I really want to get this CL autoposter at adsoncraigs.com. It is a trully automated poster using ip proxies, auto postings, scheduled posting. However, all the relevant features cost about $400. Anyone intersted in pooling money together and buying the program?

OK... you put up $399.95 cents and I'll cough up the rest. )

Screw that. Let him put $400 in and let us cough up the rest.

Seriously, why would you want to do something so spammy and that leaves a footprint? Whether you realize it or not, IP proxies leave a footprint too.

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

Screw that. Let him put $400 in and let us cough up the rest.

Seriously, why would you want to do something so spammy and that leaves a footprint? Whether you realize it or not, IP proxies leave a footprint too.

I plan on making about 16 CL posts a day. this will circulate in about 8 cities so two posts per city. The posts themselves are not spam and are a local service where my businesss has a presence in. It will be posted under of the subheadings of the services category. The only thing "spammy" about it is the volume of the posts, but my category has over 120 posts everyday. This program will save me time and will leave less of a "footprint" then if I did this from the same ip address using a couple of e-mail addresses. Too bad nobody needs this program here for non evil purposes.

16 posts a day in 8 cities sounds like spam to me: automated, commercial, and against the terms of service of Craigslist. Really, if you're willing to pay $400 to hide your identity, so you don't have to do it yourself with fake email addresses, that's a pretty clear indication things aren't on the level.

Craigslist is successful because it's the local corner of the internet, letting people do whatever it is they do on a face-to-face level. If you're posting 15 ads a day in cities you don't live in, that's more spammy than not letting your posts expire before creating new ones, like their TOS asks you to.

Whoever wrote that software really should have used better judgment or ethics.

Thanks for blowing it for me guys. I had a $400 piece of valuable spam software down to 5 cents

Originally Posted by ForrestCroce

16 posts a day in 8 cities sounds like spam to me: automated, commercial, and against the terms of service of Craigslist. Really, if you're willing to pay $400 to hide your identity, so you don't have to do it yourself with fake email addresses, that's a pretty clear indication things aren't on the level.

Craigslist is successful because it's the local corner of the internet, letting people do whatever it is they do on a face-to-face level. If you're posting 15 ads a day in cities you don't live in, that's more spammy than not letting your posts expire before creating new ones, like their TOS asks you to.

Whoever wrote that software really should have used better judgment or ethics.

the ads are for an in home tutoring service. I have tutors in those areas ready to work. So I have a local presence in those cities. The reason for the large number of ads is that if there are 150 ads posted every day, no one will look at the ads from the previous day. It is like a "bump" that people do in forums like this one. If an ad takes 30 days or whatever it is to expire, it will not get good visibility. I will be using the software to save time mainly, but I like the extra precautions it has with the proxies, if they are there, why not use them? I may just do one post a day in those cities, I'm not sure yet.

Originally Posted by seolman

Thanks for blowing it for me guys. I had a $400 piece of valuable spam software down to 5 cents

you are hilarious, I can't stop laughing at your brilliant sarcasm

Originally Posted by brodaiga

the ads are for an in home tutoring service. I have tutors in those areas ready to work. So I have a local presence in those cities. The reason for the large number of ads is that if there are 150 ads posted every day, no one will look at the ads from the previous day. It is like a "bump" that people do in forums like this one. If an ad takes 30 days or whatever it is to expire, it will not get good visibility. I will be using the software to save time mainly, but I like the extra precautions it has with the proxies, if they are there, why not use them? I may just do one post a day in those cities, I'm not sure yet.

Then let the in-home tutors post their own ads. Not only will you get the same coverage, but if your in-home tutors post manually, you'll have a greater possibility of success since your in-home tutors will be submitting at different times to different places and therefore creating individual footprints for the ads in the same method you plan on doing automatically.

Your idea doesn't, in any way, shape or form, justify posting daily. I want you to really think about something for a second...what would happen if 100 people in your target areas bought the same $400 software? They're all posting away automagically, saving time and money, or so they think...but they're also getting their messages drowned out by other posters doing the automagic thing as well, costing them money. In other words, your idea will ultimately get trumped if you started it...assuming Craigslist doesn't figure it out first.

You just have an excuse: "I want to make more money, so I'm going to potentially violate a ToS of a site in order to do it." This is the same spin doctoring spammers use. Are you a spammer? If not, then take a 180-degree turn and find another way to advertise while you still can stay clean.

Originally Posted by brodaiga

If an ad takes 30 days or whatever it is to expire, it will not get good visibility.

The idea behind Craigslist isn't to give one particular business "good visibility" and boatloads of free advertising ... it's to let people hook up with others in their community, and ideally to give everyone a fair chance. What's likely to happen is users in all these cities are going to start recognizing the same message over and over and hitting spam until it's blocked at a more global level.

Originally Posted by brodaiga

I will be using the software to save time mainly, but I like the extra precautions it has with the proxies, if they are there, why not use them?

The best answer would be that you don't need them, but ...

This is part of why I don't use Craigslist; with no offense to you, the place is a virtual den of thieves. All the news says it's great if you want to buy drugs or prostitutes, and the ads I ran for portrait photography got me 80 % people who canceled on the last day. Instead, why don't you take the $400 and put it into real advertising?

Spamtacular
Spamariffic
Spamcredible
Spamilicous
Spamble Upon
Spam List

Craigslist is a den of thieves. Every time I've tried to sell something on there the only replies I get are from people who want to send me forged travelers checks or money orders. When I tell them I will only take cash or a personal check they never respond back.

I hate to say it but eBay is a much better alternative.

Originally Posted by ForrestCroce

The idea behind Craigslist isn't to give one particular business "good visibility" and boatloads of free advertising ... it's to let people hook up with others in their community, and ideally to give everyone a fair chance. What's likely to happen is users in all these cities are going to start recognizing the same message over and over and hitting spam until it's blocked at a more global level.



The best answer would be that you don't need them, but ...

This is part of why I don't use Craigslist; with no offense to you, the place is a virtual den of thieves. All the news says it's great if you want to buy drugs or prostitutes, and the ads I ran for portrait photography got me 80 % people who canceled on the last day. Instead, why don't you take the $400 and put it into real advertising?

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

Spamtacular
Spamariffic
Spamcredible
Spamilicous
Spamble Upon
Spam List

You may have forgotten...

Spambay
Spamazon
Spamalot (from Broadway, it starred Vasity Goulet)
Overspams

Spamtastic
Spamazing
Spamous
Spamsational

(I've got nothing).

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

Spamtastic
Spamazing
Spamous
Spamsational

(I've got nothing).

Keep them coming, can you get to 50?

Please choose just ONE craigslist site for which your ad is most relevant - this should generally be the site closest to where you are located. If your ad is equally relevant to all locations, your ad does not belong on local craigslist sites at all, please find another service.
Posting the same ad to multiple locations is considered spamming, and is prohibited.

Sounds like what you're trying to do is against the TOS of Craig's List.

You also know you're not allowed to keep posting the ad each and every day.

Originally Posted by vangogh

Sounds like what you're trying to do is against the TOS of Craig's List.

You also know you're not allowed to keep posting the ad each and every day.

you are right, it may be against their TOS. However, it is not a gross violation, but still a violation. Do I want to be white hat or a black hat with this? Besides losing the investment in the autoposter I see no harm that come from trying...hmmmmm

What would Chuck Norris do? What would Bill Clinton do? What would W. Bush do?

lol

How about "what is the right thing to do", rather than "what would X do?"

So you're justification for for violating the rules is that it's not a gross violation. Did Craig Newmark tell you it wasn't a gross violation? Or did you decide that because it's something you wanted to do it couldn't be that bad. Please accept our apologies then for only spamming a little bit.

It's irrelevant what any of the people you mention would do. What others do is never valid justification for your own actions.

And in all honesty, if what's the right thing to do isn't reason enough, I just don't see this being the best use of your funds. I stopped advertising on cl for free because of the quality of referrals they'd send me ... I had a friend of a friend who bought a hardcover book in a Sony Viao box in a Safeway parking lot from someone he met on Craigslist. I get people who book an appointment, cancel, and wind up never rescheduling ... I really should require a deposit. Despite their problems it's more ethical to respect their attempts to keep their festering heap under control.

Still, traditional marketing, online and off, is going to bring you better results. Especially if you only hire the best quality tutors who give you free word-of-mouth. Then, instead of a software license that eventually becomes useless when they block your url, email, text content, or whatever, you've planted a seed that will at least ripple if not grow. It's the better thing to do on moral and business grounds.