DrBoost wrote: I never tried it. Was it any better than www.statewidelist.com ?
Yes. Searched List nationwide with ease.
DrBoost wrote: I never tried it. Was it any better than www.statewidelist.com ?
Yes. Searched List nationwide with ease.
I use Searchtempest.com. They used to be called craigshelper but were forced to change the name. Searchtempest is a great site. They also have a sister site just for car shopping that hits all the car sites.
Searchtempest still returns queries grouped by local area.
Craiglook gave a complete nationwide result.
FWIW I advertise on CL and prefer to have only local people looking at my CL ads, and I prefer them to see it on the site I listed it on.
I do have a problem with my ads on another 'for sale' forum which are picked up by a weird third party site where they sit long past the time the item was sold.
I've had many of those calls in the past month. I can email the mod on the original forum, but apparently I will be selling certain items forever online.
When I want to get national exposure on an item (and I do, often) I use a site with national reach.
I see CL like I see the early ebay. I hope the former isn't ruined like the latter, and if they have to shut down the mentioned sites to effect that, it's fine with me.
-James
Craigslist, let Craiglook and other search sites live!
Started a facebook group, maybe we can get enough members to change CL's mind. pass it on.
Bummer!
Craiglook was clearly the best site for nationwide searches....
Rog
SVreX wrote: Searchtempest still returns queries grouped by local area. Craiglook gave a complete nationwide result.
You can make Searchtempest do that, it just takes some digging.
Craigslook made these other search assistance sites look like a joke. This is really unfortunate.
FlightService wrote: Craigslist, let Craiglook and other search sites live! Started a facebook group, maybe we can get enough members to change CL's mind. pass it on.
Please join the group guys, I am hoping by Friday we have enough people to send Craigslist a big message.
VWguyBruce wrote: I use Searchtempest.com. They used to be called craigshelper but were forced to change the name. Searchtempest is a great site. They also have a sister site just for car shopping that hits all the car sites.
Common denomintor seems to be a name similar to craigslist. Hopefully craiglook can simply change their name to something totally different and continue on.
These wonderful Craigslist crawlers all get shut down eventually, and the people that start them know full well it is going to happen and try to make a quick buck in the meantime. It is sort of like the "hotlinking" argument from Craigslist's perspective, except real. Eventually these crawlers start choking Craigslist's servers, costing Craigslist money and making what Craigslist is by intention: a local bulletin board, into something they do not want to be (a NATIONAL sex slave and prostitution procurement site) while they are asked to pay for it. Of course they shut these crawlers down. Any maybe revenue is down now that they were forced to get out of the sex slave and prostitution add business. Anyway, it is clearly stated in their terms of use that you can't crawl their site, and legally they are bulletproof on this really basic property right/usage contract issue.
http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use
"u) use automated means, including spiders, robots, crawlers, data mining tools, or the like to download data from the Service - unless expressly permitted by craigslist;"
I use advanced search on Google to crawl Craigslist nationally. Google either parties with Craigslist, has so much $$$$ Craigslist is afraid of them, or has enough technology to be able to get around this clause somehow, but you can search Craigslist nationally with Google fairly effectivly.
Never liked craiglook, I have no intrest in searching nation wide. For me statewidelist is perfect because I can get results in the surrounding areas. I don't buy anything unless I can see it in person before laying out the cash.
In reply to nicksta43:
There was an easy to use distance setting to searches; if you wanted to find every Ford Tempo listed in 100 miles, it was child's play to do so with Craiglook. And the sorting tools helped get you complete Tempos vs. Tempo parts, et cetera.
Shaun wrote: I use advanced search on Google to crawl Craigslist nationally. Google either parties with Craigslist, has so much $$$$ Craigslist is afraid of them, or has enough technology to be able to get around this clause somehow, but you can search Craigslist nationally with Google fairly effectivly.
How do you do that?
What Craigslist apparently doesn't get is if they had a better toolbox of search options there wouldn't be a need for these other sites.
For example: if I want to only look at 1960's cars Craigslist has no year tool, but on Craiglook I could search 196* and get all the 60's cars.
I also like the option to search for all within a set distance of my location, I've found number of items listed on nearby areas but not my "home" craigslist, which would be a even bigger issue in the denser east areas where you could potentially have to search dozens of CL pages to find cars within 250 miles.
Isn't a primary rule of marketing if you have a perfect product there is no need for an alternative. Or is it now sue and intimidate the competition until they give in?
^+1
amiller34 wrote: What Craigslist apparently doesn't get is if they had a better toolbox of search options there wouldn't be a need for these other sites. .... Isn't a primary rule of marketing if you have a perfect product there is no need for an alternative. Or is it now sue and intimidate the competition until they give in?
They don't want you to be able to search nationally via their site. It's against what CL is about.
The other sites aren't competing with CL, they are riding the wave CL created.
They are free to create a competing site.
There are probably improvements that could be made to CL, but I prefer NO IMPROVEMENTS 
It's an awesome and free site, we're going to kill the golden goose with too much call for change.
-James
These sites just funnel TO craigslist. How is that bad? I can understand not wanting an affiliated name but come on. I don't see anyone cutting anything from CL, if anything they are helping improve/add to traffic.
In reply to Shaun: Here is the rest of what you so lovingly sound bit edited. In a nut shell, you aren't saying you have the ads or are posting them from you on CL claiming yourself. You can link it.
A limited exception to (b) is provided to general purpose internet search engines and non-commercial public archives that use such tools to gather information for the sole purpose of displaying hyperlinks to the Service, provided they each do so from a stable IP address or range of IP addresses using an easily identifiable agent and comply with our robots.txt file. "General purpose internet search engine" does not include a website or search engine or other service that specializes in classified listings or in any subset of classifieds listings such as jobs, housing, for sale, services, or personals, or which is in the business of providing classified ad listing services.
craigslist permits you to display on your website, or create a hyperlink on your website to, individual postings on the Service so long as such use is for noncommercial and/or news reporting purposes only (e.g., for use in personal web blogs or personal online media). If the total number of such postings displayed or linked to on your website exceeds one hundred (100) postings, your use will be presumed to be in violation of the TOU, absent express permission granted by craigslist to do so. You may also create a hyperlink to the home page of craigslist sites so long as the link does not portray craigslist, its employees, or its affiliates in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive matter.
craigslist offers various parts of the Service in RSS format so that users can embed individual feeds into a personal website or blog, or view postings through third party software news aggregators. craigslist permits you to display, excerpt from, and link to the RSS feeds on your personal website or personal web blog, provided that (a) your use of the RSS feed is for personal, non-commercial purposes only, (b) each title is correctly linked back to the original post on the Service and redirects the user to the post when the user clicks on it, (c) you provide, adjacent to the RSS feed, proper attribution to 'craigslist' as the source, (d) your use or display does not suggest that craigslist promotes or endorses any third party causes, ideas, web sites, products or services, (e) you do not redistribute the RSS feed, and (f) your use does not overburden craigslist's systems. craigslist reserves all rights in the content of the RSS feeds and may terminate any RSS feed at any time.
Jamscal (and others who like it):
I respect your desire for a "local" site (they aren't local, just subdividing the market, but anyway...). I also understand the advantages you describe.
Which is just fine if you live in a local market that suits you or offers what you need.
What suggestions do you have for those of us in smaller markets looking for rare items?
Craigslist may be fine if you live in Atlanta or Cincinnati and are looking for Hondas, but it doesn't work if you live 3 hours from the nearest airport and are looking for Dusenbergs.
It's not that anyone is trying to steal from them. It's that there are legitimate needs, they have the listings, but their tools do not allow reasonable access.
Give me some other suggestions.
Oh- I forgot...
As a seller, the local market is completely useless to me. For example- it averages 11 new ads for cars and trucks per day. That is frankly not enough traffic to be worth anything. If I advertise there, I can be assured I will not sell (especially if I am selling something weird, which I always am).
It is simply is not a big enough market.
SVreX wrote: Oh- I forgot... As a seller, the local market is completely useless to me. For example- it averages 11 new ads for cars and trucks per day. That is frankly not enough traffic to be worth anything. If I advertise there, I can be assured I will not sell (especially if I am selling something weird, which I always am). It is simply is not a big enough market.
But to be fair to Craigslist, you are getting what you pay for.
If you don't like it, and they have zero interest in changing, then you need to look elsewhere.
I now hate craigslist.
Rusnak_322 wrote:SVreX wrote: Oh- I forgot... As a seller, the local market is completely useless to me. For example- it averages 11 new ads for cars and trucks per day. That is frankly not enough traffic to be worth anything. If I advertise there, I can be assured I will not sell (especially if I am selling something weird, which I always am). It is simply is not a big enough market.But to be fair to Craigslist, you are getting what you pay for. If you don't like it, and they have zero interest in changing, then you need to look elsewhere.
With all due respect, you are not helping.
In the past 2 pages I've asked an awful lot of questions. Some of them include asking for input for other options.
Telling me that Craigslist isn't going to help is not news, nor helpful. Telling me to look elsewhere is not only not helpful, it is mildly insulting after I asked for other options. Referring me to other options as I asked would be helpful.
When did I say I wouldn't pay for it?
I am asking for suggestions of other options. I am not hearing any. Only the implied suggestion that I've not got the right to ask for something better.
SV, from where I'm sitting, CL is about the only thing out there that works for me. I can understand where they're coming from by blocking some of these other sites. Searchtempest had to change their name because their name was too similar. Craigslook was blocked, I feel, for using targeted ads.
Sure, web servers aren't free, and neither is a domain name. Light sites like Crazedlist aren't too hard on a server, and could likely be run from a cheap shared server. No ads, and they don't seem too eager to shut them down. In reference to the referrers config change in Firefox, that has more to do with putting a strain on Craigslist's servers. If you look like a bot, you're probably a bot. That's how they see it.
If there were other options, I'd be using them because I'd like to be able to search nationwide from the site I'm using, not another site that's searching that site for me. It feels like a potential security risk to me.
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