A tis a Monday morning, the sky is blue and the seagulls are circling over my office window.Time, methinks, to award my prestigious and internationally renowned "Prats of The Week" Award.
This week it goes to Ebay!
For why?
Well my old muckers, just ask Paul Ramsier who tried to sell the classic children's game "Escape From Colditz" on Ebay.
The good people of Ebay removed his product, and accused him of inciting racial hatred.
For why?
Ebay has a policy of banning items with Swastikas, the box has a Swastika on it.
OK, I guess that at a very long stretch of the imagination were this policy to be applied 100% then it could be argued that it was just tough luck for Mr Ramsier.
However, there are two flies in Ebay's oinkment:
1 It is clear that "Escape From Colditz" does not in any way encourage or promote racism or Nazi propaganda (not least because the objective of the game - invented by an ex Colditz prisoner - is to escape from the Nazis).
2 Here's the killer fact, Ebay contains lots of items with Swastikas. Type in eg "Swastika" into their search engine, and see what you come up with Ebay.
A spokeswoman for Ebay said:
"We will remove listings that bear the marks of organisations that promote hatred and racial intolerance and we are strict and unapologetic in adhering to this policy.
With 100 million listings globally we have to apply this rule to any item bearing such insignia, regardless of whether it is an innocent item like a board game."
Ebaywell deserving "Prats of The Week", and not very "efficient" Prats of the Week to boot!
Visit The Orifice of Government Commerce and buy a collector's item.
Visit The Joy of Lard and indulge your lard fantasies.
Show your contempt for Nanny by buying a T shirt or thong from Nanny's Store.
www.nannyknowsbest.com is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
Celebrate the joy of living with champagne. Click and drink!
Why not really indulge yourself, by doing all the things that Nanny really hates? Click on the relevant link to indulge yourselves; Food, Bonking, Toys, Gifts and Flowers, Groceries
Well I'm shocked at such a blinkered attitude by Ebay.
ReplyDeleteI have been an Ebay user for many years and, as a numismatist, I have purchased coins and banknotefrom Hitler's Germany, most of which, carried the said insignia.
The PC brigade have, it appears, infested Ebay, perhaps they should consider, being a global organisation, that different signs mean different things in different countries. I believe the Swaztica was originally a religious symbol before Mr Hitler adopted it.
A swastika [with the arms pointing anticlockwise] used to appear on some editions of Kipling.
ReplyDeleteEbay also adopt other standards elsewhere. They will not allow listing of mercury batteries in the "vintage radio" section as they claim mercury to be an environmental hazard - as it is.
ReplyDeleteHowever with their blinkered policy they fail to realise that should somebody have some old, collectable mercury batteries if they are sold to a collector they will not end up in landfill. If not sold, they most likely will.
Bay aren't just prats, they are world-class hypocrites.
Everyone's going bonkers. I want to get off this planet!
ReplyDeleteFeeBay also maintain a list of "unacceptable" words - for example try listing a bird-spotting book on (feathered) blue tits or a history book on civil war guns with the words "gun" or "tit" in the title or the body of the advert ...
ReplyDeleteFrom experimentation I can tell you that the list looks to have been compiled by an evangelical semi-literate public schoolboy. Don't ask me how I recognised the type, just accept that I performed the experiments during Sunday prep.
They don't tell you that your listing has fallen foul of their little Nanny Wanny Spanky-Woo List, they just accept your listing fees and the item is never actually shown...
The words Corporate, Fraud and Barefaced, it seems, are not on the eBay list of"unacceptable" words.
"We will remove listings that bear the marks of organisations that promote hatred and racial intolerance"
ReplyDeleteWell that's anything with police or government logos on gone then!
or the koran and bible for that matter
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing that eBay enforced this stupid policy when it ALLOWS someone to have an ebay user name of adolf hitler!
ReplyDeleteSee this listing http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270344738144