Transformerland.com

Okay, I understand the moderators wanting to avoid links to *active* Ebay threads...

But why can't we link to *sold* Ebay items? Often, this is the *only* available reference for some things. And you can't *always* just say "do a completed items search for "X". I'm sure not everyone has access to 60 day marketplace research like I do. And it's not like linking to sold items are going to take away from Trance's sales... we all know that yes, Bobby, the Evil Bay has transformers too.

Can't we have a compromise here? Anybody with me? Could somebody explain to me the reasoning going on here?

Okay, I guess I'm alone.

Ah, ok. I thought that's what it was, but recently, somebody started pulling some closed auction links too.

Thanks for the clarification TT. I'm sure I can fathom a fairly accurate guess as to why the policy is in place I just became confused when closed auction links were pulled.

I just post the images from the auction, if I can. If I see an auction I know someone will be interested in, I'll PM them.

If you're trying to hook someone up to buy an auction you've found, that's the way to go about it. (RJ helped me out that way![thanks!]) If it's an ended auction, posted for a decent reason, go ahead

Banzai-Tron wrote:Okay, I understand the moderators wanting to avoid links to *active* Ebay threads...

But why can't we link to *sold* Ebay items? Often, this is the *only* available reference for some things. And you can't *always* just say "do a completed items search for "X". I'm sure not everyone has access to 60 day marketplace research like I do. And it's not like linking to sold items are going to take away from Trance's sales... we all know that yes, Bobby, the Evil Bay has transformers too.

Can't we have a compromise here? Anybody with me? Could somebody explain to me the reasoning going on here?

Quoting myself, because... well, I would like an answer to this question again, since things have changed.

Quotes from the TFL rules:

"Hotlinking is a practice of including a picture you don't own, from a site you don't run, in your post. When that picture is viewed on the board, it takes that other site's bandwidth. Not to mention, the owner of that site could CHANGE the picture your link leads to, and get you in hot water for the new content of your post!"

and

"If there is a ridiculous, rare, or expensive auction you want to show us, hit "print screen' on your keyboard, paste the picture into a jpeg file. BLOT OUT identities of buyers/sellers, and auction numbers. Then host the image, and show us the G1 Bumblebee someone paid $4 million for! "

The rest of the rules can be found here:
http://www.transformerland.com/forum/vi ... php?t=3436

Does this answer your question?

No, that doesn't answer my question at all. I'm not even certain why you're quoting hotlinking rules? Hotlinking and linking are two VERY different things...

Okay, BT, here is the deal.

The main reason that the rule is in place is that even with closed auctions, there tends to be something negative said about at least one party involved in the transaction.

Negative things being said, if read by the party they are said about cause issues in the forums.

That being the case, all things involved, the more we can avoid naming names, the better.

Sometimes, in the past, when a seller's name was even brought up, it caused a thread to go down an extremely negative path, even when that thread was not about that seller to begin with. The thread then had to be cleaned up by the moderators and/or admins. The seller got notified about "those mean people over at TFL" talking trash about him, by someone that read the thread. Bad feelings were left for TFL out there on the interwebz for someone that might have otherwise enjoyed the place.

So, even in the case of closed/ridiculous auctions, the policy had to become no direct links, at most a screen capture with all identities (and auction numbers) removed to protect the innocent.

This has changed because of certain events that have happened since you joined, but not necessarily in the last two months. The new rule set was being hammered out over quite a few months, and was quote a difficult process. They are there for your protection, though, and hopefully to help you, and others feel safer here.

Interesting, I had not considered that issue. But now that you mention it I can recall threads that got side tracked into debates about a seller.

Banzai-Tron wrote:No, that doesn't answer my question at all. I'm not even certain why you're quoting hotlinking rules? Hotlinking and linking are two VERY different things...

Sorry for being unclear.
The reason why I included the hotlinking-part was to show some of the problems that can occur when linking. A common problem when linking is that the link stops working after a while, and good way to prevent such dead links (and other problems as well) is to host a picture or a copy of the auction, as mentioned in the rules.

Banzai-tron, As you know, we've always had conundrum about this ebay links things, for the reasons shaggy cited above. It's been a primary policy sticking point among site administration for quite a while, as he said, and we've found that recurring trouble has necessitated the blanket policy. However, I understand you're a senior member and have posted more than a few finished auctions to help people research prices, which is a greatly appreciated service. I'd like to invite you to write me a proposal for a better rule that still protects our interests but allows more freedom regarding this.
I think you know the premises on which we're trying to operate, and i'll drop you a PM noting some other concerns for you to consider in helping us improve this policy.
One of our goals is very much to improve the way things work around here, and i understand the screencap and blotting, while an ideal solution, does take a lot of time.

Time Traveller wrote:Banzai-tron, As you know, we've always had conundrum about this ebay links things, for the reasons shaggy cited above. It's been a primary policy sticking point among site administration for quite a while, as he said, and we've found that recurring trouble has necessitated the blanket policy. However, I understand you're a senior member and have posted more than a few finished auctions to help people research prices, which is a greatly appreciated service. I'd like to invite you to write me a proposal for a better rule that still protects our interests but allows more freedom regarding this.
I think you know the premises on which we're trying to operate, and i'll drop you a PM noting some other concerns for you to consider in helping us improve this policy.
One of our goals is very much to improve the way things work around here, and i understand the screencap and blotting, while an ideal solution, does take a lot of time.

Before I do too much thinking on this, I'd like to see that PM
Though I'm not sure I'll think something that can maintain the Utopian ideal.