From: "Willem-Jan Markerink" To: eos@a1.nl Date sent: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 12:17:38 +0100 Subject: eStuff (was: EOS For Sale Advertising - Recent Nonsense Send reply to: eos@a1.nl On 9 Aug 00 at 14:40, Robert Meier wrote: > WJM, > > The list policy says that advertising about selling > EOS and compatible equipment is allowed except for > commercial purposes. While personaly I would not send > a post to this list about an auction that I have on > ebay (never used ebay so far) it is not 100% clear if > this would be against the rules. Just because > something is sold on ebay doesn't make it commercial. It's the combination of - commerce (just like a sale of your gear at a shop, under commission....you might think it is not commercial/advertising, but I do) - not offering a fixed price (hence the claim 'good deal' or 'rare offer' is hilarious) - not giving list-members first opportunity (one of the reasons why I prefer private auctions, if at all) Bottom line: Somewhere between the outcomes 'max benefit for seller' and 'max benefit for buyer' there is an financial, social and ethical optimum, and that optimum is not within the realm of eBay.... Or: with exactly the same justification I could charge eBay-sellers a fee for posting their ad to this list....think about it....this list is no less part of the success of the auction than eBay itself, so why not charge a fee here too? ('But it is to the benefit of the listmembers!'....sorry, *ONLY* if you set a fixed, friendly price....otherwise the claim is hilarious....since you simply don't know....it might gain a higher price than new....wouldn't call that a benefit to listmembers/buyers ....so then all benefit is at the sellers-side....which IMNSHO defeats the intent/spirit/nature of this list). It's bad enough that we support eGroups (a few years ago, I was very close to cutting them off, since they hadn't even asked for permission to act as a list-mirror, but was convinced otherwise by the argument that they also offer a good web-archive....while that argument has been eroded by the fact that this archive has since been far from perfect, and also present at Listquest (archive-only)....the current excessive ads on every eGroups message make me even less willing to keep them onboard (even more fun is a message from an Yahoo member through eGroups....same ad TWICE! (the two companies merged). PS: If anyone could create an ad-sig stripper within Majordomo, I would implement it tomorrow....8-)) (I forbid anyone paying eGroups to remove their ad-sig!....;-)) > If you have a garage sale and do not only put a poster > on the street but also let your friends now doesn't > make it commercial, unless you do it on a regular > basis. In other words, what about extending the policy > about advertising on the list and forbide any indirect > sales (through a third person, auction, etc)? That way > we do not have to have that discussion again. You are way too optimistic about the idea that people will read list-rules, and remember them....;-)) -- Bye, Willem-Jan Markerink The desire to understand is sometimes far less intelligent than the inability to understand [note: 'a-one' & 'en-el'!]