Members Inducted Into Community Hall of Fame at eBay Live!
by Zigmund
eBay Staff Member

At eBay, the Community is our lifeblood. Members buy and sell on the site, build cottage industries and expand brick-and-mortar businesses, purchase for their homes and offices, and expand their collections.

What's more, many spend time helping others reach their goals, as well. This spirit of member-to-member camaraderie and support is what makes eBay such a unique stop on the Internet. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the online Community forums. On the chat and discussion boards and in eBay Groups, members talk, joke, and debate with each other all day. Some come looking for information, some are there to provide it, and others come just to relax and hang out with friends.

During the course of all these daily interactions, many members begin to develop a reputation for being helpful, or as the person to go to when you have a question. To honor the people that make the eBay Community so special, every year at eBay Live!, several members are recognized for being outstanding contributors.

Five members were chosen as eBay's Community Hall of Fame winners for 2004. Each member honored has been a buyer or seller, as well as an active participant in the Community, for a minimum of two years. All have been role models and exceptional positive contributors over that span of time, making sure to consistently adhere to the eBay Community Values, User Agreement, and site policies.

Winner disdannie said, "I do not feel that I have started my day until I log on to eBay." tmfvideo agreed, saying: "For me, eBay also means 'a wonderful community of friends.' These friends are there to help too, answering questions and giving the moral support we all need to become better eBay members." As member quiltworks put it, "as a seller, the most rewarding part of the eBay experience is the direct interaction with the people who buy my artwork."

At the event-closing Gala Party on Saturday night, the winners present at eBay Live! were brought up on stage in front of all the attendees to accept their awards and personally thanked by the CEO of eBay, Meg Whitman. In honor of their contributions to the eBay Community, the eBay Foundation will donate $2500 to the charity of choice for each of the award winners.

Without further ado, let's meet this year's Community Hall of Fame award winners:

disdannie
A Texas native, disdannie actually discovered eBay at Disneyland. Friends had told her that she could sell anything on the site, so to prove them wrong, she collected 8 paper cups from the park and listed them. Sixteen bids later, she was hooked. She is now a full-time seller, but also buys, and is a frequent poster on the discussion boards. She is quick with a joke or a cheerful greeting and loves to post small graphics to lighten and brighten boards. She knows eBay inside and out, and is always ready to help another member find the needed information or resources when they have a problem.

disdannie has selected to have her charitable donation made to The Laura Recovery Center. The Laura Recovery Center assists and promotes the recovery of missing children. The Foundation works cooperatively with law enforcement and community groups to coordinate volunteer efforts to help search for missing children.

abit-of-the-past
Sitting at his computer in his home state of Washington, abit-of-the-past started a thread titled "ONE" on the Miscellaneous discussion board in 2001 and stepped into eBay history. Still active more than three years later, this is the oldest continual discussion on eBay. He is also well known for his good-natured participation on The Park and the Soapbox boards. He brings his sense of inclusive fun to all events, creating ongoing jokes that help newcomers quickly feel like they are part of the group. He is quick to play peacemaker when discussions become heated, and provides a sense of perspective that strengthens bonds within a diverse community. His desire to help and welcome other members has played an instrumental role in the ongoing building of the eBay Community.

abit-of-the-past has chosen to have his charitable donation made to The Providence General Foundation. Providence Everett Medical Center provides inpatient and outpatient services in Northwest Washington State. The Foundation raises funds so that the medical center can provide quality health care to vulnerable groups like low-income pregnant women, children with disabilities, and the uninsured.

jtshadow2000
From the state of Michigan, jtshadow2000 is very well known in eBay's Community forums, particularly in the chat areas. She devotes large amounts of her time, day and at night, to helping other eBay members on the Emergency Contact and Discuss New Features chat boards. Always offering assistance in a friendly, knowledgeable manner, she is well-respected and leads as an example of living eBay's Community Values. As such, she is a perfect fit for eBay's new Volunteers program, and was one of the first members to sign up. As it was put by one member, she simply "exudes eBay."

jtshadow2000 has decided to have her charitable donation made to God's Helping Hands of Mecosta County. God's Helping Hands of Mecosta County is a coalition of community churches and organizations dedicated to helping the poor. They provide emergency services including food, heating fuel, electric service and shelter to qualified low-income families.

tmfvideo
Based in Florida, tmfvideo has obtained quite a reputation in the Community over the years for being extremely friendly towards all members. Perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than in eBay's weekly Share Your Wares events. This is a Community event on the boards where members can advertise two of their listings, provided that they fit that week's theme. One of his selling specialties is fireplace videos (for people who don't have a fireplace of their own but would like to have one on their televisions!) He is legendary for always being able to get these videos to fit within the week's theme. You can often find tmfvideo at The Park, where he maintains the board's Baby Faces collections, so members can each other's baby pictures. This is just one of the many ways he makes other members feel welcome and connected to one another.

tmfvideo has opted to have his charitable donation made to Gay and Lesbian Community Center. The Gay and Lesbian Community Center provides support groups for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people of all ages. They also offer an HIV/AIDS prevention and counseling program and referrals to other social service agencies.

quiltworks
Located in Massachusetts, quiltworks has been an avid helper on the eBay boards for several years. Finding that eBay was a great place to reach out to people all over the world, she cheerfully answers questions about all aspects of selling on eBay, usually on the Auction Listings board. She also actively promotes events and information that help other sellers become more successful. For instance, she regularly starts threads to remind everyone to participate in Share Your Wares, and recently shared information about the top Internet search engine keywords. Her helpfulness and welcoming manner has made her part of the lives of many in the eBay Community and has made the boards a more fun, more helpful, and more valuable place for all members.

quiltworks has elected to have her charitable donation made to The Women Graduates' Club at Boston University. Established in 1912, the organization's objectives are "to promote the interests of Boston University, to strengthen women's graduate and undergraduate educational opportunities, to further all causes that make for women's welfare and progress, and to award scholarships to deserving women students."