An open message to Eve Williams CEO. Make them happy.

[dancewithadingo]

Good Morning Eve

Can I ask you to reward those brilliant contributors to this board who give their time and expertise to help others.  I am thinking of the likes of Vyolla,Tressygirl, 6bathrooms, Papso etc. Why don't you reward the top 5 contributors in the two catergories who are listed at the end of this month with a cheque for say £200 each.

They are doing a sterling unpaid job and helping you ie eBay no end. Over the last year they have helped numerous people with their problems and have given many helpful pieces of advice and solutions.

You have an annual business award for people who just post endless videos on YouTube, which contribute very little.  Why not extend that financial gratitude by rewarding and recognising the aforementioned authors?

Wouldn't it be a nice way to say thank you and in my opinion long overdue?  Spread some cheer during these dark times and get your cheque book out.  eBay can well afford it.

I know you to be a caring and generous person and hopefully will look favourably on the top five board helpers.

Make 2024 the year that you show you care and spread some festive cheer.

Make them happy.

PS  If you don't want to use the two tables to establish merit then ask all other people to vote for their most deserving contributors.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

I applaud your sentiments but will not hold my breath!   I have been helped many times by these people and thank them for it.  It took me a long time to discover the boards and i think they should actually highlight it somehow for new members.  I remember very well the early days struggling to discover things and finding e bay itself was as much use as a wet handkerchief.   What a relief when i came on here!  Situations resolved in plain english and useful links attached.    I may not always agree with their opinions but their advice is sound.

[plpmr]

"Why don't you reward the top 5 contributors in the two catergories who are listed at the end of this month with a cheque for say £200 each."

I for one was totally against league tables, badges etc because it made the focus on quantity rather than quality of answers/advice.

Mentors started out a long time ago as 'experts' who were invited by eBay to use their expert knowledge to help others - then eBay made it into a competition via league tables.

Mentors give their time up and giving prizes as you suggest would only further damage mentors integrity etc = some are better than others.

Nice thought though.

[lucy_farmer]

'It took me a long time to discover the boards'

About 15 years ago the 'Community' button was at the top of the 'summary' page, along with the important stuff like 'Sell', 'Watch list', 'My ebay', 'notifications' etc.... and in the same font.

Dead easy to find if you needed it; you couldn't really avoid seeing it as it was right in your face.

Then for some obscure reason 'community' was taken away and put at the bottom of the page with things that people tend *not* to read,  like copyright stuff (basically 'community' was put 'in the small print') and all in a much fainter grey font.

Why did ebay want to make it more difficult for it's users to find and help each other? I can't really think of a good reason or even a 'good business' reason....

[martmarg41]

I agree with @plpmr's comments.

There are already many instances of comments/solutions being repeated (possibly to gain kudos points). Financial rewards will only increase that.

Many of the posts relate to frustrations with technical issues.

I would much rather eBay spent some money on a dedicated IT contact who could monitor posts and provide prompt direct assistance or make the IT bods/programmers aware if issues raised and pressure them for solutions.

[tressygirl]

I agree with @plpmr  that badges, definitely labels and the kudos / helpfuls need to be scrapped.

I would hate to think it's a competition to gain the above when I'm sure those of us who've been here from the start, when Alan selected the Member to Member Board ,  do it purely, and as volunteers, just wishing to help out others .

That is why I'm here,  I only want to help others, and I too have not asked for labels, badges titles, would much rather everyone contributing perhaps to be called, if a name is that necessary,  perhaps Volunteer Helper?  I believe there's a title ' Einstein' !!  If I ever see that along my username ID as a title,  I would most definitely be bowing out and leaving here permanently!

Take away all those helpfuls and titles just let those who wish to devote their time on these boards to do just that.

@dancewithadingo   I do thank you for those kind and  gracious thoughts,  but I'm happy with the two choclate rose sweets and notebook and pen at Xmas.

[*guinevere*]

I think I would be horrified if your idea was implemented, @dancewithadingo , lovely as it is.

I can only speak for myself of course. I don't come to the boards as often as I would like due to other commitments but when I do I answer questions with a desire to help that particular OP and to hopefully save them some money. 

None of us come here to "get kudos" and whenever the subject of kudos comes up in the Mentors lounge everyone wants it scrapped, and that goes for the league table too. None of us want to be competing against one another, and as @tressygirl says, it's downright embarrasing to have to have all these stupid badges ebay have given us. Blimey I hope no one thinks we've asked for them, that would be awful!

Like Tressygirl says as soon as I get an Einstein badge I'm outta here faster than a rat up a drain!