Google Users Cringe at News eBay Splogs and Wikis to Clutter Search Results

[amy]

eBay to introduce blogs and wikis. 

eBay will be introducing eBay Blogs, another way to give sellers an opportunity to market themselves, as well as an eBay Community Wiki. eBay is holding sessions on the new tools at the upcoming eBay Live conference in Las Vegas June 13 - 15.

The session called "It's not About Me, it's eBay Blogs!" shows conference attendees how they can use eBay Blogs to write about the things they sell and build their networks. Another session, called "Wiki 101 - An Overview of the eBay Community Wiki," defines Wikis in general, looks at Wiki implementation on other sites, and discusses Wiki features eBay provides to the Community. eBay has already created a discussion board devoted to eBay Blogs, though it's not yet available on its main list of discussion boards.

An AuctionBytes reader reacted somewhat skeptically to the news of an eBay blog. "I am a bit concerned about the blogging capability of eBay because I feel it's another way to draw the crowd into eBay as a brand, and not about the individual seller." When asked if she could be quoted by name, she said, "Quote me - errr - maybe I'm not sure because if I put my name up there I don't want to deal with the retaliation," a common reaction by eBay sellers.

full article: http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m06/i02/s03

[cranky_hippie]

Looks like just another way for Ebay to get better ranking, just like their Reviews & Guides. You can bet that it isn't intended as a benefit to sellers, but for Ebay itself. 

Of course, the usual band of cheerleaders will be taken in and try to sell the rest of us on how wonderful it all is. 

[jezebel]

Google Users Cringe at News eBay Splogs and Wikis to Clutter Search Results

Puke. Every search I do is wall to wall Ebay affiliate sites and AdSense spam sites.  Puke.

[mandy]

Update: coming soon eBay CENSORED blogs and wikis.

eBay is set to introduce blog and wiki features at next week's annual eBay Live conference (http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m06/i02/s03). However, a preview of its guidelines shows eBay is limiting the content users can publish on them. This will likely come as no surprise to experienced eBay users, who must already navigate a minefield of eBay's 150-plus policies. But limiting the amount of self-promoting users can do may make them less attractive. And the guidelines may not go down well with the blogging community, which has already been buzzing about eBay's forthcoming community features...

But some rules prevent eBay users from mentioning the company's competitors and even prevent users from promoting their own off-eBay businesses. The following are examples of content or actions not permitted in the "community content areas":...

full article: http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m06/i06/s02

eBay's blog and wiki rules:

The following are examples of content or actions not permitted in the Community content areas (Reviews, Guides, Blog Entries, Wiki Articles, and Member-Created Product Descriptions):

    *      Promoting or advertising to buy, sell, or trade any product or service listed or located outside of any eBay property (eBay, Half.com, eBay Stores, eBay Express, etc.). Sellers may only promote their Store or Sellers Other Items list, not individual listings.
    *
      Placing published content in the wrong category (mis-categorization).
    *
      Using another eBay member's pictures or text without the other member's express permission.
    *
      Using intellectual property without the property owners express permission, where applicable. eBay strongly encourages members writing and publishing content to familiarize themselves with how eBay helps protect intellectual property. For more information see How eBay Protects Intellectual Property (VeRO.
    *
      Including any advertising credit, including links, logos, or company names within published content.
    *
      Publishing more than one identical piece of content concurrently.
    *
      Encouraging, promoting, facilitating, or instructing others to engage in illegal activity or to violate eBay policy.
    *
      Enabling, encouraging, or instructing others to infringe copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights.
    *
      Promoting giveaways, lotteries, random drawings, raffles, or prizes of any kind.
    *
      Using HTML and JavaScript functions prohibited on eBay. For more information see eBay’s policy on Prohibited HTML and Javascript for a complete list.
    *
      Using keywords, random links, inaccurate titles, text, or other content not directly relevant to the subject of the Community content for the purpose of gaining attention or diverting members to that content. For more information on misuse of keywords, see our site policy on Keyword Spamming.
    *
      Publishing content or images that are adult in nature or otherwise not appropriate for minors (individuals under 18 years of age). For more information see eBay’s Adult Policy for clarification on what is permitted in public areas of the site.
    *
      Linking from content published on eBay to Web sites that include offers to trade, sell, or purchase goods or services off eBay is generally not permitted. Please see Additional Information below for exceptions with Blogs.
    *
      Linking to items, services, or content prohibited on eBay or to sites that offer items, services, or content prohibited on eBay.
    *
      Misrepresenting yourself as an eBay employee or as another eBay member.
    *
      Publishing content that promotes or glorifies hatred, violence, racial, or religious intolerance, or content that promotes organizations with such views. For more information see our site policy on Offensive Material.
    *
      Using profanity or patently vulgar language in a public area of the site. Please see Additional Information below for exceptions with Blogs.
    *
      Publishing personal contact information of any person in any public area of eBay, including emails, phone numbers, name, street address, etc.
    *
      Misusing the violation reporting function to maliciously or frivolously report content as not in compliance with eBay policy.

Exceptions for Blog use

    *
      Use of profanity (not patently vulgar language, hate speech, or adult material) in the context of a Blog will generally be permitted; however, excessive and inappropriate use is discouraged. Remember, you are responsible for all content you publish.
    *
      Members publishing Blogs may include links to sites that offer goods for sale off eBay, as long as they do not promote outside-of-eBay sales or prohibited items; nor may the Blog contain links to commercial Web sites where goods from multiple sellers are aggregated by a common search engine.

new member created content policy: http://pages.qa.ebay.com/help/policies/m...nt-ov.html

blogs help page: http://pages.qa.ebay.com/help/account/blogs-ov.html
wikis help page: http://pages.qa.ebay.com/help/account/wiki-ov.html

[regic]

Another one.  Marketing Vox weighs in on the censorship issue:

eBay to Censor Its Blogs

eBay will be tightly controlling the content of blogs that its users set up via the newly announced blogging features that the online auction is set to introduce next week, reports AuctionBytes.com. eBay's policies limit users' self-promotion and set strict guidelines not only limiting adult content and profanity, for example, but also preventing mentions of eBay competitors - or even users' own off-eBay businesses....

full article: http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/200...its_blogs/

[thentavius]

Seriously. How is eBay going to police the blogs? They don't even have time to answer customer service phone lines or email.

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=thentavius link=topic=3946.msg15731#msg15731 date=1149609434]
Seriously. How is eBay going to police the blogs? They don't even have time to answer customer service phone lines or email.
[/quote]

They don't have time to answer emails but they do have time to police their boards...follow me around and watch my posts disappear.  I'm sure a large part of the policing will be done by your competitors.

The blogs should be great for eBay and its SEO   :  The prohibition against linking to your own individual EBAY listings is a joke.  I don't see any benefits for sellers who use eBay's blogs instead of one of the many free blog services.

[bargainbloodhound]

The press release announcing eBay's censored blogs...the ones with the huge report this post button on each blog article.

eBay Empowers Community With Member Blogs and Wiki

eBay Blogs and Wiki Provide New Ways to Socialize, Collaborate and Share Best Practices

At the fifth annual eBay Live! Community Conference, eBay today announced eBay Member Blogs and an eBay Wiki - two new ways for the eBay community to create and share content. eBay Member Blogs and Wiki add to eBay's rich set of Community interaction tools, which include Member Forums, About Me pages and eBay Reviews and Guides.

"Our goal is to facilitate commerce and community activity, enabling our members to trade with one another successfully on the eBay site," said Rachel Makool, senior director of community development for eBay. "The eBay Wiki and Member Blogs provide powerful new avenues for our members to share with one another and tap into the collective intelligence of the eBay community."

On the eBay Wiki (www.ebaywiki.com), community members can quickly and easily publish, contribute to, and refine articles about tips and tricks, best practices, and other topics of interest to the greater eBay community. Powered by JotSpot, an application wiki company, the eBay Wiki allows anyone to create and edit pages without having to learn a specialized markup language like HTML. Because the articles on the eBay Wiki are user-generated and based on facts and real users' experiences, the eBay Wiki becomes a valuable reference guide as more articles are published, edited, and shared.

With the new Member Blogs feature (http://blogs.ebay.com), eBay users can now create and publish journal-like entries within their own dedicated space on eBay. Blogs allow users to create their own content about topics that interest them and are a great way for members to share ongoing conversation with others. eBay bloggers can share personal experiences or discuss their favorite categories and are able to post photos, include links to other web sites and allow visitors to post comments on their blogs. In addition, users are able to tag content with relevant keywords to help other users find their content through a search on the site, and eBay blogs are enabled for Really Simple Syndication (RSS).

The eBay community is made up of more than 193 million registered users worldwide. The addition of the eBay Wiki and Member Blogs builds upon other existing community offerings and user-generated content which includes Reviews & Guides and Member Forums where members can post information and share questions, opinions, best practices and more.

[BellisimaJ.]

[quote author=bargainbloodhound link=topic=3946.msg15735#msg15735 date=1149611111]



The blogs should be great for eBay and its SEO  :  The prohibition against linking to your own individual EBAY listings is a joke.  I don't see any benefits for sellers who use eBay's blogs instead of one of the many free blog services.
[/quote]
I also don't see the benefit in using ebay censored blogs, however, people are really jumping on the bandwagon in spite of the censorship---even some of the usual dissidents, such as CS sisters.
Be interesting to see how long the current enthusiasm lasts. ;D