Ruination of CL??

Is it just me or does it seem like 40% or more of the ads these days are for "2005 Civics with absolutely nothing wrong, no rust, no problems, low miies", etc, etc, ad nauseum? It's a place I've always liked to go (like a lot of us it I think), but it's getting irritating to wade through this crap.. Is there anything to be done?

Stan

I keep getting this Prius for 1500 bucks. And I keep flagging it. I think thats all we can do.

need to put a 2$ fee on creating an account on CL that you can use to post adds in anything but the "free stuff" section. When people post fake adds they ban the account.

fixed

If that doesn't kill it, this will...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24951305/

Gearhead_42 wrote: If that doesn't kill it, this will... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24951305/

Interesting but I'll stay FAR AWAY from ANYTHING that is connected to Wal-Mart. I feel there are others out there that are too well informed to shop there or share with them in anything.

I'm keeping an eye out for a TDI and the same thing is happening with them. I'm constantly seeing 2003-2005 TDI's, with low mileage...all for the low, low price of $3995. :(

Gearhead_42 wrote: If that doesn't kill it, this will... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24951305/

That site SUCKS. It shows results for auctions at current bid (so there's 1,000 $1,000 cars in Portland off of eBay and the other sites they pull from) not to mention all of the Auto Trader and Auto Mart pull-ins. SCREW THAT!

stan wrote: Is it just me or does it seem like 40% or more of the ads these days are for "2005 Civics with absolutely nothing wrong, no rust, no problems, low miies", etc, etc, ad nauseum? It's a place I've always liked to go (like a lot of us it I think), but it's getting irritating to wade through this crap.. Is there anything to be done? Stan

You know...you can "search" the ads and narrow down certain values. If you are looking for something specific, search for it, if you're browsing within a price range, narrow down a certain value, if you're just looking through every listing....why is this a problem with Craigslist if there are really a bunch of cars for sale on it??? I don't understand the problem I guess. Do you hate that the Civics don't have any problems, that there are 2005 Civics, or that people are selling Civics?

Bryce

I think the issue Stan is referring to is the explosion of bogus ads. I'm not sure what the scam is, but there are a million ads now that are for frequently searched for models (the aforementioned Civics, hybrids, TDI's, etc) that read such as the one I pasted below.

This same ad was posted within minutes to almost every CL possible in the South.

2OOO VW BEETLE TDI Must sell this ASAP -- (Fort Smith) $2805 from AR fortsmith - VW diesel 2000 VW BEETLE TDI

His most infamous news story occurred a year before he had switched to WFLD-TV He once dressed up as a homeless person and lived on the streets of Chicago for a few days He had a hidden camera and recorded what he experienced In 1995 at WFLD he repeated the feat once moregolf denoting that the score is such that one player is the same number of points ahead as there are holes still to playThe novel is a bitterly funny satire on life for young English Catholics in the 1950s and 1960s depicting them juggling the pressures of youth sexual desire and the modern world with rigid rules about the avoidance of pleasures the shame of disappointing Christ and the Virgin and the fear of hell Yet it also describes how the loss of faith leads to disorientation and sadness in the charactersMartin E Green 1815 1861 1863 American Civil War Battle of Athens (1861) Battle of Corinth II Battle of Iuka Battle of Lexington I Battle of Pea Ridge Battle of Vicksburg

If not an outright scam. It may just be a way to gather email addresses.

And not just random addresses but addresses that they can sell as "a group of 1000 addresses that are interested in buying a TDI"?????

Good thought Hocrest. Address collection might be the goal.

Address collection is a large part of the problem. The way I see it, the more bogus ads the better, keeps the uneducated away from my deals.

I mostly find lovely items for $2900, like PTs, NSXs...always pay thrue some third-party site.