So, I posted something a couple of hours ago (my first post) about a vintage computer auction that the tech recycle company I work for (small business, just 8 or so of us, depending on the day) has up for grabs currently on ebay (a new Kaypro 16/2e bundle), and it was marked as spam. I just wanted to find out if we are allowed to post things such as this on here. I checked the forum FAQ but I didn’t see anything about posting external links to ebay auctions. I also searched for other posts, and see that members have indeed posted links to ebay sales, so I thought it would be alright to give it a shot.
Did I do something wrong? (It’s been a long time since I’ve posted to any forum, so forgive me if I overlooked something).
I wasn’t even so much as trying to sell it (I’m just an hourly employee, so it’s not like I’m making anything off it anyways), I just thought it was super cool that we have got in a vintage Kaypro that hasn’t even been opened, which I’d imagine is pretty rare these days. This thing probably belongs in a museum. I’m just excited about it and wanted to share. I also shared a link to our ebay store in my post, since we have some other cool stuff in there that is relevant to the forum’s interests.
Please let me know what is and what is not allowed. And if a post is marked as spam, does it just disappear into the ether eventually, or will a moderator review it and possibly approve it?
We’re discussing this, actually; maybe it’s something that the community can weigh in on.
In general, this item is something that members of this forum might be interested in. However, we’re primarily an interest and technical forum, not a sales forum, and we don’t have a lot of sales and marketing traffic here. In particular, the very few sales posts we’ve had have been (I believe) from active members with previous technical posts on the forum.
The spam flag on your original post was automatically placed by the forum not by a human moderator. You’re not in time out or anything.
Yes indeed, it’s a bit borderline, but as such it could go either way. We are enthusiasts here, in my view, primarily, although it’s possible some of us are collectors, or hoarders (ahem). So, it’s the enthusiasm about the interesting aspects of machines which is primary here: whether they might be technically interesting, or historically interesting, or have some personal resonance.
Thanks for checking before posting. I just checked, by searching for ebay here. One recent match is very much someone noting an auction “for a friend” and is a first-time poster. If anyone had flagged that post, it might not have been published. As it was, I added a note to increase the technical interest. Another recent match is someone selling from their father’s estate: on compassionate grounds, we engaged rather than rejected.
As you are posted on behalf of a business, I wouldn’t feel too bad about rejecting the post - there’s nothing personal about that! Posting on the VCFed forums is likely to be a much better bet, assuming they allow such posts. It’s a bigger audience and there are many more people there. (Edit: I see you already have!)
(We might well decide to hide this thread once it has done its job. It can be useful to discuss policy and make sure we are acting as we would like to act.)
I actually did find and post on VCFed as well (they have a forum on there specifically for vintage computer auctions).
I did a little googling and didn’t find many forums that focused on vintage computers, which is somewhat surprising. Just this one and VCFed popped up. Maybe I didn’t look hard enough?
Anywho, no hard feelings if the post ends up being rejected. Just thought it might be interesting for members to take a peek at (since I’ve been so excited about it myself when we got it in haha)
It’s crazy to me that someone has just had it sitting in there attic or wherever it was, for years, collecting dust. I would have tore that box open the minute I found it!
