Tag Archives: post

Why I HATE Using Craigslist.

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craigslist
craigslist

This last week I wanted to look for a couple people to help with some video work I’m doing. There was a possibility of not getting paid for the video, so I needed to find others that would help for trade of service. I decided to post on Craigslist.

I will preface this by saying I have never had a real positive experience on posting to Craigslist. Their “Rules” make it almost impossible for you to post something that won’t get denied. Unless you are running a garage sale, giving away a TV or looking for a lead singer to their band, the service is just horrible.

What is worse is their customer support. Opening it up to anyone that wants to type on a computer, you might not get support, but yet get belittled by some idiot that doesn’t even represent Craigslist.

Compensation options on Craigslist
Compensation options on Craigslist

So I went to post in the “gigs-crew” area. Now when I post to Craigslist, I like to be very open. You know who I am and what I am doing. I log in, I don’t use anonymous email and put my name in the post. I put the information in the post with all detail.

The next morning, I got email saying the post was rejected.

I went up to the forum to find out why. They said it was not a “Gig” but a Job (because it was recurring). While I can dispute this reason (Dictionary defines “Gig” as “A Job”), I was more upset at the fact they were saying “No Pay posts will get denied”.

What? You have an option on your website that offers no pay but yet if someone uses it, you slap their hands? I even offered a trade of service if they choose so, and they said that wasn’t acceptable.

Trolls on Craigslist Help Forums

What gets even more frustrating is I went up to the forums to find out why my post got rejected. I ended up getting harassed by those people that are not Craigslist help agents. Not only that, but one person had the gall to say this:

Why don’t you pay people and stop being a little worm.

EXCUSE ME!?! When does belittling someone who is trying to get understanding an ok support practice? Why is this person even replying?

It was safe to say that I was really p*ssed off.

Time for Customer Support Changes Craigslist

I am not going to vent on the fact you have a “No Pay” option on the site that is misleading – only to say that if you are going to reject posts for an option you provide, that is misleading. This is about the customer support experience. I think it’s time to get away from a forum support. Having trolls in your support area not conductive to getting good support.

I saw a post underneath mine that not only went into a flame war, it also was a series of titles that had words like S*** and “F*** You” in them.

When is this good customer support? In this day and age, using vernacular like this in any support area is really not accepted.  There was no one saying “I understand and apologize”. They were just throwing words back.

I come for understanding, not to be told I’m a little worm from someone who has no idea who I am or what I do. Yes, it’s a free service, but there should still be a level of professionalism involved. I would never call you a name if you emailed me for support, why do I have to hear it from you?

Maybe someone can approach a company like Get Satisfaction. Get some seed funding to have a more accountable support area. They just a boost in their latest round of funding.

With continued negative experiences, I’ll continue to  stay away from Craigslist. Especially since I was up on the site today and someone posted almost the same thing (anonymously) two days ago, saying there is no pay involved and have not been rejected.

Hypocrites.

185 Twitter Posts A Day: The Social Experiment

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185 what?

A few months back I looked at some hard data on my Twitter usage. Actually, it was more usage across the board between Social Networks like Twitter, Facebook, Plurk, Buzz and others. I did a rudimentary count of how many Twitter posts I looked at in a day. I tallied the numbers for a week, then averaged it out. That is how I got to 185.

I also took into affect how many Twitter followers I had. At the time it was 1170. I counted only the Twitter posts I saw in the “All friends” area – Mentions and DM’s did not count.

The same idea was applied on Facebook. It was a lot higher in 350. I think that is because my Facebook is geared more toward the people directly in my life and Twitter is pretty much everyone I follow.

I did the Buzz thing for a while, but lost interest. Plurk – Haven’t been up there in a while. Friendfeed? Well, that is almost the same as Facebook, right?

The reason why I counted? Well at that time, everyone was talking about paid Twitter posts. Anyone with around 5,000 followers or more were getting requests to pay-post. In thinking about it, I wondered if someone does post an ad, how likely would it be that I would read it?

I suppose if you were to post the ad every hour, then I would eventually catch it once. But in all reality, with reading 185 posts a day from 1170 people (which is more like 300-400 people), that post might never be seen by my eyes. But if you have 5,000 people following you and this 185 model was applied, I suppose someone will see it. More likely about 30-50 people will read your post. A small, but useful number.

Of course, I went by my own habits. I have an iPhone, so I can check these things while I am mobile. And as they say – Individual results will vary.

I challenge you to figure out how many Twitter posts you read in a day. Is it more? To do this – Do a daily count of posts you read for a week and average it out. I would do separate counts of each social network you visit.

As for me, I am working on the 185. I will most likely do another count / average in about 6 months. See if my numbers increase.

The Onion’s fake news is too close to real news

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O.K. – Check out this Onion article – Man’s Facebook Status Given Book Deal

Now check out this article on WSJ – S—mydadsays Lands TV Deal

Can someone say “Irony?” Little did the Onion know, they were reporting a “Close to news” story. And it happened in the same week.

I heard about this Twitter account a few weeks ago. An old codger saying things that just make you laugh. Here are a couple Twitters:

“You look just like Stephen Hawking…Relax, I meant like a non-paralyzed version of him. Feel better?… Fine. Forget I said it.”

“Son, no one gives a s— about all the things your cell phone does. You didn’t invent it, you just bought it. Anybody can do that.”

“The baby will talk when he talks, relax. It ain’t like he knows the cure for cancer and he just ain’t spitting it out.”

“Just pay the parking ticket. Don’t be so outraged. You’re not a freedom fighter in the civil rights movement. You double parked.”

Of course, the Twitter profile is run by Justin, a 29 year old who lives with his 79 year old dad. The Twitter profile is full of profanities, so you might want to not show the kids. But you can get a chuckle out of it.Then check out the CBS schedule, because that is who gave Justin the sitcom.

Oh yeah, there is also talk of the Twitter having a book deal, too.