eBay, ShmeeBay!

[yinyang]

Well, i finally launched my new site. This site, www.shmeebay.com , is for eBayers who wish to discuss any and all things eBay independently and uncensored.

eBay is notorious for moderating their horrible discussion boards. they delete any negative comment about a seller, buyer, product and especially about eBay. they claim they do this for liability reasons.

anyhow, let me know what you think please!

[Tekton]

Seems a little confusing for me, but maybe I just prefer simple UI/interfaces.

[siNix]

Nice things you did with vbulletin ;-) ebay vbulletin board is cool...

[yinyang]

thanks sinix. just getting a third opinion from another attorney re: ebays logo. i've been advised when referring to a trademark, to provide that trademark if possible.

but ebay hit me with a cease and decisit letter for my URL. wtf? they say they successfully stopped ebaysecurities.com from being registered? anyhow, our letter back was that ShmeeBay is a completely separate word, i.e. ebay, shmeebay. and if you were to google it, you would see people using it as a separate word.

but their argument is that ebay is in it. so i presume ChesapekeBay.com is out of luck? and then TheBayOfPigs.com? it's a whole new world out there.

but i could see their point if it was like eBaysoup or CafeEbay. Then again, there're Chevytalk.com, chevyforums.com, fordforums.com, hondaforums.com....

it'll be a long road.

[alkatraz]

homepage is confusing, the lastest threads, etc draw your attention right away and you have to search for the forums. if you make your navigation bar the same yelow it will be easier to use.

IMO too many forums to start cuz they are all empty, start with less forums then open subforums once you've got an active memberbase. Otherwise it looks like the forum is dead and people will pass on by.

I think its a great idea, keep it up

[yinyang]

thanks alkatraz! i will do just as you suggest. i'll work on the nav bar... thanks!

[Tony G]

I like the concept of your site.

And your banner.

But your forumhome looks very untidy. A few tips there:

-Give each table within the forum name tables a specific width, so they all align.
-on/off buttons?
-Align the side table stuff to the top of the white space. It looks in the middle of nowhere where it is now - and a lot of room is wasted.

And my last tip is to move the shoutbox to the bottom. Two reasons: You're making your users scroll just to see most of the forum list, and it can deter posting. The shoutbox should be an extra, and not override the actual forum's purpose: To post.

[yinyang]

thanks Tony G. i totally took all your advice, well except for one and that's because of a coding issue.

1. i gave them all widths so now they look totally professional!
2. the way the mod is written for the Latest Topics, Latest Downloads and Latest Articles, is that it uses only one template and several <if> conditionals. thus i can't open/close them individually. bummer. i can make the open/close portion come up, but no matter if i'm at latest downloads or latest articles, it will end up closing latest topics. oh well.
3. i yanked the side table completely for now until i need the space. no need to have that much empty room.
4. shoutbox moved. looks and operates much better.

thanks again!!