I was surprised at the number of responses for this page.

Obviously, the idea of posting IDs struck a very deep chord in people on the Bidding Board.

englandboy
In 1999, I got into two separate disagreement with two posters on the eBay Soapbox. Both posters subsequently bid on two of my auctions, then left negative feedback within a minute of the auction's close. Needless to say, neither bidder paid for the items won. Due to their "off the board" auction interference, I have two negative feedbacks to go with the 5,000-plus positives and no neutrals I have accumulated in four years on eBay. Because of their actions, I now post to eBay threads with this ID.

basestealer
This individual exposed a shilling ring on eBay a while back. Several of the shillers bid on his auctions, pulled his contact information, then registered phony IDs using his contact information. Using these posting IDs, they began violating community standards with their posts. When the pinks went to look up their contact information, they all pointed to base. The end result was that the original user, basexxxxxxx, was unfairly suspended.

samby
I got my posting ID following the 4th of July "trollfest" on the Bidding Board. I had little or no dealings with this individual but one morning woke to find my name on a hate list of 5 other regulars. Looking at the other names it appeared to be a random choice. Others who were not on this list also were affected. This troll was garden variety. He insulted, threatened and then demanded an apology or he wouldn't leave. Very typical behaviour. Being ebay, however, he went a step further. On July 4 I found my auctions all had bids and retractions on them. The reason for the retractions were "Be nice or I'll snipe all your auctions," meaning he'd snipe them then feedback bomb me. I have a perfect feedback record and didn't want it ruined. The retractions looked so bad that I chose to close all auctions early for that week and haven't listed since. I will be listing again soon, now that my main ID is becoming a distant memory on the boards. I was accused last night by a poster on the board of being paranoid. I told him paranoia is a unfounded and unrealistic fear of something that may or may not happen. This DID happen. I can't afford to ruin my selling career. I was not paranoid to get a post ID. I think I was smart. I take helping new users on the boards very seriously. I try to make sure the info I give is fair and accurate and backed up by links and evidence. I also like to chat to ebay friends and have picked up so much experience being there. I am definately a better ebayer for it and I choose to "pay to forward" to other users. You want better ebayers? Educate them. But not at the risk of ruining your own career. I recommend all sellers consider this option.

samby (Updated Story)
I politely but firmly told a poster recently that it was against board policy to commercially spam the boards. He'd written the same post on a few boards promoting another online auction site and slamming ebay at the same time. He wrote back a very profane insult to me and then immediately put two bids on auctions I had running, presumably with the intent of leaving negative feedback at auction's end. Fortunately he wasn't bright or quick enough to hit Buy It Now on my auctions and it gave me time to cancel, block and report him. Unfortunately another poster on the same thread wasn't so lucky. She had not even answered him directly, but still became a target of his auction interference by virtue of the fact that she was seller and wrote on the thread. He BINned 2 of her auctions and immediately left negative feedback. This was under yet another id. He further boasted he had many ids all with fake contact info and was out to get revenge on many people. He did this by bidding on over 30 auctions from UK sellers. We eventually got 3 ids of his suspended and the other seller finally got her neg feedback removed. When facing a poster of a particular mentality, almost anything you say can put you at risk of auction interference. Sometimes all it takes is your presence on a board.

padme_amidala
I have a posting ID due to being a victim of auction interference perpetrated by a user who was harassing the Bidding Board regulars in early July. I had been posting to the Bidding board for a while, and was listing my very first auctions. Despite the fact that I was not posting much to the boards during the time the person in question was harassing the board (as I was having trouble adding pictures to the listings), I was targeted. The victims seem to have been random, as I do not recall posting directly to the person in question. The person bid on four of my auctions and left negative feedbacks. I requested the negatives be removed based on the following situations listed in eBay's feedback removal policy: "Feedback left by a user who provided eBay with false contact information during the registration process, and cannot be contacted. eBay will also remove feedback where eBay is provided with evidence showing that it was left by a minor. Multiple (3 or more) feedbacks left by the same user as part of a campaign to harass one or more users." Despite meeting those criteria, my first two requests to get the negatives removed were ignored by eBay. It took over a month, and many emails, to get the negatives removed from my otherwise excellent feedback record. I also had to file for Final Value Credit fees, and my listings were ruined. Three of the items had other bidders, and would have been sold if not for the harasser. I chose not to relist, as the person responsible was still sending vulgar and threatening emails. Anyone who frequents the board is at risk for harassment and auction interference. Having a posting ID protects my contact information and my auction listings. Because of this experience, I now use this ID for posting, as well as some bidding. All selling activities will remain on my main ID.

sillyisme
I chose a posting ID because though I was not directly effected by the events of July 4th, there was a lot going on on prior to that which made me think the best thing for me to do would be to get a posting ID -- especially since my other ID is fairly new having created my own account to separate my eBay transactions from that of my hubby's (whose account I previously purchased under). Being new to selling, I didn't want to start out having to deal with the mess many of others were having to contend with. I realized in that short time that being frank, open and honest on these boards can often times cause more harm than good, so a posting ID is certainly the way to go....

saesee_tiin
If anyone wants a valid reason for having posting ID's, one only has to think back a couple of months ago, to the incident that you guys had over here on the bidding board. Fortunately, the damage done was not permanent, but it certainly could have been, and almost was. What happened to a certain regular of your board is reason enough for everyone to have a posting ID. What has happened to Base is just another reason for people to worry about posting the truth, exposing fraud, or even giving their honest opinion about something. It sickens me to watch, as this whole thing unfolds, and see that eBay could not care less about what happens to honest members.

oneshotstop
I have been a long time member of ebay, I started as a buyer for a while, then decided to start selling about a year ago. I did post under my selling ID for a while but did not feel comfortable doing that. So I created a posting/buying ID. I have done this for the sole purpose of being able to speak my mind to the fruitloops and not worry about retaliation. Anyone can come here and boast about how brave they are and say "I post with my real ID". Chances are they will be naive newbies who will someday realize the value of a posting ID. I am lucky....nobody has ever sabotaged my auctions...And I want to keep it that way. So I will keep posting under this ID and do it knowing that if I do happen to offend someone (not intentionally) I have nothing to worry about.

sippi*
A little while back when some crazies targeted my auctions, I got off light, and managed to salvage a lot from my account. Other people were not so lucky, and wound up with loads of bad false feedback, non-paying bidders, and a great deal of headaches.

snipes_it
I feel very fortunate not to have had any problems thus far, but got this posting ID after lurking and reading threads here (and on the Feedback Board) for a while.