Bent Corner

I read over on the Consumerist that the bloated Internet auction giant eBay will be switching over to a PayPal or credit card only auction site. What this means is that if you win an auction, you have to pay for the item with either PayPal or a credit card. A credit card can be used only if the seller is set up to take credit card payments.

You can’t use a money order, a check, or even cash.

A part of me doesn’t really care since I’ve pretty much stopped using eBay entirely. I used to use it a lot. I even named this very blog after an eBay auction that went south. I had bid on and “won” an Alfonso Soriano baseball card that was advertised as being in mint condition. When I got it in the mail, I discovered it wasn’t quite in mint condition. It had a bent corner. I tried getting the seller to agree to take it back and refund my money, but he wasn’t having any part of it. This was right around the time that I was thinking about getting into blogging. I decided that I would try to extract something positive out of an experience that at the time I perceived to be negative.

EBay has just become too much of a hassle. No matter how simple the item up for auction is, it usually includes a plethora of rules and conditions. Then there is the whole feedback thing. I’ve kind of moved past caring about leaving or receiving feedback. I cared about it in the late 90’s, but not so much anymore. I purchased something off eBay a few months ago and the seller has been sending me an email at least once a telling me to leave feedback and he will do the same. Who cares? I just looked and he has a feedback of 317. I have a feedback of 437. Why should it be important to either one of us? I sure know it’s not important to me.

As it stands now, the only reason I buy something off eBay is when I can’t get it anywhere else. I would happily pay more for something if it meant I didn’t have to deal with eBay. [eBay]

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If there is one thing I hope 2008 brings is an end to comment moderation. You read an interesting blog post and you decide to leave a comment. You put your thoughts down in the most coherent way that you can, making sure your grammar is correct and your spelling is right. You then type in the series of fuzzy letters and numbers appearing on the screen to prove that you are not a robot. Why is it that a robot can be programed to drive around on the surface of Mars and send back photos but it can’t be programed to type “er57z” when it appears on the screen?

You then press Enter and wait for your comment to appear. Instead of seeing the comment you just posted, you see a message that says something like this:

Your comment has been submitted and will be viewable once it is approved

Why must my comment be approved? I typed in the short string of fuzzy numbers and letters proving that I was not a robot. Why then do I have to have my comment approved?

I just don’t see the point. Why do some bloggers do this? What are they afraid people are going to say? Are they worried that they are going to be called a derogatory name or that a disparaging thing is going to be said about their blog? If so, it’s time to grow up. Stop being such a pussy. Either let people leave comments or don’t. Don’t insist on micromanaging each little thing someone has to say. It’s pathetic.

The thing I hate the most about bloggers that insist on approving comments is that they never inform you ahead of time that they will need to approve your comment. They could save everyone a whole bunch of time by letting that fact be known ahead of time. Not only do I not what to leave a comment if it must first be approved, I don’t want to read comments left by other readers. If the comment section doesn’t truly reflect what other readers are thinking, I don’t want to waste my time reading it.