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ebaY Board Posting Policy
 

15 Apr 2002
ebaY has changed their board posting policy, in TAG's view, to make it easier for ebaY to suspend users who post on their boards, to further censor ebaY critical speech on their boards. The rules are now so ambiguous as to allow any ebaY employee to interpret almost any post as a violation. ebaY claims they were making, "the basic rules of conduct easier to understand, and to remove or replace obsolete language". In reality the new language is harder to understand and more open to interpretation. A detailed review follows.

The revised board usage policy applies to all the boards on ebaY, threaded or scrolling. The revised policy is at - http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-board.html
ebaY held a workshop on the subject on 10 April, and the thread can be viewed at -
http://forums.ebay.com/dws?14@1018495889815@.ef3e4c2/0
TAG did not see many answers to questions, much ambiguity and vagueness and the hard questions unanswered. Claire@ebay's posts below came from this thread, as did the board post of the day.

Under the new rules, "the following types of postings are cause for immediate post removal, warning, board sanction and/or suspension from the site. Other inappropriate postings not listed below may also warrant removal and/or suspension from the site. eBay reserves the right to remove any post without warning or further notice." Of course, TAG can find no indication that ebaY will better police their boards than they have in the past, so policies will get enforced in an unequal, arbitrary, unjust and unethical manner, as is the norm at ebaY. ebaY rule at the * - TAG editorial comment follows each rule at the +.

*Posting contact information about another individual.
+Real name, address, phone or other specifically private/sensitive information such as ID numbers. Don't know what ID numbers ebaY is referring to, and does this include addressing a poster by name when they sign their board posts with their name?
*Posting material containing profanity, vulgarity, hate speech, or threats of violence.
+Unchanged, but will ebaY enforce it? They haven't in the past, particularly not against their pets. This violation also includes disguised swear words, bodily elimination and any derogatory comments about anyone based on almost anything about them.
*Posting material (graphic or text) that is obscene, pornographic or adult in nature.
+No change, but would eliminate most of the "adult" chatter on the boards if enforced as even double entendre is included, along with adult jokes.
*Using JavaScript, active or other coding, making repetitive posts, or other actions that interfere with site operations. +No change
*Posting material with the intent to impersonate ebaY staff or another member through the use of similar IDs or any other method or device.
+Will ebaY enforce this? They haven't in the past, particularly when such ID impersonation was done by ebaY pets against less favored (read that more critical of ebaY) users.
*Encouraging others to violate ebaY policies or the ebaY user agreement.
+This can be interpreted to be almost anything and gives ebaY the ability to do whatever they like. ebaY no longer has a user agreement, they have a manifesto of rules and regulations that can change at any time without notice. There is no longer an "agreement" involved in the ebaY manifesto, as an agreement includes more than one party, and ebaY's manifesto does not.
*Advertising merchandise, auctions, services or commercial web sites, including offers to trade, or charitable solicitations.
+This now includes promotion of other businesses, so it will now be a suspendable offense to suggest third party service providers, or recommend chat boards or link to threads there. This is the rule ebaY will use to squelch discussion of PayPal and other payment services, stop users recommending image hosting services, auction tool services, cookie and ad blocking software etc. This rule also blocks any charitable solicitations on any but the giving board.
*Refusing to follow ebaY staff instruction or direction.
+This can be anything at any time and makes all the other rules moot, as this one allows them to be changed at any time. The only saving grace here is the dearth of pinks on any of the boards, so the likelihood is that they will not be around to give any "direction".
*"Wanted" posts, or posting solicitations of interest in the sale of an item or service.
+This has been in place since the elimination of the wanted board. ebaY will soon see other sites capitalizing on this missed opportunity for sales, and put a program in place, as soon as they can find and steal a program they like from another site.
*Posting private emails.
+This is ridiculous, and extremely unproductive. What defines a "private" email? As long as personally identifiable information of private individuals (as opposed to company employees responding to a query) is removed, users should be able to post emails. In many instances this info is essential to solving a problem. Though ebaY pinks have stated that mail from ebaY is excepted, and email from those posing as ebaY is excepted, the RULE states otherwise, and suspensions will depend on the mood and interpretation of the pink acting at the moment.
*Posting material that in any way violates the ebaY User Agreement or Community Values. + Since there is no longer a real user agreement, this also allows ebaY to do anything at any time.
*In the title of a threaded discussion: Posting user ID's in a derogatory manner, posting URLs, auction numbers, or web sites, or violating any other board posting policy.
+This is changed so you can now use a User ID in a playful, appreciative or helpful manner. Who gets to define it? ebaY says it will remove threads if the person whose user ID is used is uncomfortable with the thread. But we all know how responsive ebaY is.
*Inappropriate threads started in Community Help Boards, i.e. eBay policy commentary started in the Community Help Registration Board.
*Posting auction reports or member violations. Report suspected violations, via the online form http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/investigates.html#how_to_report
+This is absurd to the point of criminality on ebaY's part. The very ability to post suspicious items accomplishes many things, including saving others from being defrauded. It is a primary way to get an auction in violation ended quickly. Scammers have exploited ebaY's slow response to violations by posting three day auctions. The auction ends before safeharbor or timesensitive responds or reacts. If not for these types of posts ebaY would never have reacted to the inappropriate 11 Sep auctions. These very posts make ebaY act, by exposing them to the light of day. This is nothing more than a ploy by ebaY to hide their sleazy underbelly, away from the eyes of the public and press.
*Discussion or reposting of deleted posts or discussion of no longer registered members.
+This is also absurd, and if abused could be easily covered by a "direction" by an ebaY pink. Sometimes it is necessary to refer to something that happened in the thread to make the conversation understandable to others arriving after an incident. It might also be necessary to refer to a NARU users past IDs to assist in tracking scammers. Again a move by ebaY to hide their dirty linen.
*Only persons aged 18 or over may post to the boards, without regard to whether an adult actually owns the registration or parental/guardian permission.
+The only sane rule in the lot.
*Reporters and third party representatives need permission from Legal prior to posting or emailing members in their official capacity.
+ Another absurd rule. If someone has been a member of ebaY for years and has developed a product (or written a book, or become a reporter etc) and another user asks a question about their book, product etc, they are supposed to be rude and say, "sorry ebaY will not let me answer that question, and the only way you can get an answer is to email me as I can't even use the ebaY email system to answer you" According to Claire@ebay, "It means that if a reporter or employee of a company that provides services members use wants to chat here or argue here or joke here or ask for help here or give help here on general eBay matters, they can and they don't have to ask or tell anyone, but if they want to solicit members or provide support on behalf of their company or employer to members that use their products or services, they need to identify themselves when doing so" Unfortunately that is not what the RULE says, so look for more suspensions of folks critical of ebaY. Claire@ebay also said "Reporters and commercial representatives may not post with an ID that identifies or in any other way promotes their commercial site or services unless posting in an authorized, official capacity." So if you are a long time ebaY member whose user ID is your domain or email address that is also your product, you can no longer use that ID to post on the boards without explicit permission - in any capacity. In addition Claire@ebay said, "Please note that any eBay member may post to the boards at any time in their personal status as an eBay member, regardless of whether they post in their official capacity at other times." TAG has personal knowledge that this is a lie, as all our employees are prohibited from posting on the ebaY boards despite the fact that they have never violated any ebaY board policies - past or present.
*Posting copyrighted items without the permission of the copyright owner.
+Another absurd rule, since fair use law covers the majority of this usage, as long as the information is properly credited.

TAG found this post by sugarfoot! at 17:51 PT on 10 Apr 02, demonstrative of the real versus the stated values used by ebaY to control their users,
"Community Values
eBay is a community where we encourage open and honest communication between all of our members.
* We believe people are basically good.
This is true, except when it comes to the boards, where communication will be censored, and anyone who believes someone is not basically good, will be reprimanded for exposing that they are not basically good.
* We believe everyone has something to contribute.
This is true, except when it comes to the boards, where communication will be censored, and anyone who has an opinion that differs from eBay's party line may be reprimanded.
* We believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in people.
This is true, except when it comes to the boards, where communication will be censored, making sure that an open environment does not bring out the worst aspects of people, or expose the worst aspects of eBay.
* We recognize and respect everyone as a unique individual.
This is true, except when it comes to the boards, where communication will be censored, and eBay will be making sure that the unique individuals are targeted and eliminated so that the stats quo will be upheld.
* We encourage you to treat others the way that you want to be treated.
This is true, except when it comes to the boards, where communication will be censored, and eBay will be making sure that when someone here causes trouble, everybody will get treated the same whatever end of the argument they were on. Everybody gets reprimanded equally until peace and tranquility reigns.

Until the boards are silent. Until there are no more problems to report, because it will do no good to report them, nobody will be left. There will be a thread at the top with instructions on how to report to SafeHarbor, and estimates when/if you would/could expect an answer."