[Air-l] query for a friend: ebay

[Steve Jones]

This doesn't necessarily qualify as research, but it's an interesting 
story about goings-on at eBay.

Sj

>eBay toughens up on discussion boards
>By Troy Wolverton and Greg Sandoval
>Staff Writers, CNET News.com
>April 17, 2002, 5:10 PM PT
>
>
>eBay is tightening up the rules for its community discussion boards, 
>sparking complaints that the rules are choking off the free flow of 
>information among members.
>
>Under the new rules, eBay community members can't use the boards to 
>warn others if they were ripped off by a buyer or a seller, they 
>can't ask each other where to find a particular item to buy, they 
>can't share private e-mail, and--if eBay decides to delete an 
>offending post--the members aren't allowed to even discuss the post.
>
>Members who violate the rules can be banned from buying and selling 
>on the site, and if that happens the millions of other eBay members 
>are barred from even discussing that person on the boards--or they 
>too are at risk of being kicked out of the community.
>
>
>"They're just trying to stop any criticism at all," said Joe, an 
>eBay seller from Greenville, S.C., who asked that his last name not 
>be used.
>
>eBay, like other sites with discussion boards, has always had 
>certain commonsense regulations: no pornography, hate speech or 
>threats of violence, no using JavaScript or other coding that could 
>interfere with the site operations, no making repetitive posts or 
>sending abusive messages.
>
>And eBay has the legal right to restrict discussion on its boards, 
>since it owns and operates them. Any charges of censorship would 
>fall on deaf ears in the courts, because the First Amendment only 
>prohibits the government from restricting speech.
>
>"The law has endorsed in general the idea that it's eBay's forum and 
>they get to write the rules," said Cindy Cohn, legal director for 
>the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "If people don't like what 
>eBay's doing, they should look for other places to do business."
>
>Question of liability
>And although eBay notes in its policy that all messages posted to 
>the boards are solely the opinion and responsibility of the poster, 
>and not eBay, there is some question of liability. Although Congress 
>has given Web site operators some protection for being held liable 
>for the actions of their members, a growing number of lawsuits have 
>been filed recently against operators of discussion boards for posts 
>by their members.
>
>eBay's announcement about the changes didn't mention any of those 
>issues, simply stating that the revisions were meant to "clarify 
>expectations, to make the basic rules of conduct easier to 
>understand, and to remove or replace obsolete language," according 
>to the site.
>
>eBay representatives did not return calls Wednesday seeking comment 
>about the new rules.
>
>eBay has long touted its community of buyers and sellers as one of 
>its greatest assets, a common refrain among online companies that 
>place high value on their relationships with customers. Because 
>there is still some uncertainty for many people to give out personal 
>information or credit card information on the Web, online sites 
>ferociously guard their reputation, and it is generally acknowledged 
>that reports of fraud or security problems can hurt business.
>
>At eBay, the scores of chat, discussion and help boards have long 
>been a place for members to have fairly freewheeling discussions on 
>everything from how to sell a particular product to the latest 
>political issues. Many of the boards are focused on specific 
>categories, and others are chat rooms devoted to specific topics 
>such as Elvis or Furbies or stamp collections, for example. And, 
>despite one of the rules that specifically bans charitable 
>solicitations, there is a "Giving Board" chat room that tells 
>visitors: "Our members have big hearts. Do you know of someone in 
>need? Post their story or their needs on our Giving Board."
>
>In the past, eBay has taken steps to restrict interaction between 
>members, usually to protect its financial interests or protect 
>members from spam, or unsolicited e-mail. For example, the company 
>set up an e-mail system that masks members' e-mail addresses and 
>transmits messages between them through its servers. And the company 
>has outlawed deals between members that take place outside of eBay, 
>threatening to ban members who conduct these deals for products that 
>had been listed on the auction site.
>
>Minor adjustments
>Some of the new rule changes on the eBay boards are minor. For 
>instance, the company has clarified a rule banning advertising on 
>the discussion boards, extending the prohibition to cover members 
>who try to solicit money for charity.
>
>Likewise, eBay clarified a prohibition against posting another 
>individual's contact information by taking out a clause saying, 
>"without permission." Claire, an eBay representative that took part 
>in a discussion about the changes and did not give her last name, 
>pointed out that the rule is meant to safeguard the privacy of other 
>people and that it is often difficult to determine whether 
>permission has been granted for the posting of that kind of 
>information.
>
>But other changes stand out, such as the ban on posting e-mail or 
>mentioning suspended members or suspicious activity.
>
>eBay says all reports of suspicious auctions should be e-mailed to 
>eBay directly, "to avoid accidental harm to innocent parties," 
>according to Claire.
>
>"Public investigations may be auction interference and if an 
>innocent member is the subject of discussion, there may be damage 
>that cannot be undone," Claire said in her post.
>
>"We want to stress that the intent is not to stop members from 
>discussing rules violations in general. Members of the eBay 
>community should continue to actively discuss practices or trends 
>which they feel are inappropriate to the eBay marketplace, in order 
>to continue to help us have your input available for the formulation 
>of policy."
>
>But some members charge that the prohibition on mentioning specific 
>sellers or auctions that may be fraudulent will lead to more fraud 
>on the site.
>
>"Who are they trying to protect? Certainly not the reputable sellers 
>in my opinion," said Liz Chancellor, an eBay seller from Midland, 
>Texas.
>
>Candy Beckman has sold jewelry, crafts and other items on eBay since 
>1999. The Davenport, Iowa, resident often answers other members' 
>questions on one of eBay's help chat boards.
>
>Info a source of comfort
>Often, members come to the board when they think they've been ripped 
>off. In one recent incident, a new member pointed Beckman and other 
>members to a seller who seemed to be defrauding others. By checking 
>out the seller and the seller's auctions, Beckman and the other 
>members were able to confirm the suspicious activity, report it to 
>eBay and have the seller suspended.
>
>"It's going make it much harder to be able to do that now," Beckman said.
>
>The company has also banned reporters and other "third parties" from 
>posting on its message boards or e-mailing members without 
>contacting the company's legal department first.
>
>"This helps assure that the eBay community is made aware if they are 
>speaking to someone who is acting in a professional capacity, rather 
>than as a fellow member," Claire said in her post.
>
>The changes are good, according to Robert Novak, a pet-store owner 
>who sued a community Web site last year after being the target of 
>negative posts on the site devoted to people whose hobby is aquatic 
>plants and animals.
>
>"I think that it's irresponsible for any chat room and forum to 
>allow people to defame someone wrongfully," Novak said Wednesday. 
>"We were the victim of repeated false and erroneous accusations and 
>we decided we weren't going to take it anymore."
>
>Novak's case, filed in federal court in New York against the owner 
>and members of the Aquatic Plant Digest site, is still working its 
>way through the courts. Although the defendants in the case have 
>argued that they were just expressing their opinions, some have been 
>forced to settle, citing their inability to pay for defense lawyers.
>
>Cohn, of the EFF, said Novak's suit and eBay's actions are part of a 
>trend by companies to muffle any criticism about them online.
>
>"Most of the law in this area is surrounded to keep the government 
>from trying to squelch speech, but what we're seeing are more 
>corporations trying to squelch speech," Cohn said. "I hope that 
>executives come to the proper conclusion, that...allowing people to 
>speak their mind...is still the right thing to do."
>
>She added: "Our country is founded on the idea that the remedy for 
>speech is more speech."
>
>Geoffrey Kleinman, founder of online community site DVDTalk.com, 
>said he's worried that other discussion groups may follow eBay's 
>move and dampen the exchange of opinions and ideas. Community sites 
>and discussion-group operators, he hopes, will stand their legal 
>ground and protect their customers' right to free speech.
>
>"The Internet is a tool like nothing else for connecting consumers 
>to each other," said Kleinman, whose site has about 350,000 members. 
>"In my opinion, a customer relating a bad experience at a particular 
>vendor is valuable information that should be protected."