Employees can get themselves in deep trouble with their employers for off-company activities, such as posting certain content to personal blogs. This week, an eBay employee was fired for the posts he made to an online auction discussion board.

eBay spokesperson Hani Durzy confirmed that one of its employees had posted messages on the OTWA (Online Traders Web Alliance) board using the name "ebaylicious."

"How this person acted was a violation eBay's internal policy," Durzy said. "Employees can go on other boards, but can't talk about eBay."

The post on the auction discussion board began when a user questioned the auctions of an eBay Powerseller "laytonauctionhouse" who claimed on his About Me page to be an eBay employee. The auction title read, "Marines USMC "SUPPORT OUR TROOPS" US ARMY Wrist Band" (http://digbig.com/4cjry). The item, a wrist band, did not include the words "marines" or "US Army," it simply read "Support Our Troops."

Users posting on the OTWA board speculated whether the auction violated eBay's Keyword spamming policy, found here http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-keywords.html.

During the discussion, a newly registered user with the name "ebaylicious" began posting in defense of the auction. He ended his first post with, "In some sense YOU are worse than those Eastern European Moffia types that tell people to Western Union money for an outside of eBay transaction. It is users like you that don't deserve to be on eBay. It's too bad you all weren't in Sri Lanka for the holidays, maybe then you would shut your holes."

Durzy said, "The inflammatory nature of these posts is in complete opposition of how we want the eBay employees to treat the community."

"This person was an eBay employee, but is no longer an eBay employee."

http://www.otwa.com/community/showthread.php?t=23062