[2011] Problems with flagging on Orlando Craigslist [merged]

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Everything has been flagged and deleted from the 6th through the 10th! The flaggers are working on today's posts as well.

The local vacation home and condo rentals always are the last to go, so I suspect they are the ones initiating the flagging of timeshare owners - so I'm returning the favor. http://orlando.craigslist.org/vac/

What flag do you use on them - spam, miscategorized, or prohibited?

 

[DeniseM]

What flag do you use on them - spam, miscategorized, or prohibited?

It doesn't really matter since there is no human oversight, and it has the same effect - thanks!

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

It doesn't really matter since there is no human oversight, and it has the same effect - thanks!

Trying to help out, though it seems to require more than one flag to cause a listing to disappear.

 

[DeniseM]

Trying to help out, though it seems to require more than one flag to cause a listing to disappear.

It does take more than one flag, but the TS listings always disappear first, before the local condo and home rentals, which is why I think it's an organized attempt to eliminate the competition. Several people have to flag your Ad to take it down, but mine don't last 20 min.

 

[easyrider]

We looked at the Orlando vacation rentals and didn't flag anyone because we are not sure who to flag. We wouldn't want to flag a Tug member on accident. Is it a particular company ?

 

[Jeffbb]

Please stop flagging

I can't believe what I'm reading in this thread. Craigslist has lowered the threshold to get rid of the spam. I don't have a time share I have a townhouse and I don't flag any time share owners. Where are you getting your statistics from on who is flagging who. When I looked at which ads were getting flagged and which weren't I didn't notice any pattern at all.

Please stop immediately. If you see a blatant in your face commercial ad that is advertising 100 places at the same time through a link, these are the ones craigslist wants you to flag.

I already talked to Denise in November when this all started and can't believe it's come to this.

Jeff

 

[DeniseM]

Hi Jeff - Thanks for posting. I have been told very directly by the Craigslist Flag Help Forum that timeshare rentals are not welcome on CL, and that I should go somewhere else. If you search that forum, you will see that they are telling all timeshare owners that.

How do you think the large rental agencies manage to keep their Ads up the longest? Or do they just keep reposting them constantly?

It seems like the threshold has been raised again, because things have been much better the last week or so.

 

[Jeffbb]

craigslist help forum

I've gone to the craigslist help forum a few times myself and they are not employees of craiglist. Most of them give you bad information. They say you must be local and have face to face transaction with your buyer. This is not possible with vacation rentals because the seller and the buyer both are not local. They also say not to use paypal. I can't see any difference between renting a vacation home or a timeshare they both have titles. Most of the answers I was getting sounded like they were coming from a bunch of nitpickers. They are looking for any reason to call you a spammer and then laugh at you like they're getting a kick from it.

Jeff

 

[Robert D]

I've gone to the craigslist help forum a few times myself and they are not employees of craiglist. Most of them give you bad information. They say you must be local and have face to face transaction with your buyer. This is not possible with vacation rentals because the seller and the buyer both are not local. They also say not to use paypal. I can't see any difference between renting a vacation home or a timeshare they both have titles. Most of the answers I was getting sounded like they were coming from a bunch of nitpickers. They are looking for any reason to call you a spammer and then laugh at you like they're getting a kick from it.

Jeff

The people Jeff is describing are a bunch of idiots. Craigslist is a great forum on which to advertise and find vacation rentals and timeshares are one of the biggest bargains in vacation rentals. I sure am glad we're only experiencing this problem in the Orlando forum as it would be a huge loss for timeshare owners to not be able to advertise on CL.

 

[markdowling5000]

Listing Timeshare on Craigslist

Unfortunately there are individuals and organizations that flag competitors on Craigslist. There are different methods for flagging. From using a Proxy server to changing IP addresses on your own computer. Some businesses actually have an employee watch for competitor ads, and use sophisticated methods, including software designed to have Craigslist ads removed. The hope of Craigslist was for users to police Craigslist for problem listings. In most cases, the system works. Some small businesses designed their original business plan on the use of Craigslist. It is well documented that some small business went out of business because they could not list on Craigslist without their competitor flagging their ads.

I too had the same problem with my timeshare. No matter how many times I changed my ad or changed the location of my ad, it was flagged. Sometimes in as few as 10 minutes. I finally resolved my issue by using ebay.

 

[kaio]

+1 had to repost 10 times in one day, but did find a buyer... it is only the orlando craigslist vacation rentals as far as I can tell... probably competition from the retail travel agents who dont like getting undercut by owners trying to get something for their week they wont use... it is hella annoying but sometimes you can still catch a few potential renters in the midsts of getting flagged.

 

[Sandi Bo]

Flagging continues

I'm so glad this thread was here or I would have thought I was crazy.

I use craiglist a lot. Orlando is the only location where I have a problem with flagging.

But I am stubborn and persistent. I have my ad ready to repost, don't bother linking pictures, just keep putting my ads back out there and it takes me less than a minute.

I have emailed a complaint to CL. What a shame they aren't interested in resolving the issue.

I've seen no rhyme or reason to the flagging. I thought week-ends were better (less flagging) but this week-end has been terrible. I thought they only worked during the day, but this week I've had ads flagged at 2 and 3 am.

Go figure. I just keep putting my ads back out there. They might be keeping me busy, but I'm keeping them busy too.

 

[villagerep]

Labled as the CL Flagger

Hello to all:
I am also sending a similar message to Denise M... My name is Christian Jones and I am the President of Dolphin World of Travel, LLC, located here in central Florida. I have visited TUG numerous times, however I've posted ver little. Our company is a faith based agency located just a few miles from Disney. I have a contract with a few resorts that offer accommodations with and without resort previews. Because my wife and I have been in the vacation and vacation ownership industry for such a long time, we get some fantastic net rate contracts with over 15,000 hotel rooms, condos and other accommodations in the area. What was posted was someone who personally libeled me and the company, after I posted some very competitive ads. This person, who will remain nameless, relentlessly flagged my posts, attacked me personally and attempted to ruin my company by spreading rumors. I take things like this very serious and this behavior is completely unacceptable. I believe in the free market and one should stand behind his or her product and not lambaste another. I, personally, have only flagged vile, vulgar, blatant spam or inappropriate content on CL. If you want to find who is posting and is usually the only one staying up on craigslist, look for the poster who uses all caps in the subject line, uses asterisks, slashes and advertises low prices with links, and you eventually wind up on his site where you will find NO seller of travel license, no address or real contact information of the company officers. If you would like to find out about us all you have to do is visit the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Furthermore, take a look on CL and see how many postings of ours are up right now...none. Thank you for your time and I hope can understand this lengthy note. If you would like to contact me, please feel free to do so at 800-993-3467 or email me at cjones@world-of-vacations.com.
Christian Jones

 

[sjuhawk_jd]

People who are doing this flagging are like terrorists. Instead of airplanes, they are hijacking a portion of the public internet for their personal profit and agenda. Local TV stations in Orlando (nightly news, consumer report etc) may be interested in covering this. That will get the attention of craigslist management. I strongly suggest victims living in Orlando to contact the local media to see if they will cover this. Forward a link to this thread to them.

 

[cruisin]

20 ads killed yesterday , it is brutal and Horrible.

 

[my2001twins]

And it has gotten worse!
Take a look, the category is almost down to no ads:

http://orlando.craigslist.org/vac/

I think it has finally come down to everyone flagging everyone leaving almost nothing left on the site.

 

[janej]

Any updates?

Is Orlando Craigslist usable now? I need to list my [week at an Orlando resort], not sure if it is worth the effort to put it out on Craigslist.

 

[Sandi Bo]

I haven't been posting much on Craigslist lately, but when I have my listings have not been flagged. It appears the flagging isn't happening any more. If you look at vacation rentals in Orlando now, you will see hundreds (sorry I stopped trying to count). When the flagging issue was happening, there would only be a handful left each day.

It's good and bad, I would usually get an email or too before my listing was taken down. Now there are so many your ad is really going to have to stand out for someone to contact you, IMO.

Good luck!

 

[deannak]

I haven't used Craigslist for TS postings, but I used to use them for all my help wanted ads. At first, it worked wonderfully. The last two times I tried, my postings were flagged and deleted, for no reason that I could tell.

These were legitimate jobs that I was trying to post, and the feedback I got from the "help" forums was less than helpful. For all I know, the first person who submitted their resume then got it flagged and removed so they wouldn't have any competition. There are no rules and no accountability. I got so disgusted with it that I've given up on CL completely. Hopefully others will have better results than I did!

 

[ddellinger]

I have 5 ads on there now and have not had any problems with flagging. even have a link to our company website.

 

[sjuhawk_jd]

Flagging is going on now

Posts are being flagged and deleted within seconds in Orlando, Phoenix, San Diego, etc. These people are now using automated tools to do this.

 

[cyseitz]

[merged] Craigslist- I keep getting flagged and deleted!

My rental listings get deleted because someone's flagging them. Anybody had this problem? I sent an email to Craigslist. Waiting on a response. This is tiresome!

 

[tschwa2]

If you are talking on Orlando it has been reported here before. Apparently Craigslist doesn't care or at least won't do anything about it. Other renters do it fairly consistently to get rid of competition.

 

[cyseitz]

I just reposted what was deleted. Hopefully they can stay up.

 

[tschwa2]

the old thread from 2011.