I think ebay links should be allowed because they provide a good source of info like the stargate movie promo cards. I'd never seen them before and now my card knowledge has increased. Indeed all the ebay links I've ever followed have been for that purpose informing me. I tend to buy from the same people on ebay repeatedly and they are not the people who are being linked to since they must be regular dealers so the links from nsu to ebay have never lead me to buy something from the linked auction. I prefer to run my own searches and check out sellers before I buy an item i'm searching for.
Also take the disney sketch cards, I don't have time to run all searches i'm interested in every day so it's nice when someone links it and I can go "oh cute card. Too bad I'll never get one since it's way out of my price range."
I've linked ebay auctions before to show a picture of how a card looked since I couldn't get my scanner to work.
So I think there is a place for ebay links because it benefits my card collecting experience and does not influence my buying decisions.

It is a tough question that is being asked here.Some people use the arguement(use links) that it helps people in the hobby while others say to ban it all together or to allow links after the auction has ended.Perhaps one option should be that NSU tries it on a trial basis to allow links for an auction while it is ongoing.If it starts to being abused, then the process could be scrapped.We now have Moderators that are helping Harris monitor Card Talk and they can help monitor this process.

Ban them all - if you're interested in a particular collection you'll have saved the e-bay search yourself!

I've never bid on any Ebay links from Cardtalk as like comicbookfan I prefer to look for my own cards and tend to only buy from certain people.

However, if someone has posted an Ebay link in a thread I've been following, I've used it to see what was going on.

Ebay links have been used to show when promos have become available, variation in costume and autograph cards, the extreme prices that people are willing to pay to get the cards they want, obscure stuff that few people here have heard of,they've sparked discussion. I think many people here will have either come to card collecting or come back to card collecting via Ebay.

So I voted for the first choice, although a blanket ban is practical and would solve any problems immediately, I'd miss those links.

Lesley

I wish people would stop using this word BAN.

There are too many things in the world being banned and too many people banning them.

Instead of screaming BAN IT try to find a solution to the problem which keeps everybody happy.

quote:

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Originally posted by wolfman-golf:
I wish people would stop using this word BAN.

There are too many things in the world being banned and too many people banning them.

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Very true.

I think links should be allowed so that we can give an example of what we want to convey. It's not like were trying to sell something but just showing what we're talking about. I agree wolfman-golf about the word ban. There are too many people in the world today trying to bad everything. What will we have left if everyone bans everything. Sounds like a dictatorship when so many things are banned just because someone wants them to be. Okay back to the original issue....If it promotes inforamtion and is relavent to our hobby then why shouldn't links be allowed. My vote is

Tom
The Wright Stuff
Aim Id. TWthegreatest

I voted: allow eBay links for outrageous and one-of-a-kind auctions. I like to see unusual auctions.

I haven't been here that long, but most of the Ebay links I've seen have been more informative than advertisement--at least to me.

They have:
Let me know that interestingsomething is out there
What to avoid (home made 1 of 1's, etc.)
What people will to do to cheat a buck out of someone.
How far someone will go to obtain a card.
And probably more reasons that I can't think of..

a total banishment of ebay links would be detrimental to the community versus the knowledge/discussion/enlightenment that they have brought.

(Devil's advocate part)
Why Stop at Ebay?? BAN all links to everything cards. Even to the Card companies themselves.
They offer cards that those who advertise here sell.
Ban the trading section....you can buy those at dealers also.......
(end)

I support the no advertising policy...it's fair and right, but I haven't seen anybody post
"Go here and bid on this card that I just put on Ebay" either. That may have happened before...but I haven't seen it & with all of the mods patrolling here now, it wouldn't be up long.

If there was a different option than to link to ebay to show something, (I.E. the link to the site that showed all the disney sketches) then I think that should be used.

Hope some of this makes sense...

There is almost always another way to convey your point than posting a link to eBay. Such as posting a link to the picture on eBay instead of the auction, or downloading the picture and hosting it somewhere else.

Obviously some things can't be conveyed that way, but most things can.

Jon

box breakdowns, show reviews, rare autograph gallery and more: www.webjon.com/index.html

If ebay links were banned, would mentions of ebay auctions also be banned? Such as " There's a Buffy B7-MEM promo on ebay right now!!" That's as good as posting the link, because searching for it once at ebay is very simple.

I really enjoy the links and mentions of unusual or outrageous items on ebay. I don't have the time to look for all of the odd things that pop up on ebay and I really appreciate other people sharing what they find.

On the other hand, I fully appreciate the concerns that Harris has concerning paid advertisers. Without them, there wouldn't be this wonderful community that we all spend too much time in each day. I also buy from and support several of those fine dealers and wouldn't want to see anything detrimental to them posted in Card Talk. It's a tough call, but I think with the new Moderators, there's a better chance of controlling this now.

Back to my original point. If links to ebay were banned, would any mention of ebay auctions also be banned? And wouldn't that be bad for all of us?

Rich

I'm with Meander.... Every trade post out there is also a potential sales loss for one of our advertisers. If we try to remove references to all possible ways to obtain cards from other than 'our' advertisers, it will make for a pretty boring board! (i.e. no trades, no links to personal websites, no box breakdowns, no announcements of extraordinary pulls, etc.)

I would suspect that 'our' moderators could fairly easily identify repeat violators of the current policy and address them individually.

Unnecessarily suppressing information cannot be a good thing.

Ken

Got Cards?

I voted to eliminate eBay links.

Not only because of the paid advertiser issue. But because I think the moderators already have their hands full, and they are all volunteers..And asking them to constantly decide will take lots of time and energy and is bound to offend someone(s) sometime

Because one never knows if someone is boosting their own or a friend's auction...

Because ..I've seen the Usenet group and some Yahoo groups turn into massive listings of eBay auctions..which makes those venues not fun any more, and I dont want that to happen here.

It seems to me that mentioning something one has seen on eBay is enough information for anyone that wants to, to search for it.no need for direct linking, nor abbreviated links.

quote:

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Originally posted by jon@webjon.com (spydrman):
There is almost always another way to convey your point than posting a link to eBay. Such as . . . downloading the picture and hosting it somewhere else.

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Wasn't there an earlier thread discussing the use of other people's pictures without their permission? I thought the concensus on that was "bad".

I find most of the ebay links informative and I personally don't believe that posting them here has much effect on sales. If someone is interested in a certain item no doubt that person has already been searching through ebay to find it and if the item is at a decent price whoever found it would probably try to not bring attention to it. If someone posts a link and is obviously trying to slip around the no advertising policy I wouldn't consider bidding on it as I wouldn't consider the seller trustworthy. Unless the item posted is unique in some way you can probably find a dozen more of them on ebay so I doubt anyone on this board would jump all over a posted item. I say let common sense prevail. If an ebay link post violates advertising policy let the mods delete it, most such posts would be fairly obvious anyway. As I said, most ebay links are mainly just for information about rare or variant cards or when something seems to be bid insanely high (like this Cassie PW-5 variant I was watching http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3246452587&category=29836&rd=1 that has gone far past what I expected and was willing to pay).

Homer Simpson:
Bart, a woman is like a beer. They look good, they smell good, and you'd step over your own mother just to get one!

My lord that's high - even for a variant!

Lessa
- Addicted to eBay -
http://members.fortunecity.com/smithsonian/

quote:

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Originally posted by Bill Mullins:

quote:

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Originally posted by jon@webjon.com (spydrman):
There is almost always another way to convey your point than posting a link to eBay. Such as . . . downloading the picture and hosting it somewhere else.

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Wasn't there an earlier thread discussing the use of other people's pictures without their permission? I thought the concensus on that was "bad".

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Yeah, it is bad if you are using the images to represent items that you are selling. This obviously is a totally different case -- unless you are referring to a different discussion than I am.

Jon

box breakdowns, show reviews, rare autograph gallery and more: www.webjon.com/index.html

For the record,

I innocently posted a link to a Card Talk advertisers site. I did it to illustrate a point. I was asked to remove it, and did so. No problem there, no argument with the mods.

I don't personally see any harm in posting links (no matter if it's ebay, CT advertiser or whatever).

On the subject of paying advertisers - Harris, what would you do if a paying advertiser (hypothetically) said "I don't like the tone of x, or y's posts". "Ban them please". I know you're running a business and advertisers are a major source of income, but from where I sit, this is censorship.

If it's not offensive, libellous or off topic - I think it should be allowed.

Rob

"He drew a deep breath. 'Well I'm back,' he said."

As a paid advertizier, I gotta say if Harris listens to me based soley on my $$, then he's a cheap date...
I pay $25 every, what, 4 months?? That doesn't get me time of day, let alone an editorial comment I appreciate Harris's concern about my business, obviously I'd like to scoop up whatever sales I can, but I don't recall being promised I'd have the playing field to myself and I'm glad Harris decided to allow links. I"m of the mind there is ways to provide info without linking, but it's easier and quicker to link and it helps more then it hurts to allow it....

quote:

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Originally posted by robwaddle:On the subject of paying advertisers - Harris, what would you do if a paying advertiser (hypothetically) said "I don't like the tone of x, or y's posts". "Ban them please". I know you're running a business and advertisers are a major source of income, but from where I sit, this is censorship.

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Nope, Harris won't do that. I've been trying to get you banned for a month now!

Hopefully I put enough smilies there to make sure everyone, even the humor impaired, knew it was a joke.

As Lynn said, CT ad rates aren't enough to do much more than help with the bandwidth charges, so I doubt our opinion is held in much higher regard than anyone else's.

Ed

I am Scifi... Cards.