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Is eBay Worse Than Early Sears Catalogs?
prostoalex writes "The New York Times claims eBay can learn a lot from the early Sears catalogs, which promised unconditional returns (postage paid by Sears) in case there is any dissatisfaction with the product even if the product behaves exactly as described. Apparently eBay is doing something right, but with no buyer protection, no seller authentication, and no desire to participate in seller-buyer conflicts, no return policy, can the business model be sustained?"
How exactly do hateful comments do harm to innocent parties?
Hate speech harms society and it seeks to oppress the people or groups that it demeans. See the works of Martin Luther King Jr. for details. Hate speech precedes, incites and leads to violence, even if it is not directly equivalent to it.
Also, the law dictates that if you police the content of your forums in some cases, you have a duty to do it in ALL cases.
What law would that be? Where is this documented? Besides, policing your own forums is part of the job no matter how big they get. If things get that bad and your staff can't handle it, then you start banning people and collect personally verifyable information before allowing someone to register to post. If you're that big that it's out of control, losing some members won't hurt any. There is never an excuse for hosting hate speech.
eBay should collect personally verifyable information just like banks do when you apply for a credit card. They should act as the sole payment provider, collecting payment themselves to eliminate seller fraud, then allowing the buyer to inspect the goods and agree that they are acceptable before payment is received. If the buyer commits fraud by charging back, you can have some kind of contractual agreement to nullify that chargeback or have some method of returning the goods minus a restocking fee. There are many ways to eliminate fraud and be more accountable for the auctions eBay hosts.
-JemI was not trying to single you out; I just noticed yours first :)
As a birthday present I recently received a copy of Lynne Truss' Eats, Shoots and Leaves, a punctuation guide I found to be almost hysterically funny.
As engineers, programmers and other professionals that deal with the unforgiving literalism of computers and other modern technology, I am continually amazed at our inattentiveness to detial with regard to writing. Seems to me that we would pride ourselves on thoughtful, well-written and precise language.
Then again, we also are the ones that come up with jewels like "PC Load Letter" and these other messages.
You starting your own site and posting a message on someone else's site are two totally different things. Posting hate speech on someone else's site constitutes defacement. Hate speech in the form of the GNAA guy's posts incites violence, so yes it is against the law.
It's very hard to find hate "natural" hate speech out there that does not at some point incite violence.
-JemHe's lying. Don't believe him. I still got a broken computer and fuck all else. Stupid thief.
Horay for paypal!