Only happened to me once so far here, but I was just wondering whether you have ever considered a 'No Live Auction Posting' policy. We follow a 'No Live Auction Posting' on another forum I'm on and it seems to work well.
From the Code of Conduct:
Please refrain from discussion of live or pending auctions. Auctions for items of interest to the board should be discussed AFTER the auction has closed.
In the event where you suspect an auction item (or seller) is fraudulent, posting is permitted as a warning to other members.
Advertising your own auctions is permitted, but only in the Member Classifieds.
To clarify:
This means not only "no posting links" but also no posting search criteria, no posting images directly linked to the auction site, no "hints"... no discussion about auctions regardless of price, etc. may be posted until the bidding has closed.
There are reasons behind this guideline. Sometimes, people might post about an item they felt was so high priced no member would be interested without realizing that the lot may be part of a larger sale with many more affordable lots. This 'letting the cat out of the bag' can really upset people who’ve done the homework and were planning to bid.
An example:
Back in June 1999 a board member found a Graflex on ebay. The word 'Graflex' had been misspelled so searching for the word with the correct spelling would not turn up this auction. He promptly placed a bid and he held the highest bid at $25 for several days. Then, the day before the auction ended, another member found the auction and posted their discovery on the forum. Within hours the price shot from $25 to $300+ when other competing board members took their shot at the flash.
How would you feel if you had found it first? You lose a great deal because someone (who was not even going to bid) posted and informed everyone else? These kinds of deals are out there but it takes is a bit of work. If you do the work then you deserve the reward. There is no need for anyone to 'inform' others. Those who really care will already know, those who do not care to search on their own deserve to go without.
It’s important for members (new and old) to realize that discussion of live or pending auctions is generally looked down on in our community. Please try to respect this even though you may not agree with it.
It just avoids any potential annoyance to someone who may be watching an auction, that is posted in a thread here. I have no problem with people discreetly telling their friends in PMs, email or MSN or posting their own auctions but it just gets frustrating when everyone on the board is drawn to the attention of one particular auction you may have been watching.
Anyway just a polite suggestion really, that you could perhaps consider for the future.
Thank you for that example. Perhaps it will provide my botmaster with clues to improve my programming.
The Three Laws of Robotics:
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
-I, Robot (Asimov)
This may be a good idea. I feel kind of guilty because I did just post an auction about the FMA watercolor on YJ a couple of days ago. But those guidelines are pretty much correct: those who want to know about the auction will probably already know. I would be surprised if say for an example a FMA genga fan didn't already have a bookmark for all the FMA auctions on YJ and checks it every couple of days.
Case in point: The recent Pokemon cel I won off of eBay. I told my non-cel collector "friend" on aol about the auction and low and behold it ended up costing me $6 because he found it necessary to bid against me for "fun".
Anyway, I don't think it should be a set rule but it does make a nice courtesy type policy.
Last edited by lys on Sun Nov 06, 2005 11:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
The Three Laws of Robotics:
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
-I, Robot (Asimov)
In the past I have found that when I don't have time to search eBay, Yahoo!Japan, Mandarake or personal sales EVERY DAY that it helps when members post such links. Yes, sometimes it causes unnecessary competition, but such is life. In a hobby like ours, the person with the most money always wins.
We had a discussion about this one time prior.
I know you may seem frustrated when you feel
that a post has drawn attention to an auction you
are interested in, however, rapid fans of cel
collecting no doubt know about the auction anyway.
Though it sounds nice, I don't think I would agree
with you on this. Gommene - its just my 2 cents.
The Three Laws of Robotics:
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
-I, Robot (Asimov)
I think that's a good policy. It's something I usually adhere to anyway, especially if it's artwork from a series I collect *ha ha* If you want to let one or two friends know about an item, email them and don't advertise it in front of hundreds of others.
If you weren't allowed to mention any live auction, how could you ask for opinions/advice (i.e. "is this a fancel?") from other helpful memebers of this forum? I'd miss that.
The "other place" I used to post on got all twitterpated if you mentioned a live auction. Which ordinarily happened with newbies who weren't aware of the rules. And then everyone got all bent for awhile and there would be name-calling and hurt feelings. Additionally, the new folks don't ever know as many places to look as the veterans.
I think it's unnecessary. As mentioned above, the chance of a choice auction escaping the notice of a serious collector is next to nil. But being able to say "oh wow, look at all those SMJ opening cels! Let's watch Kymaera become an absolute idiot for a day and take out a second mortgage in order to pay for them..." That's priceless.
Seriously, we'd also be missing out on opportunities to share in auctions for expensive sets, help each other out when a wishlist suddenly pops up, or any number of other excellent benefits that we get here by being able to discuss live auctions.
"The permanent temptation of life is to confuse dreams with reality. The permanent defeat of life comes when dreams are surrendered to reality."
James A. Michener, The Drifters
Baakay wrote:
Seriously, we'd also be missing out on opportunities to share in auctions for expensive sets, help each other out when a wishlist suddenly pops up, or any number of other excellent benefits that we get here by being able to discuss live auctions.
I totally agree with Pudge, Shellie, and Baakay. I think it is necessary. I think Beta is a friendly place and everyone tries to help each other. So I think you have to have a place to ask whether the cel is real or fake, or whether a fan cel or not, so on..... (or like me to beg not to bid on Kenshin cels heeheeheeh )
If I have a question, I will never post other places, but here b/c I know for sure that everyone in Beta tries to help but not to hurt me. This is just IMO
""? This is just IMO smile? Me? I don't have to do whatever you say. I have my own free will.
The Three Laws of Robotics:
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
-I, Robot (Asimov)
I would think that the auctions that would bother people a bit more when they are posted are the auctions of artwork that only show up in their "anime title" YJ search and not in the general cel or sketch categories. Those are the types of stuff you hope to sneak away with hoping hardly anyone sees them.
This is an amusing subject. Back when I was looking for Maison Ikkoku cels and a member on our board would post about "Check out these Maison Ikkoku cels up for auction" it would bother me somewhat because I might be bidding on those cels. I posted asking them if they could please wait until AFTER the auctions were over before posting about talking about the content on those cels.
I haven't been looking for Maison Ikkoku cels for the past two and a half years so I could care less what auctions they post now, but it's kinda funny looking back at it now. That's one of the few times ever that someone posted about an auction I might bid on.
Last edited by Keropi on Sun Nov 06, 2005 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The Three Laws of Robotics:
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
-I, Robot (Asimov)
That's one of the few times ever that someone posted about an auction I might bid on.