Why do Corporations Allow Critical Forums

[suelel1968]

I asked my mate Copilot and he said:
Great question—and it’s a bit of a paradox, isn’t it? You’d think corporations would avoid spaces where they’re publicly roasted, but there’s actually a strategic logic behind it. Here’s why they often host or tolerate forums where criticism flows freely:

• Transparency Builds Trust Letting people vent—even harshly—can make a company seem more open and honest. It’s a way of saying, “We’re not afraid of feedback, even if it’s brutal.”

• Valuable Feedback in the Rants Beneath the slagging, there’s often gold: real user pain points, product flaws, or service gaps. Forums can act like giant focus groups, revealing what needs fixing.

• Community Self-Regulation Sometimes, loyal customers jump in to defend the brand or offer solutions. That kind of organic advocacy is more powerful than any ad campaign.

• Better to Host Than Be Roasted Elsewhere If people are going to complain, it’s better they do it on your turf where you can respond, clarify, or even apologize—rather than letting the criticism spiral unchecked on Reddit or Twitter.

• SEO and Visibility Ironically, even negative chatter can boost search rankings. A buzzing forum keeps the brand relevant in online conversations.

• Legal and Ethical Pressure In some industries, especially tech and finance, companies are expected to provide public channels for feedback. Shutting them down can look shady.

1. Clean Up Without Censorship

• Moderate, don’t muzzle: Remove hate speech, personal attacks, and spam—but keep the tough feedback. Over-moderation just fuels distrust.

2. Re-engage the Community

• Acknowledge the pain: A sincere post from a company rep saying “We hear you” can go a long way. Silence is gasoline on the fire.

• Host AMAs or Q&As: Let execs answer questions directly. It humanizes the brand and shows accountability.

3. Fix What’s Broken

• Act on recurring issues: If 80% of the forum is complaining about one policy, it’s not just noise—it’s a signal. Change it or explain it better.

• Share updates transparently: “Here’s what we’re doing based on your feedback” builds credibility and cools tempers.

It’s a delicate dance: too much control feels authoritarian, too little feels chaotic. But when done right, even a swamp can be drained and turned into fertile ground for real progress.

Have you seen any company actually pull off that kind of turnaround? Or do they usually just ghost the mess and hope it fades?

So, If Copilot can come up with that in seconds and he is free to use, how is it possible for Ebay to still be pushing these disastrous, overbearing, expensive changes? Just saying!

[jimthing]

The new utterly crrrap Watch List non-separate lists functionality probably negates ALL these points, lol!

Still not improved since the Buyer Fee intro months ago. So now adding anything to my previously nice and separated lists are basically all a complete waste of time using anymore – well done there Ebay; really 'added (no!) user value' there.  🙄

[bojangled]

@suelel1968  interesting response! 

• Acknowledge the pain: A sincere post from a company rep saying “We hear you” can go a long way. Silence is gasoline on the fire.  
  This is all the community team are allowed to say!

• Host AMAs or Q&As: Let execs answer questions directly. It humanizes the brand and shows accountability.The request for guest hosts from other departments on the community chat has been made numerous times.  Always told that it’s not possible, even though it’s a regular thing on the .com board, and eBay open events are the place to interact with departments for specific issues.  These events aren’t accessible to everyone.
  

[theelench]

Perhaps ebay's A.I was set up by the same team that gives instructions to the Community Team to disappear when the criticism gets too loud or too long and how not to answer the questions during "chat" sessions.

Or perhaps it was set up by whoever writes the scripts for CS and has told it to just tell everyone what they want to hear.

If that's the case, the ebay bosses are probably being told something like this by ebay's A.I.

"Great idea, everything's running smoothly.  All is well in ebayland, everyone is happy and taking the few tiny teething problems in their stride.  A tiny number who resist all change simply because they want things to always stay the same, are intent on stirring-up un-necessary trouble just for the sake of it and can safely be ignored as eventually they'll all come round to the proper way of thinking and start buying and selling again. 

The dust will soon settle and ebay will ride off into the sunset, still the foremost on-line selling site, reputation intact and making even more money than before.  The shareholders will hail you as heroes and vote you a bigger, fatter bonus and your jobs will be secure for a few more years."

[goodibags]

I imagine the reason Ebay allow and tolerate a community forum is so that they can find out how their own platform is working, what's gone wrong now and how best to undo the horrific damage that some group of over-paid business consultants somehow managed to convince Ebay management was a good idea.

Is it fair to assume that nobody who works for Ebay would even try using it to sell anything? They always seem to be asking for other sellers' item numbers.  

[foresterdon]

You don't seriously believe the execs actually read this stuff, do you?

Marco gave the game away by saying a complaint made here couldn't be escalated to the boss.

Too right. More than his job's worth.

[simplesimon1966]

The word Kaizen loosely translated from Japanese "continuous improvement ",  continuously messing about with stuff is more like it and it certainly is not improvement. The same with the rest of society,

[goodibags]

I like to believe bad decisions will eventually filter upwards to the top. Bad financial stats certainly will.

Marco has to say what he has to say, but even if the execs don't read anything on here there'll be people reporting to them who will be expected to.

[theelench]

I agree with you, only based on the fact that there is a Community Team of at least 3 people (Cat, Kate and Marco ?) and the small number of posts I used to see from them even when I was a daily contributor to the BSB and SC. 

So what are they doing the rest of the time ?  Possibly compiling stats. or analysing and condensing the contents of our discussions for the execs. to look at (and hopefully) learn from.

Ebay doesn't ever do anything for nothing, including giving jobs to the Team, they expect to get a return.  So what else can they be getting from the boards except useful info.

So keep on protesting about Stupid Delivery, despite what anyone says on here.  It might yet do some good.

[suelel1968]

@theelench Hi Lench, I contacted Jamie, one of his exec team rang me last week and we spoke at length sbout SD. Sadly he was supposed to call back yesterday with an update which didn't happen. I will give him till the end of the week

He didn't seem to be aware of the strength of feeling, the pricing implications, the difficulty faced by people who rely on having parcels picked up and using RM only. He was aware of the large items issue and the sending multiple items in one package. He said it was never eBays intention to stop long term sellers from being able to use ebay in a way that fits around their personal lives and the way they like to do business. He agreed with me that if we don't sell, nobody wins.

He looked at my account and said "but you are doing really well". But as i pointed out, I do literally  half the sales I used to because I can't list my dads tools at a suitable postage rate as I used to be able to do.

If eBay look at sales through the platform and think half what they used to do is a great result, we may as well pack up and go home. 

I think the September update will be next Wed or Thur and hopefully it will include what he shared with me and was going to call back about. If not there is little else to be said or done. 

[4_bathrooms]

Why do corporations allow critical forums?

They exist in order to control what is said about them.

[suelel1968]

@4_bathrooms doesn't seem to be working though. 

[maggie44d]

They do it so the pesky users can vent their spleen and kid themselves on that anyone is actually taking any notice of them. 

[the_book_seekers]

ebay got burned when executives tried to take down a critical forum in the US. Those responsible for harassment were jailed and it cost ebay at least $3m. 

[president_slush]

That's very interesting, but I don't see any of it happening on ebay.  The people who make the decisions about the direction ebay takes don't pay any attention to anything said on these forum pages.  They appear to have agents who reply to messages and keep the complainers in check, but of course don't admit to this practice.  There are people who reply to so many posts on these pages that it can't be anything other than a full time job.

[crn303]

Very good posting, president_slush.

eBay certainly do not appear to pay attention to anything said on these forums pages.

Their community team are there to keep the complainers in place.  Which is what we consistently see on the Wednesday afternoon open chat.   So much is referred back to their support teams to be looked into to !!

The 2 favourites words from regular forum posters are “I think” and they are so quick in knowing best what is going to happen in the future weeks / months on this platform.

[goodibags]

It's a shame nobody from Ebay got back to you when they said they would. I hope that doesn't mean that the issues that you raised have been forgotten about. Maybe it's more that the changes will need sign off at higher levels and they're unable to promise much just yet? Especially around keeping good long-term sellers happy and able to continue using the platform.

We'll have to look out for next month's updates and keep hassling them for changes that clearly benefit both item sales and Ebay. Even baby steps in the right direction has to be better than no steps at all.

[suelel1968]

@goodibags Yes, I don't give up easily. Jamie will here from me again at the weekend if his exec does not ring back! 

I think that if something isn't announced in September and in place by October then Xmas will be a disaster for them.

[gjalp]

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@goodibags wrote:

I imagine the reason Ebay allow and tolerate a community forum is so that they can find out how their own platform is working, what's gone wrong now and how best to undo the horrific damage that some group of over-paid business consultants somehow managed to convince Ebay management was a good idea.

Is it fair to assume that nobody who works for Ebay would even try using it to sell anything? They always seem to be asking for other sellers' item numbers.  

---

They don’t use the information from the forum. They send out surveys. Ive received another today, my 4th or 5th since BPF and SD began. They have asked about payouts, what they could do better, whether I think ebay is trusted, cares, confidence in sorting out issues, what issues have been encountered, what can be improved….that kind of thing. One time I filled one in, I had complained about the BPF pushing out low value items. Shortly after the BPF was amended. My latest gripe is about SD and how it appears to overcharge, lack of properly combined postage, the higher price if you choose RM only and the fact sellers are still ‘graded’ on postage costs when the seller has no control of this under SD so is unfair.

[goodibags]

I too would like to see them take action sooner rather than later. Xmas will be too late! Hopefully they've moved beyond the 'what do we do' phase and are discussing the 'how do we do it?'

Something like a SD holiday (break from SD) would be nice but it would have to be time-limited. Like the old 70% off selling fees promo? 😁