Inside Craigslist's Increasingly Complicated Battle Against Spammers
from the spam-fight dept
John Nagle writes in with a fascinating dissection of the ongoing battle between Craigslist and spammers. The back and forth nature of this battle is fascinating -- and somewhat disturbing when you realize the lengths to which spammers will go to get spam onto Craigslist, and the extent to which an entire ecosystem of scammers and software providers seems to have been built up around this effort:"Spam on Craigslist has been a minor nuisance for years. Not any more. This year, the spammers started winning and are taking over Craigslist. Here's how they did it. Craigslist tries to stop spamming by checking for duplicate submissions. They check for excessive posts from a single IP address. They require users to register with a valid E-mail address. They added a CAPTCHA to stop automated posting tools. And users can flag postings they recognize as spam.
Several commercial products are now available to overcome those little obstacles to bulk posting. A tool called CL Auto Posting Tool is one such product. It not only posts to Craigslist automatically, it has built-in strategies to overcome each Craigslist anti-spam mechanism.
Random text is added to each spam message to fool Craigslist's duplicate message detector. IP proxy sites are used to post from a wide range of IP addresses. E-mail addresses for reply are Gmail accounts conveniently created by Jiffy Gmail Creator ("Who Else Wants to Create Unlimited Gmail Accounts in Seconds Flat Without Breaking a Sweat?") An OCR system reads the obscured text in the CAPTCHA. Automatic monitoring detects when a posting has been flagged as spam and reposts it.
CL Auto Poster isn't the only such tool. Other desktop software products are AdBomber and Ad Master. For spammers preferring a service-oriented approach, there's ItsYourPost.
With these power tools, the defenses of Craigslist have been overrun. Some categories on Craigslist have become over 90% spam. The personals sections were the first to go, then the services categories, and more recently, the job postings.
Craigslist is fighting back. Its latest gimmick is phone verification. Posting in some categories now requires a callback phone call, with a password sent to the user either by voice or as an SMS message. Only one account is allowed per phone number. Spammers reacted by using VoIP numbers. Craigslist blocked those. Spammers tried using number-portability services like Grand Central and Tossable Digits. Craigslist blocked those. Spammers tried using their own free ringtone sites to get many users to accept the Craigslist verification call, then type in the password from the voice message. Craigslist hasn't countered that trick yet.
Much of the back and forth battle can be followed in various forums.
It's not clear yet who will win. Craigslist may find something that works. If it doesn't, however, it could be toast for the success story of Craigslist."
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Filed Under: battles, black hat, marketing, spam
Companies: craigslist
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Re: Craigslist loosing the battle
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Re: Re: Craigslist loosing the battle
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Re: You are crazy people
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Re: Re: You are crazy people
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Online Jobs guide
Online Jobs guide
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Re:
It is their arbitrary banning system, zero human presence, Harvard Graphics 1.0 interface, low-ballers, demonic forum 'helpers' and their just utterly, utterly despicable attitude that has doomed them.
Having used the site normally without event for four years, my account was suddenly banned when I asked one of those helper creatures in the forum why everyone's posts were being immediately flagged off.
Now I have a new project.
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One solution...
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Re: One solution...
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1. My gut tells me this is not lots of different spammers gutting CraigsList, but a very small number (maybe one). I have no data to support this gut feeling, but the gut feeling is strong.
2. These parasites are going to destroy their host. They would get much farther much longer if they figured out some sort of symbiotic relationship.
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Re:
A symbiotic relationship would mean these scammers are clever. They aren't. They're lowlifes who go for the biggest profit with the least possible effort. People with this kind of ethics and IQ (somewhere between the ebola virus and the crackhead who smashed my car window to steal a GPS that wasn't there) aren't able to think long-term.
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Re:
They are determined that they have every right to destroy CL to make money through spam.
The real gold here is the email lists these bozos generate.
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Re: Craigslist and spammers
CL needs to get past this model. Backpage is doing interesting things with this. A person's posts go all into their most recent posting. So all your old posts are deleted and rolled into the most recent, and then the new one is on top. That still is not quite ideal though. There's still an identifiable TOP there. Logic needs to be developed as to how people view CL adds other than just latest first.
At this point, CL is deleting legitimate adds of people just trying to overcome the spam by posting more often. They need to break down and admit their model is not working any longer. Time to do at least a little more work.
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Re:
2. See number 1.
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Well
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Re: Well
However, this is much less profitable than reporting news about it, lobbying about it, using it as a politcal grandstanding technique, creating software to combat it, creating software to support it, creating analytical firms to help comabt and suport the combative and supportive effort, get a review commity to review how well the analyzers analyze, and then create 100 blogs about all of it with ad space, not to mention all the bandwith and hardware it takes to do all of those.
Kill some scum or spend millions, in the end what's it really matter when all you've done is be wasteful?
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Re: Re: Well
We will alway win!!
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Re: Well
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Re: Well You are crazy MORONS
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Re: Re: Well You are crazy MORONS
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Re: Well this man is an idiot
What Spammer ever wrote I will kill you.
So justified are the unjust.
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Re: Well
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Re:
although i was reluctant to let the conspiracy theorist in me.
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Re: Re:
... out.
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eBay is the great enemy of CL.
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Over the last several weeks, I have found about 1% of the posts to be non-spam. Many are obvious. They use the same 'catch phrases', have programming errors that generate obvious errors (field names present instead of actual values, mishandled quotes, age mismatch between title and body, etc.), and mismatched pictures.
If I can catch most of these obvious spam posts via casual inspection, you would think that a Bayesian filter trained in part by feedback from CL users could do the same.
I don't know what the ramifications concerning failed posts would be, but it might be better than having sections of the website be completely useless.
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Defeating CHAPTCHA is a violation of the DMCA
Now I know many of "us" disagree with the DMCA however, it looks to me like Craigslist could use this to prevent the distribution of the software these spammers are using. Maybe, just maybe, in this instance the DMCA could be a good thing.
-john
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Re: Defeating CHAPTCHA is a violation of the DMCA
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Re: Re: Defeating CHAPTCHA is a violation of the DMCA
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Re: Defeating CHAPTCHA is a violation of the DMCA
DVD-Decrypt is no longer allowed to be distributed, give me 10 minutes and I'll have a copy.
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A fun solution
If they had to dig through hundreds of people pretending to buy whatever they were trying to sell or scam, they would have to work to figure out who was a real target, vs who was just pretending to be a target.We all know they are too lazy to work, or they wouldn't be trying to rip people off.
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Re: A fun solution
There is no long drawn out playing with them.
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Re: Re: A fun solution
Cheers!
(perhaps only a short term fix but it works for me)
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Re: A fun solution
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Re: A fun solution
Without fail, every spammer in this section leads you to visit xxxblackbook, ifriends, etc.
Whether you actually join or not doesn't matter; just visiting the target site for one brief page view gets the spammer paid.
Want a real bonus? i friends will pay you $80 if you get someone to join as a FREE account, betting on the come that the free account will becaome a paid account.
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Re: A fun solution
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Re: A fun solution
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Re: A fun solution
If you reply, they've won. If you give them a bogus e-mail address or phone number (which are what exactly, since they possibly do belong to someone or will someday?), they win. Their purpose isn't to finally sell something, their purpose is to collect information, and it doesn't matter if it's legitimate or not, it's still "valuable." Metaphorically, they're not interested in catching a fish, just nibbles.
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However, how effectively any anti-spam measure works probably, in part, depends on the motivations of the spammer...
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Re:
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Re: question!
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there is a solution
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Re: there is a solution
Spam exists because it is essentially free to the spammer. The returns are so low that even a 99 cent charge would make it unprofitable.
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Re: there is a solution
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Re: Re: there is a solution
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Re: there is a solution
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Re: there is a solution
These idiots on here that waste there time trying to annoy the spammers... it just don't work, if they have a system for getting spam on CL, then they have a system for dealing with annoying people!
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Re: there is a solution
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Re: there is a solution
Obviously charging 1c per post can't be done with each post; but CL could require users to establish an account w/ a $1 credit card draw (or paypal, etc.)--then you get 100 credits applicable to postings, renewable when you want to renew it.
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Re: there is a solution
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Re: there is a solution
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Re: there is a solution
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Re: there is a solution
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spammers
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Re: spammers
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Re: spammers
Craigslist is uniquely positioned to become a commercial enterprise, yet they keep their "non-profit" status... Why? They rely on private & government monies to continue their operations. The more hits, the more $ they can get.
The only solution is to ID Verify users when establishing accounts & eliminate the flagging system all-together. Limit the # of ads that can be placed to about 20 a day, & suspend accounts for 10 days that are spam or fraudulent.
When Legitimate businesses post on craigslist and are shot down by the flaggers, they step up their efforts (such as captcha outsourcing) to combat the attack on their advertising. (Advertising by legitimate business is what drives craigslist, not the personals or pets sections). Legitimate business has the $ and resources to get around CL security features, and as long as there's money to be made someone will develop programs to get around CL efforts.
I'd like to see less spam, and also less flaggers. As a legitimate business, I'd also be willing to pay for Verified Ads that cannot be flagged.
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Re: Token Charge is the answer
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Re: Re: Token Charge is the answer
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Re: Re: Token Charge is the answer
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CL now needs to charge!!!
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Re: CL now needs to charge!!!
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BTW, that blackhat site seems to be aware of a rumor thats going around that CL will start charging $5 a pop for sections that require phone verification. I've heard this myself.
I'm all for it if it decreases spam. I run a weekly ad out of the household services section and would like to see it continue to generate income for me.
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Re: Token Charge is the answer
...use a credit card?
well, the CC company charges percent of the transaction and a minimum transaction fee!!!
And, than you have to deal with people who want refunds or error or CC scams and so on...
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one thing is clear...there will be no clear winner
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Re: one thing is clear...there will be no clear winner
I live in Atlanta, and just about
- every - single - category -
in the Jobs section is innundated with these pathetic frakking ''work from home___vgthzq4fc6th'' and such like type ads - easy to spot but a pain in de derriere iff'n yer really looking for anything OTHER than a scam - I wish Craigs (this might be a solution) would offer a reward to
1) sign in as your client ID to the list
2) track your activity on the List
3) REWARD you for spotting the spam's!! (30 spotted=free post in a paid section or something like that - hell, there's lots of ways to pay back - and, eventually you'd have the peeps that develop the spamming s'ware developing stuff that SPOTS the spam because they'd get rewarded for it - nice little twist on reality there, hey?)
I go to a few different cities each day looking for biz, {not posting!!} Replying to posts, and I dont see nearly the amount of spam in any other city - -
Soo, thats my bee-atch for tonite - SEO rules!
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Re: one thing is clear...there will be no clear winner
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Re:
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what sort of resolution could be worked out? It isn't one connected group. Its thousands of separate individuals looking to get their ads in-in any way possible.
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Pay Ads and Human Verification...
You could also setup a special verified account holder status and after certain milestones are meet they no longer have to pay and be verified until someones flags their listings as suspect.
Besides that, best way to stay in front of automated listing agents is to constantly change your verification methods - use different CAPTCHA's, random questions, and keep it as variable as possible. Any system can be broken, but a system that changes every day and is unique for every listing is for all practical purposes a royal PITA for the spammers.
Another interesting idea would be to setup a wiki like volunteers that would review ads before they are listed and can any that are questionable. Essentially local moderators for high-spam sections, etc.
Freedom
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Re: Pay Ads and Human Verification...
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99 cents per account
Put the rules out ahead of time and you will be fine.
somethingawful forms costs I think 20 dollers for an account, Thousands of people pay this fee, mods are free to ban accounts and those who get banned are free to make new accounts, making the website more money. Spammers are non-existant on that website (from a readers point of view)
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Re: 99 cents per account
Not true. In my area, spammers actually flag down all the real ads to dominate certain sections. I think craigslist has actually blocked my IP due to my multiple attempts to keep my ad up. The spammers have craigslist convinced I'm a spammer... It's becoming a useless website.
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Re: Re: 99 cents per account
It makes sense that a spammer who posts 6 ads in a row flagg all the ads before and after his/her block of spam.
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Re: 99 cents per account
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Re: Re: 99 cents per account
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Re:
What Spammer ever wrote I will kill you.
So justified are the unjust.
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It's back and forth, a never ending battle. You need to strike at the root of the cause, not the symptoms. What's the incentive behind spamming anyway? I can never figure it out. But if you take away the incentive, you'll take away the reason for spammers being there in the first place.
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Re:
If I was a criminal with access to someones bank or cc info, I can think of a lot better ways to spend it than funding spam (a different criminal activity with a much lower payout rate).
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Re:
If they could rip off thousands of people's cc info for $.99 each, they would make more money just keeping the 0.99 each, rather than spending a stolen $0.99 to make a "legit" fraction of a cent.
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It wouldn't make it go a way.....
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uhhh really simple solution
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Re: uhhh really simple solution
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Re: Re: uhhh really simple solution
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Re: uhhh really simple solution
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Re: uhhh really simple solution
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Their business model has run it's course, and just use RSS.
Things that are free have no value, and CL likely has insufficient capital to fight fire with fire.
They need to hire human mods to review all ads before they go live. Expensive. A couple weeks of that and the spammers would go away. But they probably can't do it.
They could sue the people who are posting the spam, but that might cost too much for their "free" business model.
There is no good solution for their method of doing business to fight the legions of spammers who are trying to make money by stealing resources from CL and everyone else.
One thing that makes CL still pretty useful for me is by taking it as an RSS feed. I use Sharpreader to read CL and it picks up my searches and loads them locally.
One thing this does is it gives you the ad "instantly". You don't have to click the website to see what the heck that is or whether it's the same as the one right below it. It's all there.
Come to think of it, if CL gave you a brief abstract of each ad right in the category list, enough to tell whether it's spam or not, you wouldn't have to click on the spam to find out what it is and that might make the spam nearly worthless.
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Re: Their business model has run it's course, and just use RSS.
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Re: Re: Their business model has run it's course, and just use RSS.
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How can you promote a service or product Legally on CL?
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Re: How can you promote a service or product Legally on CL?
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Re: How can you promote a service or product Legally on CL?
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Re: How can you promote a service or product Legally on CL?
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agreed
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If you're a business selling product or service, PAY FOR ADVERTISING and STAY OFF CRAIGSLIST.
Thank you, good night.
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You know what would be funny?
That somebody would definitely be my personal hero.
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One solution.
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Re: One solution.
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Re: One solution.
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Re: One solution.
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stop it at the source
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With Craig's List, the fundamental issue is that when benefits comes in the shape of a response to a post, the way to increase your chance of getting a response is simply to increase the number of your posts. And if those post take no effort and are free, then the result is clear - spam.
We all want things free. Some people will spend hours online looking for a crack/hack to a program that costs $30 - and if a few hours of your time is worth MORE than that, you'd be better of paying the cash and doing something more productive! But free can also mean poorer quality, no support, flaky performance, and lots of hassle. Sometimes the "free" solution ends up being expensive.
And here is where Craig's List sits - a great idea and very very free, but now a victim of its own success to the point of near extinction. Like many "free" enterprises before, the choice is now between closing the doors and charging a fee. I hope the later is preferred.
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A Solution
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Safe Websites
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open proxy check
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Theft of Service?
If they could, would not anyone providing the software that enables the theft be liable for some kind of criminal enterprise charges?
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Fight fire with fire
Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.
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cl
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Better than CAPTCHA
Here's an idea - they should replace the character recognition requirement that is the CAPTCHA process with instead a little question/answer such as 'What is the result if you multiply 2 by two' or 'Enter the third word in this sentence into the verification box', or 'What day of the week is it tomorrow' or anything like that. The possibilities of simple question/answer routines are vast, and if they act as a filter requiring people to have a double digit IQ as well that would be a bonus. :)
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Charging and flagging don't mix
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Re: Charging and flagging don't mix
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I'm here because my favorite category, Missed Connections, is totally overrun by formulaic ads for fake women looking for dates.
There must be legal issues involved because these all have photos of women. I'm sure these women didn't give consent to have the spammers use their images.
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Stopping spammage
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Re: Stopping spammage
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what i don't get is
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Anti-Technology
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email lists
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CL could prevent some spam by allowing a little more flexibility
One typical type of spam that I see is when someone posts the same ad in numerous geographic locations, which Craigslist prohibits.
Craigslist should re-think this policy. If someone is selling something that might interest buyers in multiple geographic regions, why not make it so that the poster can post one single ad that can appear in whichever geographic regions the poster chooses?
Similary, if a poster is selling something that fits more than 1 category, allow the poster to specify up to 3 different categories, such that the one ad appears in all 3. (EBay does this.)
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Post2Craig services
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Re: Post2Craig services
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Re: Post2Craig services
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craigslist spam
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Re: craigslist spam
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Re: craigslist spam
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the answer is comprehensive reform
1.Rotating anti-spam software, because no one version is infallible
2.Human moderators to both screen ads (for legitimacy only, not content) and to remove obvious violators of policy
3.Above to be paid by LEGIT advertisers who partner with CL to display their banner ads, special offers, etc.
Costs for updating steps 1 & 2 would be off-set by revenues from 3. It'd be a wash, and a small price to pay (figurtively speaking) to have our CL back without asking for posters to pay any money out of pocket =)
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Re: the answer is comprehensive reform
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Yess.. craigslist is very interesting for spammer
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Re: Yess.. craigslist is very interesting for spammer
Nobody wants to earn their living on Craigs, its not glamerous and chances are they are doing it out of desperation to pay the electric or their childs clothing and electric bills. You call them criminsals??
Woud you rather these harmless people posting messages be on a corner selling crack or dope? What are you crazy and that angry that you are saying you will kill over it?
The fact is posting things on the internet saying you are going to chop there heads off, kill them or blow their brains out shows YOU are the criminal and if anyone wanted to track your IP address you would be the one committing a crime with death threats.
I have seen no spammer ever post a death threat, only here where the righteous people who deny those below the poverty level an income. One thing I know for sure is the righteous are always the vermin of society and your death threats are the criminal acts not the spammers posting to sell their solar powered toasters Jerks!
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We the Spammers of Craigslist
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Spam the Spammers...
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C/L and spamm
I try to stop them
by flagging spamm
and C/L shut me down !!!..
C/L told me they were going to BLOCK ME !
for trying to block spammers,
And all those illegal non paying job listing
AND SOMETHING ABOUT TOO many entries on their data base
I live 30 miles in between 4 different C/L lisiting
So I know that C/L is in bed with The Spammers for the MONEY !!
every good paying job SPAMM
every good freebee SPAMM
every good anything ( NOT GREAT ) SPAMM
You flagg and they kick you off !!!!
?????? lets see ?????
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anyone know how to design an interactive site similar to craigslist?
Telecommuting would be ok and while not necessary it would be helpful if you were in the Dallas / Ft worth area.
Part time to start and as it grows we will need full time web support . . . would you be available then too?
if this sounds interesting to you or you know someone that might "fit" please email me at zachary@e-scrapsolutions.com
thanks!
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GRRRRR
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Re: GRRRRR
Many of these spammers use trojan horse programs to hijack the computers of innocent people and then use those computer IPs to post spam until the IP is blocked by craigslist.
Fools like you make these suggestions without even thinking about the consequences. Thank God you're not in charge of policing Cl. You should be ashamed of yourself for even considering such a suggestion.
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Re: GRRRRR
Nobody wants to earn their living on Craigs, its not glamerous and chances are they are doing it out of desperation to pay the electric or their childs clothing and electric bills. You call them criminsals??
Woud you rather these harmless people posting messages be on a corner selling crack or dope? What are you crazy and that angry that you are saying you will kill over it?
The fact is posting things on the internet saying you are going to chop there heads off, kill them or blow their brains out shows YOU are the criminal and if anyone wanted to track your IP address you would be the one committing a crime with death threats.
I have seen no spammer ever post a death threat, only here where the righteous people who deny those below the poverty level an income. One thing I know for sure is the righteous are always the vermin of society and your death threats are the criminal acts not the spammers posting to sell their solar powered toasters Jerks!
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Spammers on craigslist? - You fools!
People talk about spammers "They probably work harder than you do" to get get good affiliated info out to the public in the first place! Honestly, I think most people are "too lazy" to post ads to begin with, so then, they are jealous because the "other guy" had "the brains" to get more ads than they could out on the net!!! - Jealousy!!! - That is what all of this is about! - You are pissed because you do not make good money, and the legit ad posters that actually "work" and "think" "DO!" Think it's easy to post, and that these people are low life's etrc, etrc..."TRY IT YOURSELF!" - You talk about killing "spammers" which are actually business people advertising? - Think again!!! - Go "get one of em' " ...and they might just be military trained like me, and do not miss like me you peice of crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Re: Spammers on craigslist? - You fools!
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Re: Spammers on craigslist? - You fools!
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Then, I want to know what your definition of spamming really is...Oh yeah, I defend my home rather heavily. Beyond that, what I have standing ready in my yard, I will not tell you, but anyone looking to trespass might be in for an unfortunate surprise..."FACE TOWARD ENEMEY"...click, click, click...bye bye.
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reply
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It's a damn shame
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Spam
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You people are stupid
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Craigslist crappy spammers
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Changes
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Email Spam
These email spams from my craigslist ads fill up my inbox.
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For Job Seekers
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Take a leaf out of the Government's approach with Gambling
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You are all Crazy Craigs Nut Jobs !!! Losers
Nobody wants to earn their living on Craigs, its not glamerous and chances are they are doing it out of desperation to pay the electric or their childs clothing and electric bills. You call them criminsals??
Woud you rather these harmless people posting messages be on a corner selling crack or dope? What are you crazy and that angry that you are saying you will kill over it?
The fact is posting things on the internet saying you are going to chop there heads off, kill them or blow their brains out shows YOU are the criminal and if anyone wanted to track your IP address you would be the one committing a crime with death threats.
I have seen no spammer ever post a death threat, only here where the righteous people who deny those below the poverty level an income. One thing I know for sure is the righteous are always the vermin of society and your death threats are the criminal acts not the spammers posting to sell their solar powered toasters Jerks!
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Who gives a fu*K???
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Also
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tired of this all
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Data Entry Job
opportunity to earn online with your convenient timings. Genuine
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email us at universalpostjob4u@gmail.com, posted id GyuXXXX,
call us at +91-9474425752
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It is a Crime... here in Texas and most states
TITLE 4. MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER 46. ELECTRONIC MAIL SOLICITATION
§ 46.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Commercial electronic mail message" means an
electronic mail message that advertises, offers for sale or lease,
or promotes any goods, services, business opportunity, property, or
any other article, commodity, or thing of value.
(2) "Electronic mail" means a message, file, or other
information that is transmitted through a local, regional, or
global computer network, regardless of whether the message, file,
or other information is viewed, stored for retrieval at a later
time, printed, or filtered by a computer program that is designed or
intended to filter or screen those items.
(3) "Electronic mail service provider" means a person
that:
(A) is qualified to do business in this state;
(B) is an intermediary in sending or receiving
electronic mail; and
(C) provides an end user of an electronic mail
service the ability to send or receive electronic mail.
(4) "Established business relationship" means a prior
or existing relationship of a person formed by a voluntary two-way
communication between a person and another person, regardless of
whether consideration is exchanged, regarding products or services
offered by one of the persons, that has not been terminated by
either party.
(5) "Internet domain name" refers to a globally
unique, hierarchical reference to an Internet host or service,
assigned through a centralized Internet naming authority and
composed of a series of character strings separated by periods with
the right-most string specifying the top of the hierarchy.
(6) "Obscene" has the meaning assigned by Section 43.
21, Penal Code.
(7) "Sender" means a person who initiates an
electronic mail message.
(8) "Sexual conduct" has the meaning assigned by
Section 43.25, Penal Code.
(9) "Unsolicited commercial electronic mail message"
means a commercial electronic mail message sent without the consent
of the recipient by a person with whom the recipient does not have
an established business relationship. The term does not include
electronic mail sent by an organization using electronic mail for
the purpose of communicating exclusively with members, employees,
or contractors of the organization.
Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1053, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
§ 46.002. CERTAIN ELECTRONIC MAIL MESSAGES
PROHIBITED. (a) A person may not intentionally transmit a
commercial electronic mail message that:
(1) falsifies electronic mail transmission
information or other routing information for an unsolicited
commercial electronic mail message; or
(2) contains false, deceptive, or misleading
information in the subject line.
(b) A person may not intentionally send a commercial
electronic mail message that uses another person's Internet domain
name without the other person's consent.
Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1053, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
§ 46.003. UNSOLICITED ELECTRONIC MAIL MESSAGES. (a) A
person may not intentionally take any action to send an unsolicited
commercial electronic mail message unless:
(1) "ADV:" is used as the first four characters in the
subject line of the message or, if the message contains any obscene
material or material depicting sexual conduct, "ADV: ADULT
ADVERTISEMENT" is used as the first word in the subject line of the
message; and
(2) the sender of the message or a person acting on
behalf of the sender provides a functioning return electronic mail
address to which a recipient may, at no cost to the recipient, send
a reply requesting the removal of the recipient's electronic mail
address from the sender's electronic mail list.
(b) A sender shall remove a person's electronic mail address
from the sender's electronic mail list not later than the 3rd day
after the date on which the sender receives a request for removal of
that address under Subsection (a)(2).
Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1053, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
§ 46.004. SALE OR PROVISION OF ADDRESS ON ELECTRONIC
MAIL LIST PROHIBITED. A sender or a person acting on behalf of the
sender may not sell or otherwise provide the electronic mail
address of a person who requests the removal of that address from
the sender's electronic mail list under Section 46.003(a)(2),
except as required by other law.
Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1053, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
§ 46.005. CRIMINAL PENALTY. A person commits an offense
if the person intentionally takes any action to send a message
containing obscene material or material depicting sexual conduct in
violation of Section 46.003(a)(1). An offense under this section
is a Class B misdemeanor.
Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1053, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
§ 46.006. CIVIL PENALTY. (a) A person who violates
this chapter other than Section 46.009 is liable to the state for a
civil penalty in an amount not to exceed the lesser of:
(1) $10 for each unlawful message or action; or
(2) $25,000 for each day an unlawful message is
received or an action is taken.
(b) The attorney general or the prosecuting attorney in the
county in which the violation occurs may:
(1) bring suit to recover the civil penalty imposed
under Subsection (a); and
(2) seek an injunction to prevent or restrain a
violation of this chapter.
(c) The attorney general or the prosecuting attorney may
recover reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining a civil penalty
under this section, including court costs, reasonable attorney's
fees, investigative costs, witness fees, and deposition expenses.
Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1053, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
§ 46.007. DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES. A violation of
this chapter is a false, misleading, or deceptive act or practice
under Subchapter E, Chapter 17, and any public or private right or
remedy prescribed by that subchapter may be used to enforce this
chapter, except as provided by Section 46.008(d).
Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1053, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
§ 46.008. CIVIL LIABILITY. (a) A person injured by a
violation of this chapter may bring an action to recover actual
damages, including lost profits. A person who prevails in the
action is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees and court costs.
(b) In lieu of actual damages, a person injured by a
violation of this chapter arising from the transmission of an
unsolicited or commercial electronic mail message, other than an
electronic mail service provider, may recover the lesser of:
(1) $10 for each unlawful message; or
(2) $25,000 for each day the unlawful message is
received.
(c) In lieu of actual damages, an electronic mail service
provider injured by a violation of this chapter arising from the
transmission of an unsolicited or commercial electronic mail
message may recover the greater of:
(1) $10 for each unlawful message; or
(2) $25,000 for each day the unlawful message is
received.
(d) A court may not certify an action brought under this
chapter as a class action.
(e) At the request of a party to any action brought under
this chapter, the court, in its discretion, may conduct a legal
proceeding in such a manner as to protect the secrecy and security
of the computer, computer network, computer data, computer program,
and computer software involved to prevent a possible recurrence of
the same or a similar act by another person and to protect any trade
secrets of a party to the action.
Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1053, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
§ 46.009. NOTICE TO ATTORNEY GENERAL. (a) A person who
brings an action under Section 46.008 shall give notice of the
action to the attorney general by sending a copy of the petition by
registered or certified mail not later than the 30th day after the
date the petition was filed and at least 10 days before the date set
for a hearing on the action.
(b) The attorney general may intervene in the action by:
(1) filing a notice of intervention with the court in
which the action is pending; and
(2) serving each party to the action with a copy of the
notice of intervention.
(c) A person who violates Subsection (a) is liable to the
state for a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $200 for each
violation. The attorney general may bring suit to recover the civil
penalty imposed under this subsection in the court in which the
action is instituted.
Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1053, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
§ 46.010. BLOCKING OF COMMERCIAL ELECTRONIC MAIL
MESSAGE. An electronic mail service provider may on its own
initiative block the receipt or transmission through its service of
any commercial electronic mail message that the provider reasonably
believes is or will be sent in violation of this chapter if the
provider:
(1) provides a process for the prompt, good faith
resolution of disputes related to the blocking with senders of
commercial electronic mail messages; and
(2) makes contact information publicly accessible on
its Internet website for the purpose of dispute resolution.
Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1053, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
§ 46.011. QUALIFIED IMMUNITY. (a) In this section,
"telecommunications utility" has the meaning assigned by Section
51.002, Utilities Code.
(b) A telecommunications utility or an electronic mail
service provider may not be held liable under Section 46.002 or
46.003 and is not subject to the penalties provided under this
chapter.
(c) A person injured by a violation of this chapter does not
have a cause of action against a telecommunications utility or an
electronic mail service provider under this chapter solely because
the utility or provider:
(1) is an intermediary between the sender, or any
person acting on behalf of the sender, and the recipient in the
transmission of electronic mail that violates this chapter;
(2) provides transmission, routing, relaying,
handling, or storing, through an automatic technical process, of an
unsolicited commercial electronic mail message through the
utility's or provider's computer network or facilities; or
(3) provides telecommunications services, information
services, or other services used in the transmission of an
electronic mail message that violates this chapter.
(d) An electronic mail service provider that provides for a
dispute resolution process as described by Section 46.010 may not
be held liable for blocking the receipt or transmission through its
service of any commercial electronic mail message that the provider
reasonably believes is or will be sent in violation of this chapter.
(e) A person may not be held liable under this chapter for a
commercial electronic mail message that is sent as a result of an
error or accidental transmission.
(f) A sender may not be held liable for the transmission of
an electronic mail message that violates this chapter if the
sender:
(1) contracts in good faith with an electronic mail
service provider to transmit electronic mail messages for the
sender; and
(2) has no reason to believe the electronic mail
service provider will transmit any of the sender's messages in a
manner that violates this chapter.
Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1053, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
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Flag them Spamholes
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Re: Flag them Spamholes
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spam /overposting
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Reno Craigslist Jobs - spam
This is an awesome place to find jobs however be cautious when applying for jobs
here in regards to sending our of your personal information/resume, where the following information does not appear.
REMEMBER, LEGITIMATE companies have nothing to hide, and display the following information proudly.
*+* Company Name
*+* Company Location
*+* Company Contact Information
*+* Specific Job Location watch for general locations like "Tahoe" "Reno/Tahoe"
*+* Description of Job
*+* Compensation
ADDITIONAL THINGS TO WATCH FOR:
+*+ Poster Requests money/cash to process application for submitting of resume
+*+ Links in the ad takes you to another web site and...
+*+ The Website requires one to give personal information before giving any job info
+*+ Website does not provide a secure connection (S) in the browser address bar i.e. httpS://
+*+ Sites that claim to be representative of a large organization like Home Depot
+*+ Website does not contain any contact information for company or agency
+*+ Send an email to the email link in the ad, request info, see what comes back
+*+ Pay particular attention to regular email address, If you have questions email mail them and see what comes back, and search then in Google
+*+ Watch for unrealistic Wages for job classification i.e. 45k for a receptionist
+*+ Watch for unrealistic range of pay for job classification
There are individuals and entities out there attempting to obtain our
personal information to use it for who knows what. Only apply with reputable, verifiable, Companies, for all other tag appropriately
A fellow Job seeker
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I make spam
The truth is that there is a big difference between SPAM and SCAM.
And not all spam is necessarily bad.
My spam DOES fall primarily in the jobs category. However I'm not trying to obtain personal information. If a user were to follow my link, and sign up with my affiliate (by posting a resume), I make $1 and they actually get their resume submitted to the job that they applied for. (At no cost to them)
Basically my strategy is to sign up people for websites like monster.com.
If you browse some forums for affiliate marketers you'll see that most (but not all) marketers do things like this. There are very few people out there that are actually trying to phish your personal information.
If your still reading let me give you one piece of advice from the "bad guys" perspective.
If you get led to the website of a large reputable company that you recognize, go on ahead and sign up. If you never heard of the company before, do a quick Google search to see how legitimate they are. Know the difference.
And consider this as well, how many companies that are hiring post to Craigslist? Probably a very small percentage of them. Thanks to people like me, Craigslist surfers are able to find jobs that might have otherwise never made it to CL.
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Let the marketplace rule
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CL Auto Poster / Plimus = SCAM
Also Pamela Martinsek at Plimus is the manager there and runs this operation; I have reported them to the FTC and will to the IC3/FBI as a fraud/scam.
Do not waste your money.
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1thru99.com
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I NEED A CL Posting solution HELP
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Corkin.com
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I got ghosted and I'm not a spammer
Within a few minutes my posts appeared to go live. It was a few hours later that I realized that none of the ads actually were posted, they just appeared to be.
I think even legitimate people have to find some black hat way to get around CL's anti spam stuff. Otherwise you are limited to one post in one city (your city) and thats it.
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Spammers = Scammers = Scum
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craigs list spammers
So I cc'd them about 50 times in each email and sent about 5 of them. Imagine what would happen if 10 people did that to the same email address? They might find something else to do.
I warn you: 1. DON'T OPEN THEIR EMAIL 2. DON't SEND YOUR EMAIL FROM YOU PERSONAL ACCOUNT and 3. DON'T SEND TOO MANY OR THEY WILL BE REJECTED BY THE FREE EMAIL SERVICE.
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OK how about this?
1. You must make a simple account that uses IP address, email address, password and phone number.
2. It will be free to post on craigslist but you must pay a deposit via Credit Card or Pay-pal (returnable if you choose to close your account) (A vaild phone number would also be required)
3. Use of an auto-dial (like the computers use for telemarketing over the phone), to call and verify an automated captcha question sent to you when you start your account.(i.e. please say in English the verification word sent to you in your confirmation e-mail)
4. If your message gets flagged, it isn't removed. It is only temporarily placed in a new category called (suspected spam) where users can vote, comment and the poster can defend the message if they wish. Maybe a flag could even require the auto-dialer to call and confirm the account again. (It should have an option to change your password through the automated system to keep people from stealing accounts))
5. Repeated violations = Your deposit is taken for violation of TOS on craigslist. To re-activate your account, you must submit a satisfactory letter of explination or re-pay the deposit.
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killing spammers
I do think some kind of public humiliation and/or corporal punishment would be in order.
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Craigslist just isn't creative enough!
I just don't think Craigslist is creative enough in their filtering efforts.
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http://neverflagged.com
no flagging, hmm what a concept
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cut the spam
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A simple answer to the Beijing problem
The properties of those graphics (width,height and byte length or even byte length alone) are unique enough for global banning or removing posts that contain them.
This would take little time to code and even less time to collect parameters of new images.Now if only Craigslist had contact info...
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dunno.. maybe craigslist needs to start putting ads from other companies to generate more income to fight off spammers.
I used to use craigslist to sell and buy all the time under electronics... but now all i see are spammers and its really sickening so I do not use craigslist anymore. too bad soo sad....
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CL and sites automatically replying back to posted adds with links to dating sites or other psrsonals sites
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Re: CL and sites automatically replying back to posted adds with links to dating sites or other psrsonals sites
They are trying to raise money to complete the site and are looking for contributors to help them in their crowd
funding effort.
Please go to http://adxfunding.com to learn more
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Search emails before reply.
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regarding spam on craigslist
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Replier -
"Hey, i'm a hot and sexy girl who's so lonely and wanting you t o come over right now!"
Ad Poster -
"Oh my God thank you so much for replying to my ad, I'm dripping wet thinking about how much I want you. I just want to be safe and make sure you're not some crazy person, please visit this site and come find me...I'll be waiting"
Replier -
"Glad you're interested in me, If you go to my website you'll find way more pictures of me, and you can view my webcam too. See you soon."
Retarded, lol
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Scammer
First possible scam (e-mal to me)
Hello
Thanks for your prompt reply.Am okay with the price and the condition,
and like have said my mode of payment will be through cashier
check,Concerning the shippment, my shipper will be at your place for
the pickup of the item and am going to include the amount of shipping
charges into the cashiers check am going to send to you,so when you
have this, you will deduct the amount for your item and have the rest
money sent to my shipper for them to come for the pick up of the item
for me at your place..I really wish to be there to check out the item
but i have a tight schedule i will call you as soon as the check is
made out to u and pls stay in touch with me .
so i will like to have the following so that the payment can be
mailed out to you
Full Name to be on the check
Full contact Address ,
your Zip Code
phone number
Reply me soon.
Thanks brown
Second possible scam
Re: 1983 Toyota Truck - $999 (Las Vegas, NV)‏
From: Kelvin Martins (kelvinmartins5@gmail.com)
Sent: Tue 7/07/09 7:44 AM
To: Donald Courtney (dondomore@hotmail.com)
Greetings,
Thanks for the quick response to my earlier mail.like I
said i will like to buy the item and I will have love to come for for inspection but I am a busy type and also my business will not allow me to come for the inspection.
I will also like you to know that i will be making the via
check due to the distance ,I will need you to provide me with the following information for my Client facilitate the mailing of the payment.
1.Your full name..........
2.Your mailing / postal address(NOT P,O BOX ).....
3.Your phone number.........
**I will like you to know that you will not be responsible for the shipping I will have my mover come over as soon as you have receivedthe payment**
Also I want you to know that the check will come with an excess amount, rather than the actual amount of the Stuff. So the balance will be send to my Mover (for swift & quick pick-up) once the check cleared from bank.
NOTE: Do withdraw the advert from Craigslist
Do understand with me that everything is OK from here, you should have the check in the next few days.
Kindly let me know if this sound good to you, and once I confirm from you, payment will be mail out. Thanks again for your understanding,
and I will wait to hear from you soon.
Have a nice day.
K. Martins
My answer to both was:
Dear sir:
I am sending you this this second notice. It seems that you did not receive the first one.
I have been advised not to accept any cashier’s checks as per the note below. Therefore I must insist on a cash payment for the truck. I do not pay shipping on my items. It is cash deal and you pick up the merchandise. I hope we can still do business. Please advise me of your intensions.
Thank you
Don
distant person offers a genuine-looking (but fake) cashier's check
you receive an email (examples below) offering to buy your item, or rent your apartment, sight unseen.
cashier's check is offered for your sale item, as a deposit for an apartment, or for just about anything else of value.
value of cashier's check often far exceeds your item - scammer offers to "trust" you, and asks you to wire the balance via money transfer service
banks will often cash these fake checks AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE WHEN THE CHECK FAILS TO CLEAR, including criminal prosecution in some cases!
scam often involves a 3rd party (shipping agent, business associate owing buyer money, etc)
I am in hope that your fraud division can catch this scammer and others like him.
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CL personals
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?
for example:
(minus six) minus (-44) equals
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But no that's wishful thinking that our government and congress would actually do something and pass a law that is really needed.
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It is not hard to stop spammers
Many places like wired.com say criagslist gets more traffic than any other site...but the truth of the matter is that the traffic is BOT traffic, which makes it pretty irrelevant traffic.
The hyper about this traffic is pure moronic, its BOT traffic which means it is WORTHLESS traffic and full of scams.
Craig himself is a moronic, nerdy fool that is stuck in web0.1 backk when the web was just links and text with NO security in place at all... he REFUSES to change and hires people that clearly do not know how to stop the spam.
The problem with Free For All's is that you WILL get spam. You can try to stop this with tracking IP addresses and cookies, but all of which can be circumvention by proxies and cookie cache flushing...
The way google deals with Click fraud is by having a combination of computer programs, but mostly filtered by HUMANS... google can afford this because, google is a well oil company, unlike CraigsCrap(List) which does nothing to try and make the most out of potential profits.
until Craigslist hired technologically savvy internet geeks, that know HOW to combat internet spam/fraud/bots as well as real staff filtering what the BOT's can not... craigslist is going to become nothing more than a BOTNET full of worthless BOTs and no more humans.
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phone verify
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spam/overposting
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There are some retarded PPL out there I guess.
Just because some ppl are spammers doesn't make them scammers. Its just a black hat method of funneling traffic from a rich community to your business, offer, product, etc.
Bottom line is no matter what changes are implemented its only going to make it more worth going through all the loop holes to get even better traffic with less saturation.
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CLBOT PRO users
call them out they flag you in microseconds with their programs that are against craigslist TOU.
The only way to get rid of these pos people is to start flagging forums in your city.It takes up to 300 people to
flag a BOTPRO tool because of rotating proxies.
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CLBOT PRO users
call them out they flag you in microseconds with their programs that are against craigslist TOU.
The only way to get rid of these pos people is to start flagging forums in your city.It takes up to 300 people to
flag a BOTPRO tool because of rotating proxies.
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CLBOT PRO users
call them out they flag you in microseconds with their programs that are against craigslist TOU.
The only way to get rid of these pos people is to start flagging forums in your city.It takes up to 300 people to
flag a BOTPRO tool because of rotating proxies.
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Anti-Spam Obsessives
What they do, as with gun prohibition, is punish the legitimate users. They've made posting, or replying, ever-more complicated, until this damned phone verification thing, which for me is the final straw.
I hate the constant struggle to post, far more than the annoying spam.
I've had an account on CL for years, and suddenly now THAT account has to be verified? I could see if it were a new account, but this is just absurd.
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Spam will break them..
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legit autoposting
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emails sent to email address never used in sign-up
What don't spammers understand? Go after clients who want your product. What a waste of their time to go after uninsterested clients who will say no.
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•spam/overposting
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It's very frustrating for legitimate users
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spam
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Trump Network Marketing on Craigslist a HUGE SUCCESS
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top india classified site
india no1 top classified site
Adsglobe.com
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top india classified site
india no1 top classified site
Adsglobe.com
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Spam the Spammers
And spammers, I'm a real programmer with a degree unlike you script kiddies so be ready to get owned.
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Re: Spam the Spammers
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Spam the Spammers
How about if I created a site where real users could submit the spammers emails, then an automated system would play out the scam with scammers via automated emails. What do you think?
I'm a awesome programmer unlike all the spam/scammers who just run little scripts they found on the net.
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spam
start some kind of feature like blocking a certain phone number once it is received and not welcome.
People could automatically add the email address they received the spam from and block it.
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www.cerberusads.com
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Selling Best PVA's at only $4 - 72 hours replacement guarantee
We're selling Craigslist PVA's at $4 each with a 72 hours replacement guarantee. Our PVA's are made by real people with unique US Ip's and phone numbers to ensure maximum quality.
We are craigslist posters ourselves so you can make sure we deliver quality accounts. We do follow all rules of creating them, everything is highly tested.
Also, when buying from us, please state if you want them sealed or not (1st post created by us). We can offer fresh accounts (made right away without 1st post) or sealed accounts. We ran some tests ourselves and some of the accounts tend to last longer if the 1st post and the next ones are done in the same niche. Anyways, it's your choice. We can deliver both types. The only difference from our side it's time as you might have to wait a little bit longer for fresh PVA's.
Also, if you want to receive the socks5 ip : port used to create the accounts please state it. It's 50% chance that the socks might work even after a longer time so you can increase your success rate.
We usually deliver within the first 12 - 24 hours but, I'm not gonna lie here - I don't know yet the power of this market, we might have some delays here and there. Please bare with us.
Here's a list with what you get from each account you purchase from us:
* UNIQUE IP USED TO VERIFY ACCOUNTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------
* REAL PHONE NUMBERS (FROM REAL PEOPLE) USED TO VERIFY ACCOUNTS (NO VOIP)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------
* MANUALLY CREATED ACCOUNTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------
* ALL ******S AND EVIDENCE CLEARED AFTER EACH ACCOUNT CREATED
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------
* UNIQUE PASSWORD
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------
* 72 HOURS REPLACEMENT GUARANTEE
Should you be interested please contact me on yahoo at: " cimincidip " or visit us directly at our main website http://www.isellpva.com. We accept : Paypal, WMZ Webmoney, Moneybookers, and Plimus.
Thank you!
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FILE A LAWSUIT - make $1000's on the spammers
CL is a private entity. They can create and mediate their own rules. I would strongly suggest that CL create a user agreement form that must be electronically signed for each profile where the user agree's to comply with all rules, and furthermore agrees to pay a heavy penalty, waiving their right to arbitration, for violating the contract. ALL users would sign this - you and I at home, and Joe Businessman planning to spam.
When a user finds a spam, it is sent to CL legal department and CL can take them to court and drain them to the statutory maximum FOR EACH ACCOUNT VIOLATION.
I would also suggest that this agreement make them acknowledge that both craigslist AND any other user who contacts craigslist can bring such a civil lawsuit.
One time in court for a few thousand dollars per account will stop spamming through THIS particular institution immediately.
If this were the case, I would be on CL everyday looking for spammer JUST so that I could get in on a lawsuit with CL against them.
This would require broadening their legal department, BUT the profit alone in lawsuits would more than make up for the salaries - especially if the attorney's are any good.
I would gladly put together a team of attorney's to make this happen.
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complications? Re: FILE A LAWSUIT - make $1000's on spammers
jurisdiction? international contract law?
bounty hunters? :-)
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Contact
i r y a n c o o p e r @ g m a i l . c o m
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End spamming!
What is usually glaringly missing from these years of discussion is what I consider to be a simple solution: require every new computer buyer/owner to watch a video discussing spam (call it Computing 101 - required reading). Obviously, spammers exist because at least a *few* people buy into their so-called product.
If everyone would use their heads instead of their emotions and realize no stranger from Nigeria has $1,000,000 sitting in a bank awaiting you to claim it, no company is going to give you a life of ease if you simply fill out a form, and no super-hot chick on CL is simply dying to meet you (all you have to do is sign up - and pay a monthly fee to meet her) the spammers would have no one buying their sh*t -- and be gone overnight.
Stop the naive customers and you'll stop the spammers….
Well, I can dream, can’t I?
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LOL
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Spam Software
Randy
randy.condon@v1s0r.net
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how about charging 1cent per post?
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Craiglist Spammers
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Charging for ad posts
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How thick are you lot
Spamming isn't a crime. You may not like it, bit it is perfectly legal.
And any lawsuits in congress FAIL becuase the VAST majority of spam is from outside the US. Even the stuff that is from the UK is routed to places like India, Bolivia, Ghana, Russia, China etc.
Spammers rule. One ad on CL gets you nothing. Post hundreds. Bot it up. We need to make a living. Craigslist, and all the other sites our OURS.
You wanna sell somethiing - buy your own web space and sweat at "legal" IM while your family starves.
Then you'll realize that mass automation of advertising is now the ONLY thing that works on the internet. Period.
There are 140 pages of internet drivel for every man woman and child in the world. And 3/4 of those don't even HAVE internet. That means 640 pages per Web savvy person in the world.
The chances of some wad trying to sell his lawnmower with one "legal" ad is so miniscule - you might as well try and fill a sieve with piss.
Spam spam and spam again. The internet is too big - and now only spamming works.
Join in or drown
As for micropayments. I make $600 a day ewhoring to movie porn sites with 200 CL ads a day. If I had to pay $2 for those 200 ads I wouldn't even notice it. If I had to pay a dollar an ad it would still be worth it!
Ha ha ha ha. Yes I am laughing at YOU - SUCKER
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Kill
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Why?
We kill ourselves. And this comment wont change a thing, because when there is nothing left and opportunity is out the window, there will be no one to cry to.
To all ANTI-CRAIGLISTERS: When all the smoke clears and the glass shatters, dont expect to have sandals on, because you're gonna have to walk barefoot on all the shit you broke.
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It's not funny
It's got totally out of hand.
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Help Flagging Craigslist ads $$$
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PVA for $3 each
forwarding accounts is also possible.
Email me at Zoetk776 @ hotmail. com
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Re: PVA for $3 each
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Sign up with a credit card
charge per post id pay $1.00 to post my business add every two days
require accounts to be like ebay and feedback for each company allowing people to see the spammer accounts if any at all
make a puzzle instead of obscured text
team up with ebay and link ebay ,craigslist accounts , u get banned on craigslist u get banned on ebay
a craigslist installer with something like punkbuster on it allowing only one computer to acess the account not ip's and allowing only one post per account every 48 hours
give up sell the site and let someone elce deal with it
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Missing the point.
You guys are seriously underestimating how much money there is in spam.
Compare it to the cost of google adwords, every eyeball that looks at it can be at least a dollar or more in some competitive niches. People are spending $2 or more for in some job/career related searches.
So if a craigslist post maybe gets 50 earnest searchers (which is a very conservative estimate) before getting flagged, that could be worth about $100 dollars to some internet marketers. There is literally no way to charge
They're paying for actual humans that sit behind a computer busting captchas. They're paying for hundreds, sometimes thosuands of private proxies, never mind all the scrapers out there for public proxies. Craigslist accounts are sold for a measly 2-3 bucks on average.
The only possible thing I can see winning is human moderation. But even then, most of the times the spam is a bait and switch... I.E. legitimate job posting goes to sign up for this training program, etc. Nobody even knows it spam until the spammer has thousands of emails ready to cook off.
FYI, I don't spam as I moved on to biggers and betters but I remember back in the day when Craigslist and other sites literally had no preventative measures. Back then it was set up your script in 5 minutes and let it run over night and wake up $5000 in your account. lol. Little did I realize just how far it could be taken.
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Highly complicated
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You have to spam now to be on CL
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Not every auto-poster is a spammer
I have a need to auto-post to Craigslist real products for sale. My company is also a loser in this situation since the spammers have forced Craigslist to crack down on auto-posting, I would have to manually post to Craigslist all of my products.
It's actually the only reason I don't post ads for my products on Craigslist. With the margins I have and the dozens of products I receive every day, it is not economically viable for me to post each ad. I already automate the ad creation on more than 100 websites. No matter how big CL gets, I'm not going to take the time to build and post an ad manually.
So I guess Craigslist buyers get shut out of good products too, b/c they will never see our products or many companies like mine. All the fault lies w/ the scammers. They ruin everything for everyone.
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I Not A Spammer But....
The only abusers I see on Craigslist are the flaggers.
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I say let them spam. Let the morons who respond to them waste their time and I will scoop up the real girls that are posting.
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i tried to post a resume today and they are asking for my phone number. well they are not getting it. i will post elsewhere.
with all the money the site makes they should invest some of it in tracking down the spammers or suing the companies making the software. maybe if after a few people got sued into poverty the spamming would stop.
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There ARE measures that CL is NOT taking
The Jobs Forum even voted to remove that ability and all staff could do was complain that it would be too much trouble to code that for just one forum.
Just goes to show that although it may SEEM that they're combating the spam problem, they're really not as concerned about it as you might think.
They save they efforts into keeping people from complaining about the spam rather than dealing with it directly. Pointing the problem out in the Feedback Forum only gets you banned from the site, and the spam marches on.
Getting rid of dissent is easier than actually taking care of the problem. Heck, that's just "too much work."
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idiot article
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Maybe we are just looking at this the wrong way
1. Make everyone have a phone verified account (no charge).
2. Disable the ability for people to contact you via email (where most scams originate)
3. Disable all links on posts
4. Only have a phone number, the one verified to start your account available for contact information
This would get rid of most spammers because they would actually have to use a legitimate phone number for contact. I don't know about you guys, but I'm always suspicious if a phone number isn't listed in a post. I just assume its spam and move on. This isn't a new idea, this is how a thing we used in the olden days worked, we called it a newspaper.
The big point is only have verified information (phone number) available as a communication medium. You could even make a "get contact info" link where you would enter a captcha to retrieve a persons verified phone number for a post.
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Scammers on Craigslist
of Craigslist. I have written about 10 ads lately, and
the responses have been nearly 100% spam! I even tried
posting my ad on a different subject, and the responses
were still all spam! The scammers didn't even know what
I had written! I have one solution through. If Craigslist
would start charging just a few dollars, that would stop
all the scammers! I believe I would rather pay a little on
Craigslist than put up with all those scammers!
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SPAM
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CL spamming
the capsua and can post a post in 2 seconds, the program
is so fast it crashed the CL website once. The boyz found
4 post a minute was a good speed and didnt raise any red
flags...
Speaking of Flags the raleigh boyz perfected their fourth
generation auto flag bot. It does not need the hard to find
geo location proxies..
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The golden age of craigslist.
Being the total sex addict I am it was a godsend, until around 2008. add to that the people with less than average social skills, (rude as hell, mean, dumb, smelly) who suddenly thought it was their time to go a-courtin' on Craigslist, and began to muck up the board with not only badly written and conceived ads, but also some of them were horrible people to meet, if I am to believe some of the stories I heard, from women particularly.
Now it's one thing to have someone sell you something, and another to get spammed for putting an ad for a job or some free stuff up on Craigslist, but when spammers stop you from getting laid, that's criminal.
I have made some amount of mischief for some of the spammers I was able to identify, but the numbers are too great. what going to happen? how will this turn out?
is craigslist just going to let the best free dating site in history get ruined by lousy spammers?
I am staying tuned.
TGA
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Fast forward to 2011
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master flagger
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CL phone verification
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Stopping the scamming/spamming - listing the email address
Thanks and I look forward to hearing your views on it.
James
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Anyway... To those that think there is only a small percent of spammers.. no there are tons using a ton of different software and buying PVA's to be able to post.
Charging 99 cents to post an ad is not going to work. I would gladly spend $100 a day posting on craigslist in the major categories and would probably make $2,000-4,000 a day offering Web design services in different locations.
People say if you have been flagged a few times, you're a spammer. No... actually your competition often will flag you. There is also software that does autoflagging for you so their postings will be down when yours goes up.
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CL Postimg Service
Email me to money4mhome(at) gmail.com for rates
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classifieds ads site
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master trolls and super flaggers
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Need to find reposting software for myself
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craigslist DOES NOT try
they most likely get paid by the spammers just like yahoo chat apparently does. its funny how every attempt at stopping spammers and unnecessary flaggers has failed on thier end and they have no answers or cooperation. they need humans as werll as advanced software to weed them out. take the MMORPG i play called grandchase. well they got anlab hack guard(game guard) so you cant hack, HUMAN BEINGS patrolling the chats at random and they will hone in on you like an eagle ready for the kill if you excessively curse in general chat. if you are a spammer or stalker to children youre toast on there. plus the software put in place on thier servers will ELIMINATE anyone disobeying the TOC and general rules.
if sg interactive can do it than so can craigslist. it just comes down to whos lazy and fat and whos not.
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Make you create an account
FIrst make you create an account to post no matter what in any area of CL, in that account require a CCno or paypal account to add a minimum of $5 then you chip away at the $5 in the nickel posts or you can add more money if you are needing to post in the expensive categories. But the kicker is if you get flaged close the account and take the cash, this way it effectively becomes a $5 post for a spamer. Maybe make it $20. Also what if for the CHAPTCHA the military computers used a virtual keyboard that required you to click the letters on screen not type on your own keyboard, and if i remember correct it would say something like "type the word YES" then it would scramble the keyboard so you would have to look for each letter and they would move each time.
I also second the posting of known spamers in a city and we can each make a Craigslist lynch mob and take care of it with "hardware" instead of software.
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IGNORE THE SPAMMERS!!!!!!!!
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CL Posting Solution
Basically you need a guy in NYC to post your NYC ads, a guy in Boston to post your Boston ads etc.
This way the ad never ghosts because a person from the right city posted the ad for you.
There is a brand new website which offers this service. You can either hire people from various cities, or even work as a freelancer in your own city making great cash.
Not sure if I am allowed to post links so www(dot)freelanceposter(dot)com
If you scroll to the bottom of the first page...click the link to the forum, and in the forum you will find video guides which explain how the service works and how much it costs.
Hope that helps.
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Fighting Back
Other companies think they can answer my ad for reasons other than to get started on music lessons. Them, I harrass and also pretend to be interested long enough to flush 'em out.
One company had a local rep meet me at a restaurant. I brought a copy of my Craig's List ad and told him that for wasting my time, he just bought a month of guitar lessons.
I think he got the point when I got up, turned the restaurant's "OPEN" sign to "CLOSED" and locked the door.
He paid me my asking fee, $65 for a month of lessons, thinking I would have harmed him inside of that locked restaurant.
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Craiglist deteriating quality by getting slower and lazier
1) a 5 minute penalty if you enter a wrong number for verification and sometime it stays in that situation forever instead of 5 minutes.
2)a window that keeps cycling you back to MAKE you use anonymous posting.
3) A LOT more verification confirmations which seems to have slowed the response time to wait for a message callback to be over 5 minute
4)Pop up warnings that you have "exceeded your limit when it is your first posting of the day or even week.
If they say this is to stop "spamming" it doesn't work. In south Florida, in the "Lessons & Tutoring" section:
1) 80 to 100 postings are by the same 4 people in sometime blocks of 6 or 7 identical ads in a row.
2) Out-of-state bait-and-switch scams like takelessons()com and taylorrobinson()com and a chemistry tutor advertise multiple ads IN EVERY COUNTY OF THE US
3)these "companies" have local instructors flag down competitors all day.
4)I get flagged down to use up my maximum amount of ads by noon with only one person flagging each one and when I re-post, get accused of "spamming" by a troll who claims he is "protecting" the site from spam but doesn't do anything to the real spam.
5)I am just a music teacher who has learned that by following the rules, I have no hope of really using CL to what it was intended and CL has been completely unresponsive, even when the flagger has posted on the site "I pray your family gets butchered in a horrible accident (the chemistry tutor does that one. CL has ignored the police when they have repeatedly contacted them.
Basically CL has gotten to the point where they are basically helping people harass others when they refuse to assist in these situations.
If they are "understaffed" then they need to hire more people. It's not like there aren't people looking for work.
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Re: Craiglist deteriating quality by getting slower and lazier
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scam
after hundreds of flags (from different computers @ different locations) these scammers are still going strong.
http://slo.craigslist.org/search/lbs?query=steve&srchType=A
After many complaints over the past 4 months, craigslist still allows them
(and their 7 CL accounts) to stay active.... But blocked my account for complaining ??
I know these guys personally and they ARE scammers.
Look at how CL took 3 years to take down the prostitution posts, child pornography posts. and the drug selling posts. "Craig" doesn't give a S**T about doing the right thing.
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LOAN OFFER @ 3% INTEREST RATE...
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Have You Applied Before?.......................
Kind Regard
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spam on craiglist
Why is it that Ebay, which, by the way, is prohibitively expensive to sell on, why is it that Ebay not suffer from this spam in invasion.
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Getting many, many scamers for relationships.
This is what it looks like
Hiya, is your thing still available? I don't normally do this but you sounded cute in your ad and I'm drawn to you. I live close by and up for anything. My only issue is that you might be a fake person as CL is full of them. So if you're indeed real, can we chat on my profile page? It's the safest way and extremely discreet. I'll message you as soon as I see you sign in! ;)
Only you'll be able to view my photos and cell # on there so if you like what you see, get hold of me. I apologize to hassle you...life is too short so I had to give this a try. I think you'll be pleased, TTYL!
www lowp26j net
-Sent via my iPad
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Re: Getting many, many scamers for relationships.
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They are trying to raise money to complete the site and are looking for contributors to help them in their crowd
funding effort.
Please go to http://adxfunding.com to learn more
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craigslist
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Spam/Scam??
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the raleigh boyz flag bot
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Free classified site
india have also free classified site like, it is complete free ads, sell,buy, rent
http://xmemart.com
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Obviously
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But
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Spam
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spamming is major concern for classified site
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Political Spam
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The solution to the spam problem
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craigslist ad anti-flagging
All the flagging bots out there are taking down ads and CL has done little to update their algorithm. They do look at IP's now a little closer (and disallow proxy and vpn IPs), plus for flagging they look at the flags to page views ratio.
So as long as your ad gets enough "good" views, the occasional flag here and there won't affect it. Ha - here's an "anti-flagging" bot... http://clautopilot.net
Says it opens ads during the day to increase page view counts to keep ads live. I'm going to try this to see how it works.
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WE WILL WIN!
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Craig lists vertifycation scam game
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Sztukateria
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Private spam bot, troll hunter
https://www.craigslistsoftware.me/payments/
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Spam Message
Our website is company website http://www.steelbuildingstructure.com
We always got spam message in our company email .
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a34z
Looks like the Political category was next. A perfect example of political spam is in El Paso, TX. Every ad is from the same spammer. However, if you post anything he doesn't like he just flags the ad off with his software which is why nobody else posts there anymore. I think he's probably a paid spammer by a political party. elpaso_craigslist_org/search/pol
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