RANT: Flagging Ads = Dumb
Time for another rant, compliments of a customer named LOUIS from San Antonio, Texas.
Craigslist decided long ago to empower their community of users to determine what is and is not appropriate for Craigslist. Some users do nothing all day except read posts, flag the ones that are miscategorized / overposted / in violation of the ToS / etc. They actually enjoy doing what they do.
I'll say this only once: Sometimes online Democracy isn't a good thing.
Craigslist is a billion dollar company. One would assume that if they wanted to ensure that their user base has a pleasant browsing experience that there would be a staff of people whose job it is to review ads that have been flagged and determine whether or not they should actually be removed. Why leave it up to biased community members to police a commercial business site?
Example: Jimmy, who owns an auto repair shop down the street shouldn't be able to use some sort of flagging software and remove John's Auto Repair ad simply because John is a competitor. Fair? No. Allowed? Yes. Competitors flagging each others ads happens all the time... and it's stupid.
In my opinion, the only thing Jimmy should be able to do is "REPORT" an ad. There should be no automated flagging / deletion going on at all. Craigslist should monitor the most reported ads and A MEMBER OF THEIR STAFF should make the determination if the post should be removed. Too much work? Spend some of the $30 million that you made last year on adult ads and employ more Americans who need jobs and have them police Craigslist!
Ghosting and flagging will be the demise of Craigslist. Dozens of small business owners talk to me every week about how difficult it is for their ads to get posted onto Craigslist, stay posted on Craigslist and seem assured that there won't be any posting issues.
That's just one person's opinion.