topic Re: Please vote here. in The Round Table

Please vote here.

cee-dee — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 15:57:03 GMT

Let's have a vote on here?:-

Let's have a vote? - The eBay Community

Re: Please vote here.

cee-dee — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:51:19 GMT

I wish all the viewers would post, somewhere, anywhere and also go and vote?

We're probably wasting our time but if we don't try.....................????

Re: Please vote here.

dark_castle1 — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 01:06:40 GMT

Well CD if you are talking about this new forum it is a huge NO for me ! the changes are terrible and the posters will fall dramatically in my opinion.

Re: Please vote here.

dark_castle1 — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 01:09:31 GMT

I have just noticed the replies do not fall in chronilogical order either but in the order of behind the post you replied to !

What a mess that is going to make of reading a thread.

Re: Please vote here.

theelench — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 15:03:55 GMT

I'm not voting "yes or no" here, it's a total waste of time.

I'll be voting with my feet, even though that is exactly what ebay wants -- Silence.

Re: Please vote here.

cee-dee — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 15:37:36 GMT

Really, we should all register our feelings so that at least it's in print to be seen.

It seems that "some things might be possible" but not all. So that means we're stuck with this format but there might be minor tweaks here and there?

Anyone experimented with "floating"? If you "Float this topic for current user" you'll float that particular thread to the top of the board and it will show up when you refresh as "pinned" (for you only). I've not tried it with more than one thread but has anyone?

Re: Please vote here.

fallen-archie — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 15:55:31 GMT

I agree, the changes were unnecessary and make posting a PIA, if they want to close down the boards then why on earth don't they say so?
long gone are the days of Mods actually responding to concerns on here, either they are rushed off their feet or they just don't give a damn! I think it the latter.

Re: Please vote here.

theelench — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 18:38:28 GMT

Have a look back to P. 3 and the good old days of October '20, ref. "Optics".

The USA still likes to think it's the Home of the Free, the beacon of freedom for the rest of the world, champion of free speech. Imagine "the optics" of ebay being the first major on-line market place in the free world to shut down its community discussion boards, especially in another free-enterprise democracy.

That's not going to happen. This is the alternative

Whatever the USA's self-image might be or how correct it is, the tech. giants don't like free anything. They like to control and charge fees. Ebay.uk has now followed the .com and PP board models -- huge numbers of short threads (most with zero or a couple of replies). They look busy, but the one thing you won't find among the same regularly recurring questions on every page, is a real discussion about anything.

A community that can talk as much as it likes, but can only say "Yes sir" (and don't forget to tug that forelock).

Re: Please vote here.

cee-dee — Sun, 07 Mar 2021 15:45:35 GMT

If, in the unlikely event we managed to speak to the promoters/programmers/developers of this awful layout, in answer to our critcisms they'd say something like "We're after short, snappy, dynamic interaction between posters not boring, outdated, long running discussions about anything other than ebay"???

Re: Please vote here.

theelench — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 23:19:31 GMT

Then they should stop calling it a Discussion Board.

I did, briefly, start trying to get info. from the .com boards, when the US went over to MP, hoping for some facts. Similar to here/now, unless a question can be answered either YES/NO, they are virtually useless. I stopped even bothering to look at them once ebay decided to ban all threads on the subject and suppress any discussion.

I have had some more recent experience of the PP boards.

I note the apparent total lack of any involvement by a repesentative of PP. Instead they have what they call a team of "Voluntary Advisers", they seem to parrot whatever PP last announced as some sort of hobby. Basically being in some sort of game to score Kudos. One even (rudely) told me that I had received "Good advice" when I was treated to a C&P re-write of PP's latest User Agreement update email and asked for clarification, saying that they had no more info. than I did, so I should get in touch with CS (some hope).

To actually find that response (email notifications of a reply don't seem to work) I searched the first 12 pages of threads in vain. I only found the thread again by looking at my profile and have no idea where it was on the boards.

Here, we now have the same layout and format (Another of those all too common similarities between supposedly separate entities) which lead to exactly the same result.

Plenty of different boards with over-lapping titles. Large numbers of new threads (to give the impression of a busy, lively community), often the same question repeated numerous times. Few of which get more than two or three replies (many getting none at all). All of which disappear into oblivion in short-order.

Have a look at Seller Central since this happened here, it will only get worse.

Re: Please vote here.

tuckerbigdaddy5ngv — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 01:32:07 GMT

This is horrible !

Re: Please vote here.

mikes*corvettes — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 08:20:11 GMT

Personally I love the new format..

Re: Please vote here.

cee-dee — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 14:51:12 GMT

What do you "love" about the new format, please do tell? Is it that no-one can find the old long-running threads or the fact that no-one's posting now?

Re: Please vote here.

m25jet — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 18:48:27 GMT

This new look to the eBay Community Forums is complete and utter rubbish, to put it mildly. I hate it so much I'm actively boycotting it - I used to be a regular poster on the forums before eBay ruined it with this new "improved" layout, but ever since these latest changes I really couldn't care less if the eBay Community Forums died a slow death and eBay decided to delete the eBay Community Forums from the site in its entirety. This new version of the forums is not a patch on the original - therefore, if eBay won't give us the old format back again I reckon they should just kill it off for good and remove it from the site altogether.

Re: Please vote here.

cee-dee — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 19:11:22 GMT

Now, now, please don't be a defeatest. Keep posting, be defiant 😁 If you give up like lots of people, you're helping to kill the boards off.

Re: Please vote here.

m25jet — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 11:09:36 GMT

I'm not being a defeatist - I'm being a realist. eBay are not going to reinstate the old version, no matter how many people actively call for its reinstatement. I don't like this ruined version of the forums and personally I'd prefer to see the new "improved" version of the eBay Community Forums killed off in its entirety than see it limping on lamely, a pitiful shadow of its former self.

In summary, therefore, I've decided to do what some other regular forum users have already started to do - ie: I'm voting with my feet and will not be actively supporting the continued use of the ruined version of the eBay Community Forums.

I'm aware that the views I've expressed here will not be shared with everybody, and may well be deeply unpopular with some users but I stand by what I've said, regardless of the consequences.

Re: Please vote here.

theelench — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 14:49:57 GMT

I agree with you and will most likely join you after a few mopping-up replies to threads I've been following. As I've just this morning written in a reply to Ebay Cafe > Community Updates > Stifling or starvation continues, this is not a mistake or the unforeseen result of a hasty re-vamp. It was planned and deliberate.

How long ago the paypal boards format was adopted, I have no idea, but as it is more or less identical to this one I would guess it was designed before the ebay/paypal split, is still on file at ebay towers and all ready for use here. Right down to the daft badges and the prominent display of "Most Helpful" authors.

Probably the most active discussion on Seller Central yesterday was a six month old thread critical of MP. The only reason I know it exists is because I'm notified when a new reply is posted. I'm still following it because a Community Member is keeping the Community informed as their court action against ebay, for Breach of Contract, proceeds.

As I finally tracked the thread down on page 113 it shows just what twaddle ebay's stated reason for this change (To keep people better informed) is. It was designed with the exact opposite in mind, to keep people in the dark for as long as possible. I might even guess that the catalyst for gutting the community was the thread of one hundred plus pages of criticism re. MP.

With the new format I doubt whether there will ever again be a thread with 100 posts disapproving of ebay, never mind 100 pages. Anything that ebay doesn't like the look of can be buried in a few hours. Such impudence and grumbling by the serfs will not be tolerated any longer.

I'd advise anyone still hoping that further "concessions" might be granted to go and spend an hour on the paypal boards. Have a good look at the repetitive nature of the new threads and how few ever get a reply.

The tiny number of "Esteemed Advisers", allegedly community volunteers (but I have my doubts) and the almost total absence of "discussions", how brief they are when one occurs. That's where these boards are heading.