Craigslist SCAM Alert: Against Affiliate Marketers!

[greenovni]

So today I go look though CL and I am greeted by this...

http://orlando.craigslist.org/cgi-bi...&category=sls/

Craigslist is telling people how to get affiliates booted off their affiliate program.

What say you?

[Loren Woirhaye]

That's because affiliate marketers are posting fake JOB ads
to fool people who want employment.

I'm for it. Spammers all over Craigslist have almost ruined it.

[greenovni]

I agree with that, the problem is that now 100s of people will learn how to report an affiliate and will do so out of spite whether the affiliate advertises on craigslist or not.

CL is a business that PROFITS off of prostitution. He obviously doesn't care if you give a guy HIV, VD or have him get busted by the cops but heaven forbid you make a few bucks off a schmuck by sending him to a dating site. That might ruin the squeeky clean image of CL!

Originally Posted by Loren Woirhaye

That's because affiliate marketers are posting fake JOB ads
to fool people who want employment.

I'm for it. Spammers all over Craigslist have almost ruined it.

[Loren Woirhaye]

If you've got a problem with the morality of the people who
run Craigslist, don't use it.

Simple.

It's Craig's site. Not mine. Not yours. He can
do with it what he wants to.

I suggest you stop thinking about other people as shmucks
you can trick into joining a dating site by pretending to
be a girl, and start thinking about bringing value to the
marketplace.

[LB]

Originally Posted by greenovni

I agree with that, the problem is that now 100s of people will learn how to report an affiliate and will do so out of spite whether the affiliate advertises on craigslist or not.

CL is a business that PROFITS off of prostitution. He obviously doesn't care if you give a guy HIV, VD or have him get busted by the cops but heaven forbid you make a few bucks off a schmuck by sending him to a dating site. That might ruin the squeeky clean image of CL!

That's some serious moral relativism. In other words, "I'm not as bad as a guy selling prostitutes so it's OK to spam craigslist"...sorry, but I don't agree with that.

CL was setup and is STILL setup to be a local marketplace site and affiliates have ruined that place. Searching for a job, apartment or service and half the ads are fake or direct you to a site with a CPA offer or adsense etc.

I say ban em and keep banning them. If the affiliate networks start banning people, then this will stop.

Just because some savvy marketers figured out how to exploit CL with affiliate ads doesn't make it OK...and you can thank affiliate marketers for annoyances like fee ads and phone verification.

[MichaelHiles]

Last time I checked, Craig makes money off real estate ads and employment ads in a very few, select markets.

Not prostitution ads.

[actionplanbiz]

Well i use craigslist to apply for 9-5 jobs. and i notice an increase of spam in my email.

example ill apply for a clerical job and ill get an email of a data entry from home click bank product cloaked in the Internet Marketer's Cloaker VirlUrl.

I mean come on people, can we market a lil more ethically here? Thanks

[actionplanbiz]

how does craigslist makes $$$ from prostitution?

[Fun to Write]

Craigslist and sites like this have a right to protect unsuspecting users from this kind of misleading tactic.

Obviously, they're getting lots of complaints.

If you're not using these tactics on CL then there's nothing to worry about is there?

[Catalyst eMarketing]

CraigsList could be heaven if there were only ethical marketers using it. The spammers and scammers ruined it a long time ago for everyone and I'm embarrassed to say many of those scammers are affiliate marketers.

Many ethical affiliate networks prohibit CL marketing, but there are obviously still ways to get around it or so many would not still be doing it. Too bad CL has to go this far to warn readers/consumers.

[VegasGreg]

I noticed that message too. I try to use CL for legitimate purposes, like finding computer and internet gigs, and sometimes normal jobs and a place to rent.

I run across so many "affiliate marketers" that it gets annoying. Luckily I know what these offers are so I can bypass them, but for the majority it can be bad and such a waste of time.

I applaud CL for taking this action. CL is not made for affiliate marketers. And those that use it for that purpose are blackhat (as it is against CL TOS) and that is not my style.

[mikemac1]

For me, this is long overdue.

CL has always been a goldmine if used properly and as the junk gets removed or stopped from being posted, responses to my ads have increased.

[mmurtha]

greenovni,

I think they are doing a wise thing with Craigslist. Maybe it will start teaching people not to spam other webmaster's sites, and scam their clients.

If these spammers would use the site in the way they should, they wouldn't have any problems. But no, they chose to run someone else's business into the ground.

It really sucks when your business gets taken over by spammers and scammers who don't care!

Why should Craigslist put up with that crap?

[blur]

Originally Posted by actionplanbiz

how does craigslist makes $$$ from prostitution?

It's not directly called prostitution but there is a charge for posting 'adult services.'

I almost want to go shower just by admitting i know that

https://post.craigslist.org/grr/B

[Willmarathon]

I happen to sell some real affiliate products (like Liquid Nutrition,etc.) locally and I get spammed by people sending trash to my substitute email address trying to sell me something. There is a completely legitimate way to use Craigslist to advertise affiliate programs and that is in the SmallBiz section of services.

[DogScout]

Originally Posted by blur

It's not directly called prostitution but there is a charge for posting 'adult services.'

I almost want to go shower just by admitting i know that

https://post.craigslist.org/grr/B

If I have to take a shower, I am going to have to call one of those ads... I hate showering alone.

[Tom Goodwin]

Originally Posted by blur

It's not directly called prostitution but there is a charge for posting 'adult services.'

I almost want to go shower just by admitting i know that

https://post.craigslist.org/grr/B

CL is probably one of the best places to find "dates". At least that's what I hear.

[InternetMarketingIQ]

You know what?

I sell real things on Craigslist. Real things. Like old computer parts, car parts, things I no longer have a use for.

And what do I get? I get HAMMERED with bull**** spam back from people who call themselves "Affiliate Marketers".

I saw you are trying to sell... ________ I just sold one exactly like it on MPOSSITE.com ... or some variation of the scam.

I even got hit with the Classic Nigerian Scam.

It's so bad at times I don't even bother to post instead using the local TV Station Classifieds.

You can try to justify your posting Affiliate Links any way you want, but it is CLEARLY a Violation of their TOS.

If all you can do to make money is look for ways to constantly "Cheat the System" then that says a whole lot about you as a person. You don't have to be a lying, scumbag, cheat to make money. But for some reason there is this mentality that it's okay to break the rules as long as it benefits you somehow.

Craigs could be a terrific community. And it's a great way to get rid of stuff. But it's not going to get better. And yes Newmark is not Mr. Ethical and he does for some reason think it's okay to promote prostitution - but it is his site, and he likes to play the "Free Speech" game. And the old adage is 2 wrongs don't make a right.

I'm going to get off my soapbox now. Too bad losers are destroying a really nice way to pick up some pocket change legitimately.

I AM 100% IN FAVOR OF ANYTHING THAT CAN KEEP AFFILIATE CRAP OFF OF CRAIGS SO IT CAN GO BACK TO IT'S INTENDED USE - A CLASSIFIEDS SITE.

[nitin22]

I agree to the philosophy of CL taking steps to cut down the spam. However eventually they have made their system very complex and still it is attracting lot more spam.

May be what they need is lot of moderators and assigning powers to moderators. Thats how all community forums are spam free. As of now CL gives lot of advices to its users, but may be they should have some moderators making sure that CL is spam free.

Or they need to be technologically as string as Google is.

[davewebsmith]

I have never heard of Craig list till now ... Thanks for spoiling the experience ...

[davewebsmith]

Reminds me of an Old IT saying ... If its not broke don't fix it ...

Isn't it about time that site got upgraded so it doesn't look like it did in 1995?

[davewebsmith]

True ... maybe it would lose its visitors ... Remember the threads when Google dared to change its front page ... I read all sorts of opinions of the matter

Imagine you owned a site that did this kind of traffic, would you take that gamble?

Craigslist.org Site Info

33 : Alexa Traffic Rank
7 : Traffic Rank in US
11,284 : Sites Linking In

Originally Posted by matty-81

It might not be broke, but it's damned UGLY!

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by greenovni

I agree with that, the problem is that now 100s of people will learn how to report an affiliate and will do so out of spite whether the affiliate advertises on craigslist or not.

CL is a business that PROFITS off of prostitution. He obviously doesn't care if you give a guy HIV, VD or have him get busted by the cops but heaven forbid you make a few bucks off a schmuck by sending him to a dating site. That might ruin the squeeky clean image of CL!

The site belongs to him and he can set the TOS and what appears on his site to whatever he wants. If I owned it, I wouldn't allow affiliate marketers to destroy it with spam either. That is not the purpose of Craigslist and never has been, like it or not.

Affiliate marketers seem to think it's their God Given Right to crap all over every site created ... like it was made just for them to make money with their spam. Without vigilance, affiliate marketers would overrun every site with their spam links and affiliate offers.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by greenovni

Craigslist is telling people how to get affiliates booted off their affiliate program.

What say you?

I say "Well done Craig, and thanks for encouraging people to help you enforce your terms of service".

(I also say "This thread is 8 months old and was re-activated only today, for some reason".)

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by matty-81

I agree with what you are saying, but it doesn't seem like much is being done to stop it. They have that ridiculous flagging system set up (which gets decent ads removed more often than not).

The whole way around this is to use them to build your list. I never put any affiliate links in CL ads. I used to put up ads and send to my squeeze, and I got some leads. However, the leads don't convert and it's pretty much a waste of time anyway.

Besides, most affiliate companies wouldn't ban your just for advertising on CL. If they did, they'd lose more than half of their affiliates and ruin their business. Seems to me Craig was just trying to get a rise out of affiliate marketers, and succeeded.

Oh, another way around it is to set up a redirect or a second affiliate account that you just use for CL promos.

And yet another way is to market your products in legitimate marketing channels and stop trying to abuse sites that aren't designed to be an affiliate marketers craphouse.

[MichaelHiles]

Originally Posted by matty-81

You better check again. That's his main source of income is the "adult services" niche and the "massage" niche. Craigslist sucks anyway.

Isn't it about time that site got upgraded so it doesn't look like it did in 1995?

Anyawy, there is an easy way around this. You send people to your squeeze page and don't put any affiliate links in the ad.

This way you can take advantage and profit from CL in the long run. You can have your cake AND eat it too. Screw CL and his "escorts" ads.

Actually, his main source of income isn't prostitution ads. Those are free of charge to post.

He makes his money off help wanted ads and real estate ads in specific markets only.

[tpw]

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

Last time I checked, Craig makes money off real estate ads and employment ads in a very few, select markets.

Not prostitution ads.

exactly right.

[Easy_Money]

Wow .. This is an old thread.

It appears that their posting of this warning has not had a huge impact on affiliate marketers. It is unfortunate! I wouldn't have a problem with affiliate offers in response to something if it was honestly done for the right intention, perfectly related to what I am looking for etc. It seems though, that self-moderation is an ethical principle that many are lacking.

I have been looking for a house to rent in the area I live. It seems that the only houses available are ones that the landlord requires you to use a service that requires you to sign up for pre - paid legal, free credit score.com and some other service. Only after that will the landlord's service work to negotiate rent for you. Funny that all of the houses are listed for sale and not rent in the local offline market.

Just last night, I posted on craigslist for the first time ever. I posted in the items wanted category. I am looking for an item.

The very first response I got was " hey I have been looking for someone with this item! Is it in good shape? please let me kow what's up?" I responded as politely as I could. I wanted to say you are an idiot... I posted in the wanted section because I do not have one and need it...

My polite response got an autoresponse telling me that they used to sell on CL but they are making more money with some work from home using another method. I looked at the site to see what kind of bs they were trying to peddle. It is a kit that tells you to post links on a certain site and you will get paid for posting the links. I WONDER WHAT SITE THAT MIGHT BE?

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by matty-81

I have to disagree. It's something like $20 per week to post in the adult section now.

It makes no difference how they make money. They have the right to define their own TOS. If they are doing anything illegal, that's a law enforcement matter.

[Chris Worner]

Originally Posted by matty-81

You better check again. That's his main source of income is the "adult services" niche and the "massage" niche. Craigslist sucks anyway.

You leave that hot Asian woman who gives me back-rubs while naked out of this.

Chris

[Claudiu Baciu]

seriously, i laughed so hard with this old thread, honestly i would do the same...i wouldn’t leave all the spammer fill my website with b..llsh..t, but anyways... but i guess when you’re a beginner like that all that you care about is making money, not necessarily add value or count for the others...very cool thread...

[KevinTorrence]

I can not stand the crappy "affiliate marketers" that respond to my for sale ads with terrible "Wait! You don't have to sell this blah blah..." autoresponder ads. They're not targeted, they're written poorly, and it wastes my time.

I use Craig's List to clear out some things from my house and nowadays, I'd say I get the autoresponder ads about 3 or 4 out of 5 times. It's annoying.