Lets clean up Craigslist.

Rusnak_322 wrote: you can search for private sale cars only.

Only works if the dealers dont post as private sales...

I can see why people put a list of every car make ever at the bottom of their ad but why the uninteligible list of characters like this (copied from ad)????

cSFqjRNiyQ to number our the after on termed study consumer has based of and fapron kEKboSLqrYBgeW aaascnow dust permutation about Alpha Khua. age from for score than need wbimp wTZyeMCqtXLxz

Hey I thought the GRMbot would turn my douchebag comment into bob costasbag. Maybe it only works for the word douche

Jeff, I most emphatically agree with your opinion of any web-based sales/auction site these days. That being said, IMO..as far as trying to clean the morons out of such places..

I just flagged about 25 adds in ATL cars for sale by owner related to rims which should be under auto parts, someone else is cleaning the crap out of the ATL car sections, I saw one $1 add for a 60s mustang that had the price in the add and I don't want to flag, other than that it's squeeky clean...

bluesideup wrote: Hey I thought the GRMbot would turn my douchebag comment into bob costasbag. Maybe it only works for the word douche

Bob Costas = um "kitty" not douche

In reply to bluesideup:

Particularly douchebag dealers from 200 miles a way.

Oh I see. My GRM-Fu is probably at Bob Costas level.

i agree with the original post.

I was surprised. Last night I was browsing around the CT CL and it was actually pretty clean.

Any locals beat me to it?

When do you guys find time for all this stuff?
No wonder we all have unfinished projects sitting in the driveway.

JThw8 wrote:

Rusnak_322 wrote: you can search for private sale cars only.

Only works if the dealers dont post as private sales...

I've written a browser add-on for Firefox, Chrome & Safari that should help with this. When you use this add-on, you can blacklist the phone numbers of such dealers and the add-on will automatically hide any future ads by these dealers.

You can find more details on the Craigslist Helper add-on on this thread http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/searching-multiple-craigslist-sites-with-alerts/33304/page1/

This thread also motivated me to work on the flagging of ads and I think I have a pretty decent solution. It shouldn't really take any extra time than your regular browsing at Craigslist. When browsing CL with this add-on installed, you get the ad preview by just moving the mouse over the ad title and in the preview you can click on the flag link. The ad is flagged and automatically hidden away. Using it is much simpler than describing it. I haven't uploaded this feature yet but I'll probably have it ready in a couple of days. I'm attaching a picture to give you an idea.

Clicking on any of the (first 3) flags will flag the ad and hide the listing and you can continue using the listing page to view other ads.

I have been using your Craigslist Helper and I really like it!
Another benefit I notice while using it with foxfire is that those ads where the whole thing is an imagine are easily determined by the picture preview.
Sample: http://cleveland.craigslist.org/ctd/2290104994.html

PS: I am not seeing this "easy flag" option while using Foxfire 3.6.13 via Windows XP on netbook.

jrw1621 wrote: PS: I am not seeing this "easy flag" option while using Foxfire 3.6.13 via Windows XP on netbook.

That's because I just finished implementing this feature for Google Chrome. I still have to port it to Firefox & Safari and upload the new version. I should have the new version up in the next couple days.

Apparently my reading comprehension is the only thing not working here.
Thanks again for the efforts.

The Chrome version with the enhancements to the flagging process is now available at the Google Web Store. Craigslist Helper for Chrome

jrw1621, I'll try to have the Firefox version up today.

For those just joining in on the conversation, Craigslist Helper is a FREE browser extension that makes using Craigslist more of a pleasure or less of a pain - depending on your outlook

More information on this thread: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/searching-multiple-craigslist-sites-with-alerts/33304/page1/

Pretty cool. When you first posted this, I ignored it as Spam. I'm glad I took a second look.

OK, the Firefox version is also ready. You can install it from

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/craigslist-helper/versions/

Install Version 0.0.06 or later.

If somebody tries out the flagging feature, I'd appreciate some feedback. Know that the 'Craigslist Helper' provides a lot of goodies if you use Craigslist. So go ahead and give it a spin.

If you are really fed up with CL maybe try EverClassify.com. We are new on the scene and doing some really exciting things with options for silent bids and national selling. Most all of our categories are free and we have some advanced options and categories which cost a couple bucks. We are really focused on easy search and the shopper’s experience.

We would enjoy your feedback.

Canoe

I seem to get flagged a lot, but I don't know why. Someone said it was my signature. Hmmm.

Pinchvalve
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fornetti14 wrote: When do you guys find time for all this stuff? No wonder we all have unfinished projects sitting in the driveway.

Heck...my driveway itself is an unfinished project.

I troll through my local CL fairly often, and when I do, I flag all the wheels in Cars and Trucks, and all of the jackasses that post the huge list of common search terms in the bottom of their posts.

Seriously, if I put "Mustang" as my search, why would I even consider some Honda wheels?

I also do my searches starting at $100, that gets rid of the $1 cars, and the idiots that don't understand the difference between $4 and $4k.

The question of course is WHICH flag to use? On the SEO lists, I hit those punks with a "Prohibited". Same with the jerks who change the title of their post to "SOLD"... seriously, it takes MORE effort to change the name of the post than to just delete it. GAR!

DukeOfUndersteer wrote: Someone as already started on the Atlanta CL. Some you think could be a scam or spam, someone has already taken care of it.

You're welcome.

Agreed on the tilting at windmills comment. Last I checked, CL has thirty employees. I have zero expectations of them responding to us. And there's only so much that we can do against the morons. Furthermore, e-bay has a strong incentive not to let CL improve their product.