads are eligible for archiving after 6 months unless there has been regular posting activity in that time.

Edit to add a recent confirmation of the time frame- https://community.ebay.com/t5/Share-Community-Platform/Policy-on-Necro-Threads/m-p/31500365

Of course- Khoros doesn't appear to actively archive on the main boards because we see year old discussions bumped all the time.

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As well as two- or three-month old discussions being closed (but not deleted) by Khoros mods.

But I'm not talking about "locked" threads. I'm referring to threads that are simply gone, with a disclaimer that the thread has been archived.

[eleanor*rigby]

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

In the past we've been told threads are eligible for archiving after 6 months unless there has been regular posting activity in that time.

Edit to add a recent confirmation of the time frame- https://community.ebay.com/t5/Share-Community-Platform/Policy-on-Necro-Threads/m-p/31500365

Of course- Khoros doesn't appear to actively archive on the main boards because we see year old discussions bumped all the time.

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As well as two- or three-month old discussions being closed (but not deleted) by Khoros mods.

But I'm not talking about "locked" threads. I'm referring to threads that are simply gone, with a disclaimer that the thread has been archived.

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Here's the thread regarding spell check I had bookmarked and was trying to access for a current discussion:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/About-the-Community/bd-p/Community-Guidelines/redirect_from_archived_p...

[coffeebean832]

I see what you're talking about. The problem is that most board archives are still visible as read-only- but the post you're looking for is from a forum where content was archived to a private board so we can't see it.

I'm assuming the other post you had bookmarked was this one-

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Browser-based-spellcheck/td-p/29372162

And it's the link within the first post that you're trying to access.

[lacemaker3]

@eleanor*rigby 

What is the original URL from your bookmark? Not the redirected URL, but the one you originally bookmarked.

[lacemaker3]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

@eleanor*rigby 

What is the original URL from your bookmark? Not the redirected URL, but the one you originally bookmarked.

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Never mind.

I got the URL from @coffeebean832 's post, and I can't find an archived copy  of it. Not on community.ebay.com, and not on the Wayback machine. It appears to have been lost. 

[sheila@ebay]

I'm pretty sure we're using the browser spell check, but I'll check and get back to you.

As far as archiving is concerned, Coffeebean is right, we do archive posts that are older than 6 months. I think with the Community Guidelines post, we moved them to the homepage and the old one got archived. As far my intro post, there were some Community members that weren't being so nice so I archived the post after 6 months.

The good thing with archiving, we can get the posts back. So if there are any bookmarked links that you would like back, share them with me and I'll look for them.

[eleanor*rigby]

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sheila@ebay wrote:

As far as archiving is concerned . . . we do archive posts that are older than 6 months.

The good thing with archiving, we can get the posts back. So if there are any bookmarked links that you would like back, share them with me and I'll look for them.

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sheila@ebay 

People who actively participate in the Community bookmark threads and/or specific posts that respond to policy or eBay interpretations regarding policies, procedures, expectations, requirements, etc., in order to more accurately respond to other members' questions. Archiving threads after only six months hampers the ability of those of us who want to document where specific information came from rather than having it appear it was pulled out of a hat.

We are often challenged to provide proof of something we've posted--especially if it is a particularly contentious subject. The blues have not been responsive to @ mentioning the last several months (since we lost the previous members of our Community Team), as well as losing so much of the corporate memory along with them, that if we don't have those bookmarked threads to rely on, we may as well not even answer the questions.

You've kindly offered to get archived posts back--if you can find them--but that doesn't solve the problem of wanting to provide a link in a thread to which I'm responding right now. @ mentioning you every time a dead link shows up doesn't help if it's in the evening or on a weekend, or holiday, or if you're on vacation or otherwise unavailable to respond to a tag--and that assumes you can even find the thread we need.

Since you've offered, Doug mentioned the thread I'm looking for in Message #1 in the thread linked below. He provided a link via the word "here." Please find and restore the thread mentioned by Doug in that message. 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Browser-based-spellcheck/td-p/29372162

Thanks for reading!

[sheila@ebay]

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

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sheila@ebay wrote:

As far as archiving is concerned . . . we do archive posts that are older than 6 months.

The good thing with archiving, we can get the posts back. So if there are any bookmarked links that you would like back, share them with me and I'll look for them.

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sheila@ebay 

People who actively participate in the Community bookmark threads and/or specific posts that respond to policy or eBay interpretations regarding policies, procedures, expectations, requirements, etc., in order to more accurately respond to other members' questions. Archiving threads after only six months hampers the ability of those of us who want to document where specific information came from rather than having it appear it was pulled out of a hat.

We are often challenged to provide proof of something we've posted--especially if it is a particularly contentious subject. The blues have not been responsive to @ mentioning the last several months (since we lost the previous members of our Community Team), as well as losing so much of the corporate memory along with them, that if we don't have those bookmarked threads to rely on, we may as well not even answer the questions.

You've kindly offered to get archived posts back--if you can find them--but that doesn't solve the problem of wanting to provide a link in a thread to which I'm responding right now. @ mentioning you every time a dead link shows up doesn't help if it's in the evening or on a weekend, or holiday, or if you're on vacation or otherwise unavailable to respond to a tag--and that assumes you can even find the thread we need.

Since you've offered, Doug mentioned the thread I'm looking for in Message #1 in the thread linked below. He provided a link via the word "here." Please find and restore the thread mentioned by Doug in that message. 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Browser-based-spellcheck/td-p/29372162

Thanks for reading!

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@eleanor*rigby you bring up valid points and I'll discuss these with the team, as well as the person who's managing the archiving efforts.

Do you bookmark posts where a Community Team member joined the conversation? Do you bookmark announcement posts or posts that were posted in the What's New board, for example?

[coffeebean832]

sheila@ebay- I'm sure mr*havisham will speak for herself. Speaking for myself only-

- I think Announcements should never be archived and hidden as they're official communication from eBay and many of us often reference past announcements. If archived they should be publicly viewable with the announcement archive board link available at the bottom of the Announcements page. (Those getting to know you interviews with sellers posted in Announcements would be the exception to this rule.)

- I think the Weekly Chats should never be archived and hidden, either- they can be archived as long as they remain on a publicly viewable archive board as read-only.

- I often bookmark discussions where the community team has participated- especially when they're clarifying policy. Again- I have no problem with archiving as long as those posts remain visible. Archived posts generally redirect from the original Selling link to the Archive Selling board which is read-only and publicly viewable. That process works for me.

- Archiving the What's New board out of public view would not bother me.

[lacemaker3]

sheila@ebay 

In case this is useful, here is the URL for the missing post:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/About-the-Community/Browser-based-spellcheck/m-p/29372154#M96

Perhaps the problem is that the particular board it was posted on has been removed and is no longer available. Although I did find the Archived board, but it has no threads, they are all gone:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-About-the-Community/bd-p/ArchiveAbouttheCommunity

You can also find the URL in the solution of this thread, for example, as well as others:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying-Selling-Basics/OH-NO-My-spell-check-is-gone/td-p/29372390

[eleanor*rigby]

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sheila@ebay wrote:

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Do you bookmark posts where a Community Team member joined the conversation? Do you bookmark announcement posts or posts that were posted in the What's New board, for example?

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sheila@ebay 

All of those, Sheila. Wherever I can find information relevant to answering an OP's question--including threads other posters have linked in their posts.

[eleanor*rigby]

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

sheila@ebay- I'm sure mr*havisham will speak for herself. Speaking for myself only-

- I think Announcements should never be archived and hidden as they're official communication from eBay and many of us often reference past announcements. If archived they should be publicly viewable with the announcement archive board link available at the bottom of the Announcements page. (Those getting to know you interviews with sellers posted in Announcements would be the exception to this rule.)

- I think the Weekly Chats should never be archived and hidden, either- they can be archived as long as they remain on a publicly viewable archive board as read-only.

- I often bookmark discussions where the community team has participated- especially when they're clarifying policy. Again- I have no problem with archiving as long as those posts remain visible. Archived posts generally redirect from the original Selling link to the Archive Selling board which is read-only and publicly viewable. That process works for me.

- Archiving the What's New board out of public view would not bother me.

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You certainly may speak for me, as I believe we are of one mind on this topic.

[brian_burke@ebay]

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

sheila@ebay- I'm sure mr*havisham will speak for herself. Speaking for myself only-

- I think Announcements should never be archived and hidden as they're official communication from eBay and many of us often reference past announcements. If archived they should be publicly viewable with the announcement archive board link available at the bottom of the Announcements page. (Those getting to know you interviews with sellers posted in Announcements would be the exception to this rule.)

- I think the Weekly Chats should never be archived and hidden, either- they can be archived as long as they remain on a publicly viewable archive board as read-only.

- I often bookmark discussions where the community team has participated- especially when they're clarifying policy. Again- I have no problem with archiving as long as those posts remain visible. Archived posts generally redirect from the original Selling link to the Archive Selling board which is read-only and publicly viewable. That process works for me.

- Archiving the What's New board out of public view would not bother me.

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You certainly may speak for me, as I believe we are of one mind on this topic.

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@coffeebean832  and @eleanor*rigby 

Thank you for the thoughts about archiving. Before I provide context about our archiving approach, I'm happy to repost the content in the post you reference - let me know. I assume since you have the links it's not necessary. 

I understand your desire to have access to all past content, but we will archive old and outdated content and archive it in a way that makes the content inaccessible. There are two main reasons for this:

Old and outdated content causes confusion with new and returning users. I'm sure you've seen this occur, but a couple examples are: an Announcement post about a feature or functionality that has changed since the announcement post; and an answer to a question that no longer applies since the site functionality has changed (think payments, stores, seller hub, category changes, item specifics or fees, etc.).  Even accurate content that is very old creates doubt in the readers mind about its accuracy given its lack of recency. 

Traffic to current and accurate content is also negatively impacted by old posts, announcements and questions that can be found via search engines. If a user searches a topic via Google and sees outdated content because that content has many page views, it's not helpful to the eBay user since they are reading outdated info, they cannot engage with other users on those "archived" pages, and they must take another action to get to active content and discussions where they can engage with others. 

When we archive content going forward we will use this new approach. It removes the content from the eBay community and search engines and lets the user know the content has been archived while we redirect them to the appropriate discussion - e.g. if they landed on a Shipping topic, they are redirected to the Shipping discussion forums.

Over time, users will reach newer content and discussions where they can directly engage.

As we continue to archive content, we retain it and if there is content you bookmarked that you found valuable, we can repost it or unarchive it when it makes sense. 

Thank you for the input and if you would like to have a conversation about our approach I’m happy to set up a call or chat. Let me know. 

Brian