First of all I would like to say that I feel bad for all those who have had or are having problems with the new Ebay. (ie slow page loading, freezing up, etc)

I also understand the phrase, "If it's not broken, Don't fix it"! And the fact that many people don't like change. But why just sit back & let technology pass you by. Technology can be a wonderful thing in most ways. (especially for those who remember having to write out all term papers for school, etc & had to research things by going to the library .... Uuughhh!) You get the point! I can also guarantee that technology waits for noone. YOU have to keep up with technology. Or else just unplug that computer & get out the pen & paper.

So I ask you this, Why would a big online auction house which has millions of members interacting, buying & selling daily, want to NOT improve their User Interface, content, etc?

I myself think they did a great job. Its a very clean interface, most things are easily found without going through a ton of other pages to get where you want to go. Takes a little getting used to but hey! Nothing that an hour or so of tweaking can't fix. I also haven't had any problems with freezing, slowness, etc. None .... zilch .....  I have gone over to look at Craigs list recently just to see it. Bahahaahahah!!! I gave up looking around within an hour! Who designed that site? Fred Flintstone & Barney Rubble?

I read up on things regularly in the AC forums & I have read countless threads from people saying, Why is ebay forcing this on us, I want my old ebay back, this new ebay sucks. I would also like to add that the folks over at the AC who volunteer to help others with their questions & such ..... Kudos!! And I tip my hat! They do a great job.

Now, on to the main reason I am writing this documentary. lol

I am almost convinced that most of the issues are user computer related, not all ebays coding. I dont think some people realize that it takes more then hitting the power button on the computer to get it to run smoothly. ALOT of maintainance is involve. Also that pretty expensive computer you bought a few years ago with only 256/512 of RAM isn't going to surfice in this day & age. (by the way, I will be adding another guide very soon on how to keep that computer maintained & running flawlessly)

The Dreaded Beta Testing Stage!

Many do not know what or WHY a beta is put out. A Beta version is put out to see how the servers, coding, software will react when it has a heavy load/traffic put on it. If anybody is a PC gamer & plays online, they know what a Beta is for. Most Game (rpg, rts, mmoph) companies who offer online play have beta testing before the game is even released for sale. But they are usually "closed" betas (maybe 5000 or so testers) at first which means that they allow gamers to sign up to beta test it so they can see how the servers will react & then change things to speed up gameplay (reduce lag, etc) fix crashing & such. Then they increase the number allowed in the beta. Test some more.... Then many times near the end, they allow an "open" beta test which lets all who want to participate get in on it. Then & only then will it be close to what it would actually be like when they release the game for sale. They will get a good indication how the servers will handle those loads. or NOT handle the loads. Then they tweak it some more.

Here is my philosophy on the Beta testing for Ebay & why they did it this way.

Tech guys & big wigs from ebay:

• "Hey, you think we should have a closed beta for the new interface we have been designing? Just to make sure it doesn't blow up our servers when we have 50 million people connecting to it all at once"
• "Yeah, I think we should! I think we should make an announcement so people who are willing to volunteer can sign up".
• "Wait! Does anybody actually read our announcements? Hmmmmm? What if we don't get anybody who wants to try it out & stick with the beta testing?"
  
• "Ok, we should at least say that Change is Coming. A new Improved Ebay, coming soon"
• "I have an idea! Lets just randomly select people to try it when they log in. We can slowly increase the people over time to see how the servers will react to it."
• "Yeah, good idea! But I think we should also put up a link to allow them to 'Opt Out' just in case.
• (a month later) Yaaaaaawn!! Wow! It seems like when people are logging into ebay, they are hitting the 'Opt Out' button faster then Mach 2".
• (another month or so) "Ok boys! Not sure what else we can do except put up a date to release. I guess that will be the only way to truely test out how the new Ebay will stress out the servers."
• "I think we should also maybe send out a thank you letter to those 8 people who actually used & helped test the beta".
• (Friday January 16th 2009) Ok Everybody! Have a great 3 day holiday weekend. Go get ripped or anything you see fit to do. Because .... Come Tuesday the 20th, I see alot of overtime coming to get all the bugs worked out & the problems addressed."
•  "Yeah, I do too! It's just unfortunate that more people didn't volunteered earlier to help us work out any bugs & make sure it was running great when it was completely changed over" <sigh>

Just my thoughts on the situation! Have a great Day!