So, will you put your things where your mouth is?

[Anonymous]

So we do have your permission to link to our auctions? Those are "main pages"?

Yes, full permission is given to link to individual auctions for legitimate purposes. I am a fond believer of if the users do the right thing there is nothing to worry about. At no point was the terms of service to hamper legitimate fair use of links and information on the site. The terms of use are there to notify illegitimate users that bandwidth theft(image hot linking) and other nefarious uses are not allowed.  If image hot linking does become a problem and countermeasures and constantly thwarted I will just start charging for image hosting.

Thanks for clearing that up.You should just put your last post in your t&c 

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[semyazza]

So we do have your permission to link to our auctions? Those are "main pages"?

i wouldn't think so.
sounds to me like "promote us is ok, promote your auction is not",
although it says

For purposes of this paragraph "Main Page" refers to any page and/or document that is intended to be viewed as a whole.

now.

do you really think, your users read and understand what you mean by that?
if you dont want them to hotlink images, why not tell them?
theres other ways to stop people from hotlinking your images and stealing your bandwidth (is it that high yet?).

Yeah, T&C are bullshit. I mean are you really giving me an ultimatum? Don't you even want to put in a text box for a counter offer of terms? Does this need to be this way?

If someone said "Please don't use up my bandwidth by hotlinging images, there is no way I'd ignore that." And if someone ignores you does it really matter if it was in the T&C? Are we going to court now?

I'm sure you just used T&C because it's common, so I don't mean to blast you. But it would be awesome to do buisness with people who do it differently.

All that said, do you ever hold funds or are payments handled by the parties directly?

I understand the site will grow because I plan to run a legitimate business by running the best customer service that is possible.  T&C are there because not everyone is reasonable and court actions do arise whether they are legitimate or not and this chance increases with an increasing user base.  A good reputation and a visible public agreement to me are the basis of good business transactions.

Right now it is the responsibility of the parties to work out payment agreements. Currently being worked on is a payment system for bitcoins (sendical.com) which will include in the future an escrow service for a nominal fee.

I believe in very simple escrow solutions and will offer multiple options when that time comes. In the mean time if someone wishes for me to hold funds for transactions and both parties send me an agreement I have no problem handling that manually at the time.

[semyazza]

Updated terms and conditions have been posted to the biddingpond.com discussion thread.

http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=574.0;all

[Macho]

The intent of that line was to avoid hyper linking directly to images to keep bandwidth costs from getting out of control. I have reworded the terms of service to reflect my intent.

You may not create a link to this website from another website with the intent to bypass the "Main Page" or other documents without BiddingPond.com’s prior written consent. For purposes of this paragraph "Main Page" refers to any page and/or document that is intended to be viewed as a whole.

Oh, so that language was referring to hotlinking? Why not say that directly? That language was very confusing and the replacement isn't much better. Either way, do you actually believe to prevent hotlinking by forbidding it in the TOS?

I do not think that is a realistic expectation. If somebody wants to hotlink they'll do that and wouldn't give a damn about your TOS. And people supporting the site are not going to do that out of respect. So there is no reason to include that line in the TOS other than cosmetic and stirring up controversy. It really makes no sense. It's better to restrict it with some technological means, which is possible if it would become a problem.

So my advice would be to get rid of that particular point. It serves no real practical purpose.

[mizerydearia]

Oh, so that language was referring to hotlinking? Why not say that directly?

This has been answered already.

The reason I do not state specifically "no image hotlinking!" is there are many other site linkings that are for nefarious purposes that would make an exhaustive list impossible. One example that comes to mind is the attempted database injections (which require unauthorized linking and/or access to the site) all of last week that were thwarted by my good filtering code, coding practices and other counter measures.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.html
I do not see reference to "link" (2 unrelated string matches) in same context in eBay user agreement.

"eBay image hosting" search results

http://www.inkfrog.com/terms.html - no mention of "link" here
http://imageshack.us/content.php?page=rules

ImageShack allows unlimited bandwidth for uploaded files when they are viewed from our landing page at all times. If an image is hotlinked or linked directly, it will have an hourly bandwidth limit only during peak time (6AM-3PM PST). Premium users have no bandwidth limits.

If any domain hotlinks to abusive files, any file hotlinked on that domain will display this image, and the domain's owner must ensure the quick removal of all files hotlinked from ImageShack on that domain. Domains containing the phrases "toplist", "topsites", "porn", or "hentai" are banned regardless of abuse.

http://photobucket.com/terms

Photobucket Services, including collecting usernames, user id numbers, and/or email addresses of Users by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email or unauthorized framing of or linking to the Site, or employing third-party promotional sites or software to promote profiles for money, is prohibited.

However, pages on other web sites that display content hosted on Photobucket must provide a link from each photo or video back to its page on Photobucket.  Photobucket reserves the right to take appropriate legal action for any illegal or unauthorized use of the Photobucket Services.

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/rules.php - no mention of "link" here

I can only promise to be reasonable and do the right thing.

 - I can relate to this, but I can also understand how this statement will not be accepted by some people and therefore cause more effort to be pursued in establishing terms of service/user agreement.

semyazza : Don't get stressed out over issues like this if you are. ^_^

[semyazza]

I can only promise to be reasonable and do the right thing.

 - I can relate to this, but I can also understand how this statement will not be accepted by some people and therefore cause more effort to be pursued in establishing terms of service/user agreement.

semyazza : Don't get stressed out over issues like this if you are. ^_^

Not stressed, just being responsive on where I stand to keep the rampant assumptions from ruining a good reputation.  IMHO reputation of all parties involved is one of the top priorities of any business transaction.

[FreeMoney]

Should this move to the marketplace?

Is there escrow? This is way to big to just send to a stranger with no rep at all.

Hey FreeMoney -- I can speak for Pubulis01, he's an honest guy.

Cool, I guess I'll see how much my wife wants it. It's such a long auction, I'm not going to bid until it's closer. Value fluctuations and all.

[FreeMoney]

Oh, what a bold title.

Auction closed.

Or maybe just reposting with a lower minimum?

[semyazza]

http://www.biddingpond.com/item.php?id=45

Go ahead, see if I'm serious!

Apparently not serious?

[Pubulis01]

http://www.biddingpond.com/item.php?id=45

Go ahead, see if I'm serious!

Apparently not serious?

LOL, I can't find the power adapter for it, but when I do, I'm going to re-list it.  I also need to re-format the hard drive and re-image it.

Here's the actual item, FYI:

http://imgur.com/xa9B9.jpg
http://imgur.com/xgSlK.jpg

As you can tell from the serial panel, I've upgraded both the RAM and the Hard Drive.

Hold tight... if I can't find the power adapter, I'll buy a replacement this weekend.

Also, I'll be listing it with a 5,500 bitcoin minimum when I relist it.

[Pubulis01]

Oh, and I'll clean the keyboard before I send it... I used it in the field non stop. :-)

[FreeMoney]

Alright, looking forward to it.

[Pubulis01]

Alright, looking forward to it.

How about I also ask BrightAnarchist to be a trusted escrow agent?  Would that make bidding easier?

[FreeMoney]

Alright, looking forward to it.

How about I also ask BrightAnarchist to be a trusted escrow agent?  Would that make bidding easier?

Yeah, he seems like a good dude. It would be my fourth working computer, so I'm not necessarily a motivated buyer, but if I win it, escrow would be nice.