In the interest of transparency, and providing all information for current and potential future bidders on any sale item, surely they would like to be kept informed (publicly) of current bidding positions whether the bids are made here or elsewhere. Looking back to the word 'transparency' because I feel this is an important point to consider.

If someone bids $50 on "item" at Sitepoint and the highest bid here is $45 then surely our members would like to be told about the highest bid to ensure that someone new doesn't come along here and bid $48 needlessly. I would personally love to see all bid updates provided with an appropriate hyperlink to the sale/auction on another website where the bids are being made -- in the interest of transparency -- as proof that a higher bid was indeed made.

It is stated that this new ruling is aimed at artificially pumping up bidding by pretending to have high bids elsewhere. If appropriate proof is provided of legitimate bids elsewhere, I think that can only help bidders over here on TalkFreelance to make their decisions. Sure if all we get is a response of "$50 at Sitepoint" with nothing to back that up, then (as before this ruling was made) the buyer should be cautious of the legitimacy of the claim.

If you're worried about scammers bidding highly on their own products on other websites and linking those scammed bids in the topics here -- couldn't the scammer just do that here and avoid the new rule whilst still artificially pumping up bids? (Not to give anyone any ideas... Don't scam, kids!)

I'm interested in hearing others' points of view on this new rule. For? Against? Non-inclined?