How great websites become worthless... (Craigslist rant)

[MJ DeMarco]

Case in point...

Go to Craigslist and search in the real estate category for "houses for sale."

What was once a valuable resource for finding a house has now become a worthless cesspool of garbage, a stinking rancid pile of excrement for real estate agents who spam and litter this category for lead generation.

The category is now officially absolutely worthless.

So I wonder ... is this Craigslists' intend use for this category? To become a worthless lead-generation landfill for agents and brokers?

Of course not.

They've neglected their fiduciary duties to their end user and IMO, this is how great websites begin to die. One category is dead ... how many will follow?

 

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[DennisD]

While apartment hunting in Boston I run across the same thing...

The same 4 Brokers posting the same 20 dream apartment pictures. The apartments shown aren't available and don't exist in the price range they advertise them for. It's all a big game to get you through the door so they can nab a fee/commission on the run down overpriced apartments they have listed.

This was happening 6 years ago when I was in college, and it's still happening today. It's already common knowledge to all Boston residents not to use craigslist, yet they still nab tourists. The golden place for boston INSIDERS are the (physical) bulletin boards near the schools, parks, and government buildings.

 

[karmazon]

That "stinking rancid pile of excrement" sure smells like opportunity to create a great, spam-less service for real estate ads.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

Case in point...

Go to Craigslist and search in the real estate category for "houses for sale."

What was once a valuable resource for finding a house has now become a worthless cesspool of garbage, a stinking rancid pile of excrement for real estate agents who spam and litter this category for lead generation.

The category is now officially absolutely worthless.

So I wonder ... is this Craigslists' intend use for this category? To become a worthless lead-generation landfill for agents and brokers?

Of course not.

They've neglected their fidicuciary duties to their end user and IMO, this is how great websites begin to die. Once category is dead ... how many will follow?

I couldn't agree more.

I was actually thinking about this the other day in relation to some forums I used to visit for information, news and networking. I won't name any names, but the majority of online marketing forums (while they may have been decent in the past) are nothing more than a self-promoting circle jerk of mods and long-time members. With the sole goal of fleecing people who are looking for legitimate answers and solutions (to the point that I don't know how the FTC isn't shutting these sites down).

It's one of the reasons I'm very glad I've found this forum as it is centered around the information and networking as opposed to fleecing as many newbies as possible. So, thumbs up for that MJ.

It's kind of sad to watch sites that started out well, based upon great ideas, get turned into pure trash.

 

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[Mike39]

I can't speak on craigslist but I know that YoutTube is turning into a spam-filled playground as well. The comments section in almost every video I have watched (I don't watch that many) is now dominated by spam bot's pushing weight loss supplements, get rich quick schemes, free ipads, etc, etc. and it seems that YT has not done nearly enough to combat it effectively.

 

[Aututto]

It's not just in the real estate section. The cars/trucks for sale is getting pretty bad too. Seriously some dealers post the same ad once a day and I'm not sure how. They also usually never post a price. Unfortunately craigslist has it's market and doesn't have competition really so they slack. It's funny I read this post because the past 4-5 months I have been trying to make my way into making my own classifieds market. Hopefully I don't poke craigslist too much to be on my trail! haha!

 

[Aututto]

That "stinking rancid pile of excrement" sure smells like opportunity to create a great, spam-less service for real estate ads.

You got that right. Real estate sites have the proper housing ad's but lack user interface, while craigslist has the user interface but wretched spammers. A little time with a white board and some surveys could really prove to be successful.

 

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[snowbank]

They lost their edge when they stopped offering erotic encounters

 

[Aututto]

They lost their edge when they stopped offering erotic encounters

Lol +1

 

[biggeemac]

CL is great for SOME THINGS......jobs and real estate.....naw. Picking up a used set of furniture....yeah.

I am losing hope in it these days, however, I got the best job I ever had from Craigs about 7 years ago when i lived in the SF bay area.

 

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[Aututto]

CL is great for SOME THINGS......jobs and real estate.....naw. Picking up a used set of furniture....yeah.

I am losing hope in it these days, however, I got the best job I ever had from Craigs about 7 years ago when i lived in the SF bay area.

I will agree with this. I found a 1 month old love seat for $50. A 2 month old Xbox slim for $100 and the best paying job out of all my friends in high school all on CL. It is still good, but it's more of a "digging for gold" site rather than the "gold" site it used to be....

 

[HD_edacity]

In Canada most people prefer kijiji but that's beginning to be spammed as well, still better then craigslist though.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

The apartments shown aren't available and don't exist in the price range they advertise them for.

You're correct: It's a grand scheme of illegal bait-and-switch that goes unenforced and unregulated.

For example, I was helping a friend find an apartment and we saw one advertised for $950 right down the street; we drove down there 10 minutes after it was posted and they said it was no longer available. I called her on the BS and we walked out.

 

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[EastWind]

The entire internet, there is this idea that it's so easy to make money online. All you have to do is spam/generate leads, find a site where people frequent and spam it. Any and every site that accepts direct user input and displays it for other users is game. Craigslist, Ebay. Have you ever used Ebay? People don't sell things they don't need on ebay. Ebay is filled with Companies spamming their products. Facebook is slowing getting filled with spam, the only thing limiting it is that you select your friends. Dating sites. The only sites that accept user input and keep it at bay are where user's moderate like hell. ie, reddit and it's in their collective interest for good posts to be marked up high. Craigslist/Ebay/Dating sites are hard to be moderated by public, because the users are selfish. ie, if it was open moderation. If I saw a deal on craigslist, ebay or a fine woman I would want to know. It's not in my interest to mark it up because I would be competing with other people. Hell, I would mark them as spam. In a forum like this, it's in my interest to mark good posts up, because other people would then seen it and contribute and I can learn more.

 

[DennisD]

I can't speak on craigslist but I know that YoutTube is turning into a spam-filled playground as well. The comments section in almost every video I have watched (I don't watch that many) is now dominated by spam bot's pushing weight loss supplements, get rich quick schemes, free ipads, etc, etc. and it seems that YT has not done nearly enough to combat it effectively.

Expect this to change in a big bad way the next 3-12 months. YTs going to get an entire spam overhaul. They're:

1) starting paid subscriptions to top channels very shortly.
2) offering tighter integration with google+ and other social networks
3) integrating with google hangout
4) giving it a flexible responsive redesign via "Youtube One"

There's a lot more money and resources they're playing with, which is an indicator the webspam team will be swooping in shortly to protect their new assets. You heard it here first.

 

[biggeemac]

yessir......cant wait to see the new YT landscape

 

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[SpeedRacer]

If they charged to post ads on CL and YT that would eliminate a good percentage of spammers.

 

[Mike39]

Expect this to change in a big bad way the next 3-12 months. YTs going to get an entire spam overhaul. They're:

1) starting paid subscriptions to top channels very shortly.
2) offering tighter integration with google+ and other social networks
3) integrating with google hangout
4) giving it a flexible responsive redesign via "Youtube One"

There's a lot more money and resources they're playing with, which is an indicator the webspam team will be swooping in shortly to protect their new assets. You heard it here first.

1) Mistake #1
2) Mistake #2
3) Mistake #3
4) Cool, they should have done this years ago

That would complete YouTubes transformation from a site that thinks about what their users want to a corporate dictatorship with their only focus being on squeezing more money out of us, not to mention putting a gun to our head and forcing us to use Google+ (which they should have admitted failed long ago, people only have google+ accounts because Google forces them have them if they want gmail, YouTube, etc, etc.)

 

[DennisD]

1) Mistake #1
2) Mistake #2
3) Mistake #3
4) Cool, they should have done this years ago

That would complete YouTubes transformation from a site that thinks about what their users want to a corporate dictatorship with their only focus being on squeezing more money out of us, not to mention putting a gun to our head and forcing us to use Google+ (which they should have admitted failed long ago, people only have google+ accounts because Google forces them have them if they want gmail, YouTube, etc, etc.)

I think the addition of paid subscriptions is a great idea. Right now medium sized networks don't have a viable way of monetizing their content. NBC, ABC, CBS, etc. etc. etc. all have Hulu, Netflix, Xfinity, etc. etc. etc.

Players like Revision3, NextNewNetworks, Vuguru, GeekAndSundry, Nerdist, Yogscast, Machinima all survive on adspace via their private sites.. but they don't have enough traffic to justify creation of their own subscription service. Most their traffic flows through youtube. This allows such players a way to make some extra $ off of exclusive content.

Basically YTs democratizing paid subscription service previously only controlled by the big boys. Yes, they DO make a profit from it as they should... but I think it's a win-win-win situation all around.

The Google network integration is something I really do hate. They've been trying to tap into the social networking scene from the start and it just hasn't worked. Let it go and work on what's already working.

 

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[RHL]

I called her on the BS and we walked out.

Happens with cars too all day er'ry day. I've seen dealers keep ads for bargain cars I know for a fact they sold weeks ago up and refreshed daily, I've called about cars a month ago that are still listed new this morning that were sold then. I call about deals two hours after the first post, and they're gone, from real brick and mortar brand-name dealerships. Can a car dealer even finalize paperwork on a car in two hours?

Scam scam scam. Unjust way to make a living. This is SUCKS customer service.

 

[mayana]

Yeah, it's definitely not as good as it used to be. I've gotten two jobs off of Craigslist, and I used to use it all the time for getting students (I used to teach Spanish, among other things... I used to teach anyone anything for a $25 an hour...lol).

One of my sisters just called me yesterday complaining about how she can't find a job - turns out, she's been searching on Craigslist. She's been contacting by a few scammers. It pretty much sucks now for job searches.

Now, for giving things away for free, it's still great! I put a couple of desks out in front of my house, asked people to text me for my addy, and they were gone in about 45 minutes.

As far as the job searches go, some of the other bigger job search sites have gone south, too.

 

[CommonCents]

Have you tried to sell stuff lately on CL? The mountain of spam you get is unreal! I listed several personal items to sell and got slammed with spam. 40 in a matter of minutes with some lame reply and a hotmail address I'm supposed to reply to with my outside personal email.

they need a captcha or something required for "buyers". Or maybe a GPS filter to show they are at least in the general vicinity.

 

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[hotshot]

I think the CL problem is much worse in the states than in Canada.

I just sold a mountain bike within 1 day of listing, no spam. And I listed my workout equipment yesterday, already have 2 people interested, no spam.

I found my last job on CL, as well as my current apartment.

I was checking out the rental rates in Arizona a while ago, and I totally get what you guys are saying. Very frustrating to paw through the BS ads.

 

[buwatcha]

I also think it's interesting how it's creeping into Facebook as well. Every 4th or 5th post or so in my mini feed is a paid ad. I get friend requests from totally random people - usually some super hot girl speaking broken english which is clearly some kind of spam.

Also, about FB - the younger generation has no interest in it whatsoever. It's all Instagram for them. My 13 year old niece thinks Facebook is lame. So, what happens to the almighty FB in 5 years if none of these younger kids sign up??

 

[Mike Kavanagh]

It's all Instagram for them.

Facebook owns Instagram.

 

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[GuestUser113]

Maybe this is something that could be fixed and made better as a new listing site.

 

[MooreMillions]

and doesn't have competition

backpage.

They lost their edge when they stopped offering erotic encounters

Bingo. And I try to tell people, legitimate activity has an indirect and/or inverse relationship with illegitimate activity, PERIOD!

1) Mistake #1
2) Mistake #2
3) Mistake #3
4) Cool, they should have done this years ago

That would complete YouTubes transformation from a site that thinks about what their users want to a corporate dictatorship with their only focus being on squeezing more money out of us, not to mention putting a gun to our head and forcing us to use Google+ (which they should have admitted failed long ago, people only have google+ accounts because Google forces them have them if they want gmail, YouTube, etc, etc.)

I'm lost on this part. I was under the impression everything Google offers currently is for free, so where is the "more money" part?

 

[dknise]

Also, about FB - the younger generation has no interest in it whatsoever. It's all Instagram for them. My 13 year old niece thinks Facebook is lame. So, what happens to the almighty FB in 5 years if none of these younger kids sign up??

Cmon, let's use some common sense here.

At 13 your niece can't drive. She isn't trying to organize weekly social gatherings with large groups of people and she likely has several close friends. Her social networking starts with her neighbors and extends into her school, but that's about the scope of it. Facebook is and always was for adults.


I say this with angst because everyday I see several anti-Facebook posts... through Facebook... complaining about how it does nothing... as they seamlessly communicate their ideas with 10 close friends and 40 acquaintances.

 

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[Tom.V]

Anyone else notice the recent introduction of paid CL posts? Particularly pertaining to jobs. Looks like Craig finally decided to start making some money.

Edit: Apparently they have been for years in different cities, but just hit mine among others.

 

[V8Bill]

Expect this to change in a big bad way the next 3-12 months. YTs going to get an entire spam overhaul. They're:

1) starting paid subscriptions to top channels very shortly.
2) offering tighter integration with google+ and other social networks
3) integrating with google hangout
4) giving it a flexible responsive redesign via "Youtube One"

There's a lot more money and resources they're playing with, which is an indicator the webspam team will be swooping in shortly to protect their new assets. You heard it here first.

Doesn't look like it made any difference. Comment spam is even worse now.