[Milsurplus] Please stay on topic - from your friendly list admin

[Barry Hauser]

Hi Ralph, Floyd & crew:

It's not so much that ebay is "off topic" is that it's a powderkeg subject
and threads tend to go out of control into an unrecoverable power dive into
the depths of .. well .... unmoderate-ableness.

It may start with an innocent reference to an interesting piece of gear
that's turned up there and no other way to illustrate it to the list members
but refer to the item.  Invariably, though -- it migrates.  Then there are
the "helpful" announcements like "Hey guys, if anybody wants one, there's a
nice RT-XYZ on ebay now for only a hundred bucks with five days to go!"  If
not self-serving for one's own auction -- using qth to vamp another venue,
posts of that type only serve to goose up the bidding and contribute to the
feeding frenzy -- ultimately putting the price out of reach for most of
one's buddies anyway.  Better to email privately to a few or forget it.
(ebay has a gimmick for doing that directly.)

Those are a couple of reasons the the subject is generally discouraged or
outright verboten on most of the qth lists.  It's as bad or worse than
politics.  Actually, it IS worse -- the one subject that can turn
conservatives into raving Bolsheviks and liberal radicals into Capitalist
reactionaries, exchanging views that sound like "The Central Committee says
that all BC-348's shall be 73 rubles and five kopecs" vs. "Auctions are as
American as apple pie.  Free market or bust!"

Yet, there's no ignoring the influence ebay has had on the gear and it would
be helpful to air some issues.  The one that concerns me most is bad
packing. (But, I'll stop right here now that I snuck my 2 cents in ;-)

Actually, the purpose of this post is to remind everyone that there is a
special qth list for discussing ebay and <shudder> even posting ebay
offerings.  Al Waller (owner of qth.net) set this up about a year or two ago
as a venue (safety valve?) for ebay matters.  You can check it out and
subscribe at http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ebay-fs

If you check the archives, you'll see it hasn't had much traffic.  Might be
time to start using it.  If  you feel the need to reply, maybe better to
take it "outside" to the ebay-fs list.

Barry





> rhogan@hiwaay.net wrote:
> >Okay fellow collectors,
> >
> >As you can see there is a good reason this list frowns on discussing ebay
> >listings. In general we don't discuss ebay or any ebay listings on this
list.
> >I let it slide occasionally when its a 'whats that' question that may
benefit
> >all, but discussing the merits or evils of ebay is way off topic.
> >
> >Please stay on Milsurplus topics.
>
> How and where to find military surplus equipment _should_ be
> very much on topic.  Clearly for most readers, eBay is going to
> be a primary source, and for many practically the only source,
> of many types of military surplus items.  Understanding how
> eBay works, and how to make it work for the individuals who
> subscribe to the mailing list should be a serious topic of
> discussion.  And do we also ban *all* discussion of sources,
> or only eBay?
>
> Certainly a percentage of the articles do get off topic.  I.e.,
> discussions of the definition of "greed" probably are not needed
> here! :-) But it appears that what bothers some is just any
> significantly animated traffic.
>
> And it might indeed be exceedingly difficult to moderate such a
> discussion effectively.  By that I mean you can probably repeat
> dozens of times to stick to "how to use eBay, or whut is that
> thang on eBay" as opposed to "eBay is a den of greedy bastards",
> and it probably won't have much effect, while just banning all
> discussion of eBay definitely does reduce the off topic portion
> of the thread.
>
> But is tolerating a few out of bounds articles worse than
> missing some _useful_ details on how to work the system to
> obtain the surplus equipment that is available daily on eBay?  I
> think not.
>
> I'd rather see you either ignore it completely, or if you have
> the time and energy make an effort at directing the topic in a
> productive way.
>
> Most of all, I think it would be good if those of us who do use
> eBay would be kind enough to write a few articles now and then
> on _how_ to effectively use eBay.  Those who use it the most are
> definitely going to admit people can and do get ripped off, but
> we can explain how to avoid being that victim.
>
> That shouldn't be an unwelcome discussion in a group devoted to
> buying somebody else's trash...
>
> >Thanks for your support in this matter.
> >
> >Ralph W4XE List administrator
>
>
> --
> Floyd L. Davidson           <http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson>
> Ukpeagvik "Place where people hunt snowy owls"     (Barrow, Alaska)
> _______________________________________________
> Milsurplus mailing list
> Milsurplus@mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/milsurplus