Links to eBay for purposes of discussion

[Corran]

I guess I'll start this discussion...

It appears that links to eBay are completely verboten, regardless of subforum or objective, as indicated earlier today when a thread was deleted. You can reference eBay or mention an item on it - just no links.

I understand the reasoning for this if one is selling an item and then linking to it. However, linking to an item expressly for the purpose of discussion seems harmless, especially in the instance of rare, uncommon items and for pictures / descriptions of these items.

Yes I understand the potential for misuse ("Check this thing out! Pretty cool! No relation!" But they are actually the seller or the seller's friend) but generally I think that is obvious or unlikely.

Feel free to discuss, that's just my take on it.

[Lachlan 717]

Seems pointless long-term as the link will be useless after about 3 months when the item is removed.

[Corran]

True, though no less useful than just referencing it and calling eBay "the auction site that can not be named" or whatever, after that time period.

I'm not sure why, but sometimes when Google searching I do find auctions that are much older.

If anything really needs to be shown, and permanently, the OP should take a screenshot and post it to the thread.

[Jac@stafford.net]

I have moderated lists and it is a lot of work. One thing that helps the moderator is an intelligent search to find the obvious forbidden issues.

One thing I implemented was a search on likely things such as a string of integers that matches certain patterns. Doing the same against possible 'bay item numbers is possible, but verification is rather slow. Another thing is short URLs. Ugh.

I do not know, nor do I want to try posting item numbers as a work-around of the issue under discussion.
.

[Bob Salomon]

True, though no less useful than just referencing it and calling eBay "the auction site that can not be named" or whatever, after that time period.

I'm not sure why, but sometimes when Google searching I do find auctions that are much older.

If anything really needs to be shown, and permanently, the OP should take a screenshot and post it to the thread.

Saying "the auction site that can not be named" is exactly the same as saying E Bay. It just takes up more space as well as more time to type. So why not save everybody time and space and just make it EB?

[goamules]

I believe in logical rules, not letter of the law policing. My understanding is that we don't post active ebay listings, because "outing" them might give a potential buyer a lot more competition. But discussing a lens feature, after the sale, is no problem. Some very old listings can be called up, if you know the number, by the way. Here is one from 2012, 3 years ago: 230725220008

Potential questions that can be quickly answered by just this one listing could have been, "Did they ever make a Dallmeyer 8D?" or "Were D series made in the 4,000 serial number range?" Etc. It's a lot easier to say "here is one that sold....blah..." Than to try to regurgitate the facts, without any attribution/reference.

[Tin Can]

This forum is becoming increasingly irritating with Over Mods, Under Mods, Fake Mods, Important Mods and Wannabe Mods.

I fit into at least one category.

Let the Real Mods rule.

[Oren Grad]

You're allowed to say "eBay" on the Forum - there's no need to belabor that.

The topic here is what should be policy with respect to links to active auction listings that are intended for purposes of discussion rather than sales.

[Tin Can]

If it's eBay links to common manufactured parts, like aluminum extrusions and not links to unique items, what then?

[Bob Salomon]

You're allowed to say "eBay" on the Forum - there's no need to belabor that.

The topic here is what should be policy with respect to links to active auction listings that are intended for purposes of discussion rather than sales.

Personally, I would be in favor of them. A direct listing save a lot of time when trying to research it. I still get a lot of questions about the products that we sold over the past almost half century. And I waste a lot of time when someone asks a question about something being offered and I have to search it out.