Typical of eBay to “fix when it ain’t broke” 😵‍💫

The link for the discussion forum on the homepage doesn't work. Pretty hard to ask for help when being told the page doesn't exist anymore.

So hard to find things on these boards no wonder people aren't posting. Feel so sorry for anyone coming here for help. Especially if that makes them rely on AI (Aways Irritating)

The old boards worked perfectly fine. I’m not fond of it this way. Interaction was great and posts were answered, even if it wasn’t the answer you were looking for, you at least had a response.

The new being forced to use eBay labels is my big gripe.

This is without question the worst forum software I’ve encountered. It’s like being imprisoned by treacle and sludge and concrete that has almost, but not quite, set.

• The lack of the opening poster being able to mark a thread as solved is counterintuitive, foolish, and poorly thought out. It’s enough to dissuade old posters and new posters from even trying to find / provide answers to eBay problems. It’s also an impediment to the social threads that linked users on the boards. Being unable to mark a “winner” for the Cryptic thread, the Caption thread, and the Music theme thread… well, it’s like trying to paint the Sistine Chapel with a toothbrush… that has no bristles… without any paint.

• The ridiculous way in which replies lead to an ever-thinning spindle of words until they become cats’-whiskers, and where the comments and replies are perilously difficult to disentangle into a coherent discussion, is simply stupid, and reminds one of nothing so much as a first-year student trying to master HTML while poking out his tongue and wrinkling his brow in deep but futile thought.

• Not having threads that one has already read distinguished in some way is a diabolical piece of folly. Who is going to bother even opening threads if the likelihood is that it’s a revenant thread already seen? And if threads aren’t read, they won’t be answered. Oh, how helpful that will be to eBayers struggling with issues and needing community help. (Point of order: this is a piece of elegant sarcasm indeed.)

• The AI summaries…? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! They are offensive in concept and result. They’re not needed. They take up real estate on the boards to no good purpose.

• AI-controlled moderation is ludicrous. It’s not working well or indeed at all. This is an object lesson in how to win enemies and demotivate people.

• The lack of a way to vote the answer of another poster as being correct or helpful is a strange blind spot in the board design. It’s a hiccup in the throat of a gnu; it’s like performing in Britain’s Got Talent and being able to cast a million votes for oneself.

• Being unable to message fellow eBay members is terrible. I have an obvious reason for pointing this out currently but that’s not the sole reason for finding it an egregious lack.

Putting myself on pause for now.

I wonder how many more (script reading) CS staff eBay's going to have to hire to make up for the shortfall of real answers to members questions ?

"hoist by their own Petard" I reckon....................

AI

"posts remain pending approval for longer periods"

Longer periods ? 5 hours and counting !

It only contains a link to eBay's Money Back Guarantee !

FFS

Ok, an approx 15 minute lag…..WTH

Open the door, Hal……let’s see what the Summary does with that?

So, I’ve hit Comment for this…..should now be at the top

pnc……I was replying to casey 🙃

Maybe they’re all getting help via HELP…..oh, wait a minute…..

A very tall pile of 💩

And that ain't chocolate soft serve

It seems they're determined to drive people away. First all of the changes over the last 3 months and now this carp.

I tried to post on another thread earlier today and it's been "pending approval" for 2 hours !

It's the second time in 2 days it's happened to me so I probably won't bother trying to help anymore unless things change.

The 'question' thread below yours is showing (to me) as :

"Locked. Discussion interactions are currently paused"

And when buyers/sellers DO post a question, it gets locked immediately, preventing people for attempting to help the person asking