I confess to being completely baffled by this question. From my perspective, it's no contest. As Donna Karan once wrote about women and the statement they make to the world thru their fashion: "It all starts with the legs." When a woman with pretty legs puts on nylons, she transforms herself from an ordinary member of a rather dull species (homo sapiens) into an exotic creature from another planet. That's all it takes, and sorry girls, but nothing does it like nylons. Nothing captures light and sinuous shape like a leg in nylons. Thanks heavens, some young women are starting to figure this out. In contrast to those who are, a starlet in bare legs - especially in a period movie - looks positively ridiculous, and we see it all the time. As Matt Damon said in a movie recently (to a gal in sheer black nylons) "When you wear those, I'm completely defenseless." Why is it that European women understand this implicitly, yet American women seem so clueless? European women wouldn't be caught dead walking down the Champs Elysee in bare legs. If I see two women walking down the street, one with bare legs, one wearing nylons, there is NO question which one I'm watching. It's a statement about herself, her sexuality that render her one of those exotic creatures. It's that exotic quality - not nylons per se - that is so powerfully attractive, and nothing conveys that exoticism more definitively than a woman's legs in stockings.

my point about Barbies is this: Even though *I* never bought her another Barbie after the end of her 4th year, and even though I tried to gently discourage other people from doing so, she now, at age 10, has more than 25 Barbies, and 8 Kens. Where did they come from? Other people. You can TELL people not to get her any more, but they still will. By telling people not to, you will only "keep it down to a dull roar." You will not be ABLE to prevent any more from coming in. Someone will either ignore your request, forget it, never hear it, or override it bcs the present is just TOO perfect. So you won't be depriving her for life of new Barbies. You *will* be slowing the tide. Bcs, you see, she's just starting. Barbies today are differnent than when I was a kid (OK, I'm 44, so that was a LONG time ago). When I was a kid, Barbies were expensive. Kids who had 4 were RICH! I thought I was really being indulged when I was given a Skipper. Now, Barbies are $5 to $7. Some are more, but a lot are not. They're an easy gift to buy for b-day parties, etc. And maybe you live w/ a bunch of Grinches, but you don't sound like the sort of person who does--you sound generous and indulgent, and I bet you learned that from the folks around you. That means, all the folks around you are gonna buy indulgent presents for your kid. And a $7 Barbie, or $14 packs of clothes, or $29 cars, are gonna be in your future at every gift-giving occasion. And, the MOMENT aunts, uncles, friends of all ages, etc., realize that she likes Barbies, they are gonna go overboard, right along with YOU. And she's only THREE. Leave some room for "future expansion," and try to establish "controlled growth," is what I'm saying. Then, when he best friend at age 4 insists on getting her a Sleeping Beauty Barbie, bcs she KNOWS (rightly) that your DD will love it, or your future DS wants to get her a Barbie car (bcs he loves cars, and she loves Barbies, he argues--how can you fight that?) you can welcome it enthusiastically into your daughter's room, and not cringe at the idea of trying to shoe-horn it in among all the OTHER stuff that didn't come w/ such love behind it. Drop me a line when she's 10, and tell me whether I was right.

Yes, I agree with the comments about the bratz dolls. They are aweful. What's wrong with a lovely little baby doll, that is cute and cuddly, I loved buying those dolls when my daugher was little ! It was like reliving my childhood. There was "big bubbie" and that was the first one. Then I remember one Christmas, I bought this huge doll that was as tall as my DD! She loved it, and it walked, well thats what it said on the box ! Its wonderful being blessed with a girl, isn't it ? Popi

I've noticed a big decline in the kinds of things I am interested in on ebay over the past several years. I joined in 1998 or so and regularly bought and sold for years. I loved the whole "worldwide garage sale" concept - it was like heaven to me. I bought everything from furniture (my bed! a huge armoire!) to antiques to you-name-it. I also turned around and sold stuff that I bought at yard sales and flea markets that didn't work out like I had planned. I was also selling my kids outgrown clothing there for a while and making a ton of money off it. But ever since they bought paypal and jacked up the fees maybe 3 years ago, I stopped selling on ebay - it's simply not worth it to me -- the time it takes to photograph and list the items, the hassle of shipping, the risk of bad feedback, and the huge cut that ebay takes -- for an item that sells for just a couple dollars, it doesn't make sense. And I'm guessing that a lot of small sellers feel the same way, which is why there's been such a decline in the number of "flea-markety" unique vintage items. I rarely bother to even look there anymore, as if I do find something I like the price and/or shipping charge is going to be jacked up to cover the fees. It's such a shame, because ebay was such a guilty pleasure for me for so many years, and I do miss it a lot. Now that I've said that, I will admit that I've been on an ebay binge this week (after not buying anything there for probably a year!). My son wants a specific list of discontinued Thomas wooden trains for his 6th birthday next week and ebay is still my only resource to find stuff like that. So I guess it's still good for certain things. Also, I have accumulated a few things that I think I may want to sell on ebay -- I don't think CL will be the best market for them -- they're esoteric collectibles (again, Thomas train related) that will probably go for more money if I find the right buyer, and the odds of that buyer being located here and reading my Craigslist are probably pretty slim. So can someone explain to me how the changes made to the feedback can hurt sellers? Is it true that sellers can't leave negative feedback for buyers anymore? How is that even possible? How do you keep people from scamming you????