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New rule needed?

by Kay King
9 replies
IN the classified section, some sellers are posting ADS in their threads daily. What I notice is at least one of these sellers posts 2x per minute and once each minute....day after day.

How can that happen? Is the seller using a bot?

Why are sellers allowed to post to their own ads continually (when no one else is posting in the threads)? Some of his posts offer special deals on ads that launched a YEAR ago....but it doesn't seem he's paying to bump the ads. Posting long new ads in the threads day after day gives the impression of "busy" threads with several pages of 'comments' (which are 95% his own repeated ads).

One seller offers percentages off or short time "deals" - which changes the original ad without paying for another. I don't buy from the classified section so if this is allowed, not my problem.

EXCEPT - For new people on the forum, seeing the entire first page of "new posts" be ONE person's ads is not good for the WF in my opinion. Especially when every ads is a "formula" review+bonus

I've noticed this happening in the classifieds for some time - but it's become so pervasive now that if you look at an ad with 220 'responses'....200 of the responses may be additional ads posted by the seller in his own threads.

If it's permissible, so be it. My suggestion is

-to apply a time limit to classified ads - so they can't run forever or be "built up" by the sellers endlessly. $20 for a month long ad is a great deal...$20 for an ad you keep pushing for a year or more...is ridiculous.

-to limit the amount of re-posting by the seller when the reposting is only repeating the ads dozens of times and adding to the post count for the thread (AND the seller).

-disallow changes in the offer. Extra 'deals' or 'limited time $$ off" should be new ads.

Example:

I took the time to look through one entire thread. Post count on the thread is 230 "comments". Of those comments 29 were made by 18 WF members. The remaining 200 comments in the multipage thread are repetitions of the ad (complete with repeated images) by the seller.


Adding another example - different seller using the same 'method'...

New thread (pd classified) posted at 12:06 TODAY....original post claims "500 sold" - do we trust that number? Is it a verified number at WarriorPay? Don't know.

Then , the seller reported in the ad at:

1:00
1:02
1:04
1:06
1:09
1:10
1:11
1:13
1:14
1:56 (time out for lunch?)
1:57
1:59
2:02
2:03
2:04

and it's still going on

Not ONE question from another member or comment or review...just a sellerposting ad after ad after ad.

At this rate there will be 50 or more comments in the thread by the end of the day - ALL made by one person. This is crazy stuff.

OK - I'm done. Won't be buying anything but not picking on any ONE person as more than one seller has adopted this "method" because they are getting by with it.
#needed #rule
  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    I just came to the forum and clicked on "new posts"

    Of the 25 posts that show on the first page - THIRTEEN of them are by TWO members....who are busy again today bumping their sales threads with post after post.

    So - we have tens of thousands of members....and the first page of results...again...is dominated by repeated ad posts of two people?

    And a question about the practice - a request for clarification of rules on this - isn't answered.
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  • Profile picture of the author PaulSch
    I looked too and it seems to me to be counterproductive. Post after post by the OP and not a single post by any potential customers.
    I don't see the benefit to WF or FL to allow this practice to continue. What's in it for anyone other than the original revenue for posting the ad?
    I certainly wouldn't be interested in buying anything when the thread is 50 or 60 posts of non-stop bumping by the OP.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Same results - different day.
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      Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
      ***
      It actually doesn't take much to be considered a 'difficult woman' -
      that's why there are so many of us.
      ...jane goodall
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      • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
        Seems to be some people going a little too nuts.

        Not really fair to the real classifieds that have people interacting.

        I can tell you this - I'd not want to post a classified ad in there if I gotta come in and spam the heck out of my own thread every hour just to get top billing on the "new posts" function.

        That is some serious aggressive going on in there.
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  • Profile picture of the author ForumGuru
    Banned
    Yeah, this has been going on in classifieds for the past 18-24 months or longer. I think the constant bumping of classified threads need to stop as I can show you a great many threads where the OP has like 45 or more "replies" and all of them are his own! 45 posts - none or almost none by anyone other than the OP.

    I know several affiliates that have been playing the "bump my classifieds thread with another 5 year old bonus post" for a very long while.

    And yes, this tactic has become far more aggressive with the hands off moderation that is currently being done by Freelancer. To make it worse...many of the largest offenders like to keep 2 or 3 threads on the front page of classifieds much of the time.

    Cheers

    -don
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    • Profile picture of the author lgibbon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by ForumGuru View Post

      I think the constant bumping of classified threads need to stop
      It needs to stop in all the forums.
      The war room is totally useless because of it.
      And the main forum is going that way too.
      I don't see a lot of hope for any of the forums
      unless admin starts showing an interest in stopping it.
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      • Profile picture of the author ForumGuru
        Banned
        Originally Posted by lgibbon View Post

        It needs to stop in all the forums.
        The war room is totally useless because of it.
        And the main forum is going that way too.
        I don't see a lot of hope for any of the forums
        unless admin starts showing an interest in stopping it.
        Right, agreed on all counts.

        -don
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        • Profile picture of the author Kay King
          My proposal:

          Make the classified ad section like the WSO section:

          POSTS SHOULD NOT COUNT IN TOTAL POST COUNT.
          (These sellers have thousands of posts - all in their own threads - no participation in the forum as a whole).

          SIGNATURES MIGHT BE REMOVED FROM THE SECTION, TOO, AS IN WSO SECTION.

          Mods need to pay more attention in that section as there appear to be quite a few "shill posts" in some of those threads....unless you believe several people joined just to make a one-line comment in that particular thread.

          I edited to remove the comment about "men" - but I do wonder why there is a "suggestion" section with no one responding to concerns posted here. At the least, it seems someone in charge at FL could let us know if this "ad spam" is acceptable practice or not. If it is, so be it.
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          Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
          ***
          It actually doesn't take much to be considered a 'difficult woman' -
          that's why there are so many of us.
          ...jane goodall
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          • Profile picture of the author Kay King
            No response - and no changes.

            Logged in today (again) - clicked on "new threads" - and this is what I found:

            25 threads show on the first page


            14 are by ONE Person bumping his own ad threads

            4 are by a SECOND Person bumping his own ad threads

            3 are pure bot spam

            Result: of 25 'topics' displayed when a members clicks "new posts" - 21 are worthless garbage and self promotion - and apparently it's within the rules now.

            And that's exactly why this number is dropping like a rock....
            367 members.

            If someone in charge says "this is deliberate" - so be it and no more questions. If it isn't - who's minding the shop?

            To Clarify: I'm not asking the WF to do what I want....just for clarification to understand what I SEE happening now.
            Signature
            Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
            ***
            It actually doesn't take much to be considered a 'difficult woman' -
            that's why there are so many of us.
            ...jane goodall
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