When things go wrong, people naturally lament. Sometimes they express themselves in prose...
Ode to eBay
Came to this land,
To survive another day..
Day after day, still too bland
Hung on by just a strand,
Until I landed at eBay.
It was a beacon of light
Its foes cowered in fright,
The strength of its community,
Granted it virtual immunity
Under custodians sight,
No one dared slight,
Unto this giant's might.
As with all blinding power
The custodians went slowly sour
Took the community for granted
Seeds of dissent met with dour
The ecosystem was finally salted.
Failed at my task I did
Couldn't raise enough to bid
Change for even an hour
To lighten up the day
Of even one user on eBay
Some will be sad, some happy
A few ambivalent,
Some downright ecstatic,
That I am leaving eBay
Losing all right to preach,
I urge one and every each
Heed the user, not the ladder
Now is the time, now the hour
Give more than is your due
To restore this mighty power
To what was known as eBay.
Monday, October the 13th will be my last day at eBay. And no, I was not laid off, rather my decision to exit into the current hellish market environment is entirely voluntary.
I express my sincere gratitude to all who keep the miracle of eBay alive.
-Raghav Gupta
For those who do not remember, or did not know...
Raghav Gupta - Created the "BayEstimator", invented and built eBay's new relevance search algorithm (aka Best Match), contextual keyword extraction algorithm (for eBay AdContext), the Related Searches algorithm, real-time geographical distance computation algorithm for searching/sorting by distance, and many others.
See our previous posts about the eBay Estimator tool here:
The "Ode to eBay" by Raghav Gupta from Dr. Mark Boyd's Blog - Research Scientist at eBay