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To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (29463)	12/10/1998 6:43:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

EBay Boots Angry Users by Polly Sprenger 12:15 p.m. 10.Dec.98.PST EBay's system crash on Wednesday raised the ire of some of the online auction house's customers. Those who vented their frustration on the eBay's customer support board got a prompt response: suspension. "The moderated Q&A board is there for individuals trying to use the system," said Brad Handler, corporate counsel for eBay. "The support board is not there to comment on business decisions or management decisions." Users who posted inappropriate messages were suspended, and their messages deleted, Handler said. What eBay deemed "inappropriate" ranged from criticisms of management to references to recent press coverage. Tami Allison, an eBay user, posted a message complaining that she was losing money because of the system failures. "It looks like more items [are] being sold below value, because of eBay screw-ups, and especially because of poor management," Allison wrote in a message to eBay's support board. Rather than a suspension, Allison received a warning which said: "The purpose of the Support Q&A board is to provide site navigation and technical assistance to our users. It is not for users to provoke, attack, or attempt to draw Support staff into a protracted discussion of eBay policy or management decisions. "Please understand that continuing with postings of this type can and will result in a 24-hour temporary suspension of your eBay registration," the message read. Some users who were suspended said this was an attempt by eBay (EBAY) to cover up negative attention to the system shutdown. One poster said his message quoted a recent Wired News article about eBay. "In this very short message, I mentioned [Monday's] Wired article on ebay," said Craig Clarke, an eBay user from East Aurora, New York. "My eBay registration was immediately and permanently suspended, and the 'offending' message was quickly deleted from the system, so I couldn't even save a copy to prove its lack of offensive content." Handler said that an "appropriate" avenue for system complaints and angry messages was the company's customer support email address -- support@ebay.com -- or other message boards at the site like the "eBay Cafe". "We have an unparalleled customer service organization," Handler said. He added that that the support staff responds to every email sent in. Handler said he didn't know how many users had been suspended from the board. One suspended member, who asked not to be named, said his email request for an explanation of his suspension has been ignored. "Great customer service, huh?" Clarke said. "Customer complains, and they're ejected from the store."