At 05:41 PM 12/13/98 EST, you wrote:
>search engine. Search engines use keywords. Finding the right keywords that
First off, I know of no search engine that keeps on top of eBay other than
eBay's own search engine. I doubt people are using AltaVista to find stuff
on eBay.
>The question then becomes "What do I list this as, that will trip the
keywords
>that people search for?" You end up packing the limited space for the
>description with keywords that are only related to the item you are selling.
I think you are confusing the description and the title. The title is what
shows up on the listing pages (45 chars max) while the description (no
limit, can include HTML) shows up only on the actual item page. With that
clarification...
EBay's search engine allows for searching the description as well as the
title. If you are looking for Donald Duck stuff (for example) and you only
search titles, you'll miss a lot of good items. An item with a title of
"disney toothbrush holders" doesn't mention Donald, but the description
did. (Bought the set of 6 for $10, gave the Donald one to Rachel, sold the
other five for $25.)
My recomendation is to make your *title* as descriptive and readable as
possible: "Donald Duck in a red car" and then, in the description, include
things like "made by Sun Rubber" and "has Goofy in the rumble seat" to
catch the folks searching for Sun Rubber or Goofy items. People just
looking through the category listings will see the title, and may find it
interesting enough to look at.
If you put "sun rubber donald duck goofy red car" as your title, you'll
lose the folks going through the category and won't get many more searchers.
And one of the most silly things I've seen is to put "for sale" in the
title -- Duh! That's only slightly worse than the people who put, simply,
"laptop computer" as the title of something in the portable computers
category.
>We are at the beginning of a revolution, I don't think anyone knows where it
>will shake out.
The only beginning bit is a new collectible: computers. Everything else is
old hat (even the auction format).
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/
At 04:50 PM 12/13/98 -0600, you wrote:
>A sophisticated bidder doesn't browse. He knows what he's looking for and
>has "canned" searches built-up that include keywords and even common
>mispellings. Science, I tell you!
Dunno about that... I regularly go through the full Portables section, and
the "ending today" listings for a couple other categories. Donald Duck, I
search for. Portable computers, there are no good keywords.
Of course, the really sophisticated bidder simply keeps an eye on what
other, known bidders are bidding on... 8^) (And disguises his own
activity with lots of Donald Duck bids.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger(a)sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/
On Tue, 15 Dec 1998 yowza(a)yowza.com wrote:
> this "community." We can no longer assume that everybody on this list is
> interested in the preservation of old computers, so it doesn't make sense
That right there is a very important statement, on par with "Carthago
delenda est". I agree with you completely. I guess the old days of
innocence are gone. It's not just an Enrico Tedeschi every few months,
there are actually people trying to make money off this hobby.
> -- Doug
>
----------------------------------------------------
Max Eskin | kurtkilgor(a)bigfoot.com | AOL: kurtkilgor
Marvin:
I don't have one of these, although I'd probably like one. Mostly just
curious as to the hardware capabilities, software available, how long it was
sold, etc.
[ Rich Cini/WUGNET
[ ClubWin!/CW7
[ MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking
[ Collector of "classic" computers
[ http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/
[ http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/pdp11/
<================ reply separator =================>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 16:22:33 -0800
From: Marvin <marvin(a)rain.org>
To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Saw Ad for "Wierd Science" Computer
Message-ID: <3675ABC9.85B1BFA6(a)rain.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=x-user-defined
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Richard A. Cini, Jr. wrote:
>
> Hello, all:
>
> While looking through 1984 Bytes. I came across an ad for the computer
> used in the bedroom scene in "Wierd Science". It's the Memotech MTX512.
It's
> a sleek black unit and appears to be based on the Z80A.
>
> Does anyone know anything about these?
Not too much. I have one in mint condition that IIRC includes the manuals,
etc. I was given about a year ago but haven't done anything with it.
Anything in particular you would like to know?
Hi all:
While looking thru surplus last weekend didn't find much,
but 3 semi-interesting items:
1) Microsoft Basic referance manual for Kaypro, complete instructions
for 8K, extended and disk basic, for 8080, 8085, and Z80 w/ CP/M.
As the twig is bent so the tree inclines - you can see some destested
qualities of MS in there, esp. the 'embrace and extend' philosophy,
and the extensive product liability disclaimer while claiming to be
high quality software at the same time. Got it at their usual buck
a book price.
2) A PCJr. rom cart game from the "IBM Entertainment Division",
in box w/ instructions, something about a Farmer, mouse and cheese.
Probably pretty cheesy game but "IBM Entertainment" sounds like an
oxymoron to me, priced at $4. Left it there.
3) Also a TI 700 silent writer.
Anyone heard of a product called the "Video Brain" circa 77-78?
Regards
Chuck
cswiger(a)widomaker.com
On Tue, 15 Dec 1998 ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk wrote:
> on condition that I don't try to sell them. If machines start selling for
> high prices, then the donors are less likely to believe that I want them
There is another issue. Many people simply want money for their machine on
account of the way _they_ feel about it. Here in a Jan'96 classifieds
magazine, Apple ][s, C-64s, XTs are selling for $200 or more. This is
before eBay. I kept this magazine for 2 years for the sole purpose of
comparing prices.
> -tony
>
----------------------------------------------------
Max Eskin | kurtkilgor(a)bigfoot.com | AOL: kurtkilgor
Whilst enjoying the repartee on the list, I am writing to suggest that some
consideration to the subject headings be made. It would be nice to see more
appropriate headings added/changed when the topic wanders. Especially when
the archives come into consideration - browsing 100 messages called "A nifty
demo", when in fact very few of them relate to that topic, is very time
consuming :)
Cheers
A
Hi,
----------
> From: Hans Franke <Hans.Franke(a)mch20.sbs.de>
> And beside that - if I use a display with some
> 3 to 4 megapix on a modern PC, drawing isn't realy
> faster than on the Star 20 years ago.
"3 to 4 megapix", you're talking about very modern PCs ... ;-))
cheers,
emanuel
At 08:40 PM 14-12-98 -0800, Aaron Christopher Finney wrote:
>The first is about retro-computing on digital.com's main site:
>
>http://www.digital.com/info/DTJN02/DTJN02HM.HTM
Well I guess most DEC users will know who Bob Supnik is but perhaps not Max
Burnet. Max was one of the first Australian Digital employees and rose to
become General Manager (or some such title) for Australia. He was replaced
a couple of years later by a salesman (Max is a techie) but stayed with
Digital until his retirement a couple of years ago. Max is famous for his
museum of old Digital gear and at each Australian DECUS he would have an
exhibit of something of interest. The last one I recall was a PDP-9 still
in its shipping crate. It had gone (new) to New Zealand, never been opened
and Max got it shipped back something like 15 years later. Max is, apart
>from being a nice guy, a member of the Australian DECUS NOP SIG (NOP =
Nostalgic and Obsolete Products). I've tried a couple of times to get him
to join this mailing list and as far as I know he hasn't (although he could
be lurking...).
Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies(a)latrobe.edu.au
Information Technology Services | Phone: +61 3 9479 1550 Fax: +61 3 9479 1999
La Trobe University | "If God had wanted soccer played in the
Melbourne Australia 3083 | air, the sky would be painted green"
