[BaldyDave]

After a lengthy negotiation process the Mod team have managed to get movement in the rules banning linking to eBay from within this forum. Please read these rules carefully as they will be stringently applied. These rule changes will be monitored closely and edited if needed. This is a significant change of position on this forum and will possibly be monitored by the forum admins so we need to play this by the book. Please pay particular attention to the rules prohibiting posting eBay links in the forum marketplace "for sale" sections and Vendor Member section.

As these rules may well be subject to revision, they have been added to the the end of main forum rules (at the bottom of the post). The main forum rules are "stickied" at the top of the General Discussion and New Members Introductions forum sections.

If the eBay rules become permanent then they will be more fully integrated into the forum rules.

Thanks for your cooperation.


New eBay Rules - may be subject to change/revocation

It has been decided to relax the ban on linking to eBay items on this forum in view of member opinion. This will hopefully make this community even more useful and extend the ability for members to get even more help on farkles, parts or other bike-related stuff. However in order to protect the Forum Vendors (who pay good money to promote here) there are rules that you'll have to adhere to. Similarly what the forum wants to avoid is a resurgence of spamming activity which was a real issue a few years back, so again the rules that follow should mitigate this.

1. Members may link to eBay listings in all forum sections apart from the Marketplace "For Sale" forum sections, and also no linking in the Vendor Member forum section.

2. No linking to personal motorcycle items for sale. We have a Marketplace "For Sale" section for this once you have built up privileges to use it.

3. Members need to have completed 10 posts before they are allowed to link to eBay.

4. eBay links must be relevant to both this forum and to the topic of the thread that the link is posted in. Selling your car, TV etc simply won't fly on here.

5. Linking to inappropriate content is absolutely not allowed and could result in a ban depending on the situation. You have been warned.

5. The Admin or Moderator teams reserve the right to delete any links/content/posts without giving a reason. If your post vanishes or is punted and you are wondering why, then re-read these rules for the answer.

6. Mod/Admin decisions are final.

As we are moving into new territory with these new forum rules, the rules may be subject to some change in the short to medium term should it become apparent that they are not doing their job fully.

 

[learningtofly]

Dave, thanks for pursuing this issue on our behalf. I think the relaxation is both sensible and justified, and I'm pleased to see that VS weren't dogmatic about it.

 

[CerealOwner]

Yeah, thanks Dave and Mod/Admin teams. This will make it easier for members to describe or find the thingy that might work for a whatchamacallit.

Just think of all the words that will be saved!

 

[Cropduster]

Nice one

 

[Hardgravity]

Thanks dave

As an ebay shopper an having bought several items featured in my posts it will/should make life easier when posting.

 

[Gambo916]

Great news. Thanks to all.

 

[Manyakus]

This is great! Thank you all for the effort!

 

[rotorwrench]

Thanks Dave. Please define "Inappropriate" as it is a pretty subjective term and what works for me may blow another member out of the water.

 

[BaldyDave]

Thanks Dave. Please define "Inappropriate" as it is a pretty subjective term and what works for me may blow another member out of the water.

I totally agree, it is subjective. I think if members apply common sense and ask themselves if what they are linking to deserves an audience in this motorcycle forum, I expect we will never have to explore the limits of what is appropriate or not.

If any member has any doubts about what they are about to post, it might be a good idea to reach out to a Moderator (or three) and ask before publishing.

Some background for new members - up until the date of this thread's start it was prohibited to link to eBay for various reasons documented many times before now, and this rule has been in place since the forum started (late 2013). This was way before the current Moderator Team were in position.

Anyhow the point is that for many years (for whatever reasons, be they right or wrong) eBay linking simply didn't happen, or if it did, the Mods were tasked with taking the content down. Now we are in new territory for this forum and the rules are still to be tested. For the forum this is a big step so we are treading very carefully and trying to cover all bases whilst still giving the members as much freedom as possible to post relevant eBay links without scaring away Forum vendors or advertisers (who fund this forum) and guarding against spamming.

The "inappropriate content" rule was accepted by all of the moderator team and the admins as well (admins were asked to review the draft rules as they were being developed). It in my view is a "catch all" rule to apply to content that we might have not thought of being posted here - although I use eBay quite a lot it is normally just for motorbike and household stuff so I'm not really sure just how wide the vast range of products it sells stretches to.... Are there dark areas to this site? I honestly don't know... . Also an "inappropriate" link might (for example) just be a member linking to some fly fishing DVDs - obviously that's not even close to ban-worthy (unless they are a spammer) but it would get deleted and the member might be politely asked not to post that stuff again. To get an immediate ban you'd really have to be doing something OBVIOUSLY and SERIOUSLY wrong in a Moderator or Admin's eyes...

Rule 5 (above) might end up being deleted if it looks as if the pre-existing rules catch any forum linking misuse.

This is just my take, as I've said this rule has been seen and approved by all mods and the admins too.

Personally I do see some tinkering with the rules being done, especially if/when they are properly integrated into the forum rules.

At present I think that we should see how we get on with these rules for a while, and then assess how they are working a bit down the line. This forum's position has shifted significantly, lets see how the changes roll.

 

[Cropduster]

Thanks Dave. Please define "Inappropriate" as it is a pretty subjective term and what works for me may blow another member out of the water.

Dave's application of "Common Sense" is spot on. Inappropriate is pretty easy to define because no matter how open minded anyone may be, being an adult means that we have to put ourselves in the position of others when making decisions. you wouldn't post a link to e-bay selling your wifes used vibrator for example..... if you need a definition of inappropriate that's probably it. If it's relevant, as in someone in a thread is discussing how to true a spoked wheel for example and I post an e-bay link to a spoke spanner and trueing stand then that's appropriate and relevant.....

It's like Pornography, hard to define it but when you see it you know that it is right?, basically, if you're unsure, just don't post it.

 

[BaldyDave]

Sometimes words fail me, @Cropduster, but I agree with what you said in your own unique way!