Competitors Using Software To Mark Each Other's Craigslist Postings As Spam
from the now-that's-impressive dept
One sign of a successful software company is when an ecosystem starts to build around it. We've seen this with companies like Microsoft, eBay and Google of course. And, while there definitely have been some products built on top of Craigslist, I hadn't realized it had gone so far as to include software that will try to trick Craigslist into deleting a post as spam. As you may know, Craigslist has a little link on each post that allows any reader to "flag as spam." There's an automated system that takes note of these clicks, and if enough such clicks come from enough unique users, the post is automatically pulled off the site. For the most part, this system is both effective and efficient. But, according to the linked article above, there's software out there that will let you "flag as spam" any post you want, sending multiple clicks pretending to come from unique users. It's being used by some companies to maliciously pull down perfectly legitimate posts from competitors. Craigslist says it's constantly tweaking its systems to avoid this kind of thing, but why not have a Wikipedia-style setup, where "deleted" spam posts can be reviewed by folks who can "undelete" the not-spam ones? It can use the same basic system, where if enough people vote that a "spam" post is legit, it goes back online. Or if it's really an issue, then certain posts that get jerked back and forth could finally be "locked" by an admin based on their discretion.
Reader Comments (rss)
(Flattened / Threaded)
by Jake on May 5th, 2008 @ 2:57pm
A decent CAPTCHA ought to go most of the way to fixing it, as well as blocking its use with known proxies like Tor.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
by Anonymous Coward on May 5th, 2008 @ 3:52pm
why don't you code it for them?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
by Anonymous Coward on May 5th, 2008 @ 4:05pm
As a user, I hate CAPTCHA's
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
by Anonymous Coward on May 5th, 2008 @ 4:20pm
While CAPTCHA may be a minor nuisance it is a small price to pay in the war on bot-tards.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: by DittoBox on May 5th, 2008 @ 4:27pm
One man's opinion, but captchas are terrible and inaccessible ways of keeping the bots out. They're also increasingly ineffective and as of late are getting almost completely illegible for humans as well.
The last 5 captchas I've had to deal with I have not been able to use. I'm young, smart and have 20/20 vision. It ain't me.
These things are pure evil.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Don't underestimate the spam by Joel Coehoorn on May 5th, 2008 @ 4:38pm
I think you might underestimate the amount of spam that gets removed this way.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
If it's a business that has competitors, what are they doing on Craiglist? by Greene on May 5th, 2008 @ 4:53pm
I didn't realize businesses could use Craiglist for advertisement. If they are a company big enough to have competition, wouldn't it be correct to mark their Craigslist ads as spam?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: CAPTCHA by TX CHL Instructor on May 5th, 2008 @ 4:54pm
CAPTCHAs have been pretty handily defeated. There is one company that farms out CAPTCHAs all over the 'net, offering free porn for solving a CAPTCHA. Typical CAPTCHA is solved in about 10-15 seconds with that system.
Even the OCR (and neural net) programs are getting pretty good at solving CAPTCHAs.
CAPTCHA is not the answer. Wish I knew what was.
--
http://www.chl-tx.com Concealed Handgun License Training in North Dallas, Tx.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
idea by anonymous on May 5th, 2008 @ 5:05pm
if companies are doing this, craigslist should permanently ban them, and anyone using the software if there is a way to find it out, and i mean on the FIRST offense, and no recourse.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
by Haggie on May 5th, 2008 @ 5:43pm
It's probably used by competing pimps to remove "erotic services" listings from their competitors...
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
CRAPTCHA by Dr. Slobber on May 5th, 2008 @ 6:32pm
It's not the competitors that you have to worry about on Craigs, it's the idiot flaggers that have nothing else to do but maliciously flag other user's posts. It's actually a sport over on Craigs to see how many posts you can have taken down. There are flagger mobs that spend a great deal of their lives just taking down other's posts.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
by Craigs defender on May 6th, 2008 @ 8:38am
Perception is part of the problem. Craigslist TOS do NOT allow commercial services or businesses to post in the categories save a very few exceptions. Craigslist is not meant for businesses, it is meant for individuals as spelled out in the TOS. Anything business oriented posted there is spamming if not placed in the SERVICES section unless for a very few exceptions. (car dealers and some Craigslist areas like NY apartments which must be paid for to post) Another thing is that the TOS prohibit selling for third parties, ie...Realtors and consignment brokers. Lastly, the TOS prohibit page graphics which link to the dealers site such as many Realtors use. These are all spam and need to be eliminated as Craigslist becomes to unwieldy to use. I support the individual user concept and do my best to flag dealer ads as spam. I do go to an extreme to assure that it is indeed a business by googling the phone number or name of the person listed but most are so blatant to list the business name. If there is a question, I leave it alone. The magnitude of the dealer/business ads is making Craigslist unusable and everyone should do their part to help out. Yes, there are some Aholes flagging willy nilly but one can find them in everyday life everywhere but if you are a business, READ THE TOS, you aren't allowed so, piss off.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Escalating war by Pitabred on May 6th, 2008 @ 8:49am
The problem with your solutions is that there would simply be an escalating war. There are already the bots (or whatever) to nuke posts, so it wouldn't be a huge leap to create one to "un-nuke" a post. I don't think making it a fairer system like Wikipedia would have the intended effect due to the transient nature of Craigslist posts, as opposed to the more permanent articles in Wikipedia.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: by satan on May 6th, 2008 @ 9:21am
good idea
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Re: CAPTCHA by ananananan on May 6th, 2008 @ 9:23am
The best way to stop that is to have several captchas and an instruction on which one to solve
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
by Josh on May 6th, 2008 @ 9:41am
I think it'd be interesting to know how this program actually works. I see two possibilities:
1) The maker of the software has some kind of botnet under his control, and the "report as spam" link gets sent to them to "click" - this is obviously illegal.
2) When you install this software, your computer will download and "click" those links sent in by other people every day/hour/whatever. Legally in a grey area, its an opt-in botnet (I would bet the EULA says you agree to have your computer used to report other messages as spam), but likely violation of Craiglist TOS.
Option 1 can be dealt with by law enforcement, option 2 is a technical problem that could be solved with a blacklist of certain IPs from reporting posts as spam.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Captcha by People are losers on May 6th, 2008 @ 11:06am
I have maybe had 2 or 3 problems with the million CAPTCHA's i've done. I dont see the big deal.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Add Your Comment