Perhaps I'm being a wee bit over-dramatic here, but it currently feels like the problems and issues are increasing at an exponential rate. I do know what the word "exponential" means, so I'm sure that this isn't objectively true (if it were, the platform would have already reached the point of being completely and utterly broken - not just here and there, but totally), but it sometimes feels that way. In any case, the issues are definitely increasing in number, even if not exponentially in the proper mathematical sense. It's gone way beyond 'whack-a-mole' levels - at least with that game there is a finite number of moles to whack!

Issues from not just days, weeks, or months ago, but from years ago remain unresolved to this day. The view from the outside is that eBay has zero interest in fixing them, or that it has attempted to fix them, but without any success, and has simply given up the ghost.

I had to look up what "drains up" means. That would have to be an exceptionally long meeting. I'm not talking about pulling an all-nighter, either; I think that the team would have to live in the office 24/7 for a good few weeks! Talk about having your work cut out for you!

I often see posts claiming that eBay knows exactly what it's doing even if this isn't apparent to us. With each passing day I question and doubt that viewpoint more and more. In many respects, it doesn't even appear to be doing what is best for itself (at least in the long run - there certainly seems to be a lot of 'short term-ism' going on). I've posted before - at tedious length - about my fascination with eBay and its utterly confounding mixture of greed and inclination towards self-sabotage. On the one hand it wants - like any commercial enterprise - to succeed, grow, and ensure its own longevity, yet on the other it appears to act in ways that ultimately frustrate those impulses. If eBay were a person undergoing therapy (if eBay were a person, it would have to undergo therapy!), their pyschiatrist would have a field day - this one patient alone would ensure a job for life!

I think I'm going to have to take a self-enforced break from these forums ("Yes!" I hear some members cry). It's quite addictive (for me, anyway) reading, creating, and responding to posts. I feel obliged to respond to most posts addressed to me, mainly out of courtesy but also for other reasons (to clarify points, etc.). Most of my eBay time is spent here. My email inbox quickly fills up with notifications (I know I can unsubscribe from threads, but if I do, I won't know if someone's replied to me without trawling through the various threads I've posted on to check). I've already completely lost track of what I've said to which member on which thread. I find myself reading the same posts for the second or third time until I think "Hang on, this looks very familiar..." - further complicated by the fact that some posters (and I definitely include myself) often tend to say the same thing, albeit worded differently, across a number of threads.

I don't - and, indeed, can't - blame forum members for that. I blame eBay for it, for having so many problems each single one of which generates several discussions.

Given the generally abysmal level of customer service provided, and eBay's paucity of information and communication, these forums are the place to go to for help and advice. I find them invaluable (and, of course, a good laugh at times). I quickly feel overwhelmed by it all to the point of burnout - yet I keep coming back!

This isn't one of those "Hey, everybody, I'm leaving"-type posts. Truth be told, I'm so frazzled with eBay (the latest issue being eBay messing around with my item description when creating a 'preview' as viewed on a mobile device - I've created a separate thread on that) that I can't actually say for sure what the point of this post is really - I guess I'm 'venting'.