Craigslist Postings

Posted my first batch of Craigslist ads. Bit of a learning process, there, and the user-driven nature of Craigslist means that, while helpful information is available, it is not particularly easy to locate.

First thing you should know is that all Craigslist ads are policed by other users. If someone believes your ad violates any of Craigslist's rules, that person "flags" the ad and, once a certain amount of "flags" is reached (that number apparently varies from region to region and is not made publicly available), the post is automatically removed. You are informed via email that your post was removed, but are not given any details as to the reason. This may sound harsh, but it is likely that Craigslist themselves doesn't even know why your ad received so many flags, they simply know that the ad caused X number of other users to think it was a violation. You are directed to the forums, where you can post the text of your ad and get the community's opinion as to what your violations were.

Should you choose to visit these forums, you will find pages filled with people ranting and raving about the injustice perpetrated upon them. I observed one fellow post dozens of defenses of his ad, accusing the people in the forums of destroying his business and whatnot. His anger was misplaced and his efforts a waste. While one of the denizens of the forum might be one of the users who flagged his ad, it is unlikely. His efforts would have been more productive simply reposting the original ads.

The chief reason for removal is apparently having your ad being designated as spam. The definition of spam is fairly broad, and could conceivably be applied to every ad on Craigslist. Alot of it is pure chance. I have had one ad flagged and removed in a couple hours, reposted it and never had another flag on it. I suspect there are a number of busybodies who exercise the flag power to compensate for their impotence in other arenas. Getting tagged by these busybodies is largely a matter of bad luck via your ad popping up on their radar when it might have slipped through another minute later.

My first few ads were taken down in fairly short order in about half the cities I posted in. I had used identical language and posted in close proximity to one another. After scanning the forums I deduced that multiple identical ads were a sure way to raise the ire of the busybodies. So I began staggering the ads and varying the language slightly. I would post one every 12-24 hours instead of a bunch within minutes of each other. Lo and behold, my deletions all but disappeared. It still happens every now and again, but nothing like the 50-75% rate I was experiencing at first.