Some YDC facts and history.
I contacted Sarah (raindropsies) to get her permission to post this, she was happy for me to do so.
I thought that it would be helpful for some folk if they knew a little more about the YDC and why the rules are as they are, each rule is there for a reason and not simply there for the sake of it.
If you have an idea for a rule change, or for an improvement to the YDC, or anything YDC related then please PM raindropsies before posting about it on the forum. Sarah will make any announcements that are needed or start any polls. It is very important that everything YDC related is done through the person running the YDC and folk don't just take it upon themselves to start YDC polls and the like.
A little behind the rules and the YDC history.
The YDC was originally created on eBay in a bid to bring folk together when the forums were going through an unsettled patch because of trolls and arguments. The idea was to give folk something else to focus on and to create some fun in the forums. They were then started on eBid when a bunch of us came here from eBay and I was asked if I'd start a YDC here too.
The original idea was to sell a low value item for as much as you could using a funny and/or inventive description. The empasis was on fun.
I set all the original rules in the first YDC, most still remain but a few changed over time as the YDC was tweaked.
I insisted on all changes being voted on and then going with the majority as that was the fairest way that I could think of for the YDC to be able to move in the direction that the majority of members wanted it to go. I felt that it would be wrong for the person running the YDC to make all the decisions about changes and everyone should have the chance to vote and voice their opinions and discuss a change or a new rule.
If anyone had an idea for a change or an improvement to the YDC they PMed the person running the YDC and then that person would start a poll in the forum for all members to vote on.
In the beginning the emphasis of the YDC was on fun, the idea to make them charity auctions had not yet been introduced. Having fun was the reason that there was a rule which said that the auction description had to be unusual or funny (but should stay within the sites rules).
The idea of making the auctions for charity was introduced in YDC3 or YDC4 but it was optional, members didn't have to list for charity if they didn't want to. Making the YDC for charity auctions only was made compulsory later on after it was put to a vote in the forum.
Once the YDC became for charity only the "featured charity" idea was introduced. It was decided that the winner of the YDC could pick next months featured charity. It was put to the vote if everyone should have to support the featured charity or not, but after a discussion in the forums and everyone had cast their vote it was decided that making folk support the featured charity would put some folk off joining the YDC and people should be free to support whatever charity or good cause they wanted to.
There was a problem with scammers listing in the YDC for their own profit so a vote was again held asking if a maximum starting price should be introduced. It was decided that all auctions should start at 1p later that was voted on again and raised to 99p.
The "expected value" limit was made for three reasons. The first reason was to give everyone a fair chance of winning, the second was that it encouraged people to be inventive with their description rather than just being able to list the most expensive item to win, and the third was to discourage scammers from using the YDC.
The "no reserve and no BIN" rule was to encourage competition and fun descriptions and again to discourage scammers.
The "run for 7 days rule" was to make it easier to keep an eye on all YDC auctions and to stretch the fun out over a full week.
The "you must put YDC# in the title" was simply to make it easier for folk to find all current YDC auctions.
The "you must abide by eBid's rules" rule is for obvious reasons.
The listing period is so the competition begins and ends within the same period each month and makes it easier to keep an eye on the auctions and to find the winner.
The reason for the "This auction is an entry in YDC, money raised will go to...." rule is so buyers outside of the YDC or the forums can see where the money is going and support the charity by bidding on the auction. It was hoped that it might introduce new blood to the YDC when folk stumbled across a YDC auction and saw the charities mentioned in the description.
Rule 9, the be truthful rule, was simply to remind folk that although we wanted to see funny and inventive descriptions we have to remember that not everyone knows what the YDC is so we have to be careful what we say in the descriptions.
Rule 10, keeping postage at cost, was brought in after I gave up running the YDC and speaks for itself.
The "you can list as may items as you want" rule was voted on by forum members because the original rules stated that folk could only list a maximum of 5 items (to put off scammers wanting to use the YDC).
The last rule, list under the YDC section, was introduced to make it easy to find all YDC auctions.
The reason that the YDC was removed from the KT and put here was because too many people started their own YDC related threads and it swamped the KT. People got fed up and asked for it to be moved. The removal caused some bad feelings because it was not done through the person running the YDC (as all previous changes to the YDC have always been done) but this was simply due to folk not knowing the accepted procedure for YDC changes because they are not written anywhere and have not needed to be mentioned for a very long time so only the oldbies really knew about the procedure. In my opinion it was a simple mistake.
There seems to be some bad feeling creeping into the YDC recently and it is in danger of ruining all the previous years good work. Please folks, can we forget whatever has happened in the past and lift the YDC above any arguments and help Sarah secure the YDC's future on eBid.
We have a new person running the YDC so can we please treat this as a new start and all do our best to support Sarah and help her.
Let's get the fun back into the YDC, more funny or unusual auctions and descriptions, more fun in the forum, more helping newbies join in the fun, and of course more fund for the charities and deserving causes.
If you have any idea's about the YDC then please PM Sarah (raindropsies) and lets see what direction the YDC takes over the coming months and (hopefully) years ahead.
We need the fun putting back into the YDC, only we can do that.
Login to Your Account
Reply With Quote
Don't know about all this fun business though .... you mean I've got to stop being a sombre and misrable old git ? 
Originally Posted by cornishmaid1961
That would be a hoot. Dodie
