Are You Flag-Happy at Craigslist?
April 16, 2008 by Deb
Filed under Freelance Writing
I received an interesting email this morning and have permission to share part of it with you today. It’s from an employer who placed an ad at Craigslist yesterday for writers for his new online magazine. This is the third time he placed the ad and the third time it was flagged, he’s frustrated and came here looking for answers.
The ad clearly asks for a quote and says we plan to pay a mutually-agreeable rate. Even so we received several emails calling us names because the Craigslist "no pay" default was enabled. Every time I place an ad for this project, it’s flagged. There is nothing unsavory about the ad. We’re very honest in what we’re looking for, Writers who are willing to work hard and have the experience to back them up. Perhaps we’re a little picky in our requests but we learned to find the best writers by spelling out in detail what we’re looking for. We don’t want something for nothing, we don’t want 20 articles in a day for fifty cents each and we don’t ask for the impossible. Who is flagging my ad all the time and why?
Let’s talk about this because flagging at Craigslist is becoming a major issue. I can understand flagging an ad if it’s a scam. Even if it’s someone offering a volunteer opportunity or low-paying gig, does that mean we have the right to flag him? I don’t understand why people just don’t move on if it’s something they don’t approve of.
We’ve talked before of writers who just flag ads at Craigslist to eliminate the competition and I find this to be a sad practice. Confident writers eliminate the competition by sending in an a stand-out application, not by taking the job down.
It appears we’re our own worst enemies. When we flag ads or write to complain about pay or lack of pay, we’re not giving a very good representation of writers in general. In two years in Human Resources I never received hate mail from anyone who didn’t like my job ads. People who didn’t want to work there, just didn’t apply. Why do this with online employers?
So here’s my question to you, have you ever flagged an ad at Craigslist? If so, why? This isn’t the first time someone asked why an ad was flagged. Let’s tell them why.
@Laura: Thanks for posting that one. I’ll be blocking that URL from my daughter’s profile. They post actual papers for download – something I don’t need my teenage daughter doing!
I flag the spam ads, usually recognizable by the jpg. It is horrible to try to wade through them.
Also by the way there are two new scams out there. Which I did not flag..I actually emailed them and discovered they are scams.
One tells you AOL is starting a new PayPal type program…they will deposit 25 bucks in your account to register..OF COURSE THEY WANT YOUR SS #
The other is to do a survey to qualify for a paid survey. I think not. They just want you to do the first survey and you will never hear from them again.
I’ve been spending a lot of time on Craigslist recently, and I’ve seen that a lot of “something for nothing” people are creeping up there. I’ve been tempted to reply or flag, but I never have. It just isn’t worth my time. However, if I see one of the ones I’ve applied to from a forum somewhere , I will do so. That is because these places always ask for you to sign up to their site to be “considered” for the job!
I reserve flagging for extreme circumstances: for example, I flagged an ad from a guy who wanted “a storie were i r eatin chzburgerz and rollin wit a hawt chick in mah convertible”. Yeah, that’s not legit.
Other than that, to each his own, I suppose. I won’t flag things based on my personal beliefs. People looking for writers to do 500 articles for $10 won’t change their rates – they’ll just look elsewhere.
I’ve never flagged a post.
I do, however, email them to myself as soon as I see them, just in case. And sometimes, I don’t even get there quick enough to see the ad.
I don’t understand why people flag the good ones. It’s frustrating. And yes, the employers should just have you post it here, Deb. They’ll get overwhelmed with responses anyway!
I have better things to do with my time than to flag ads.
@Tina – If you’re talking about the survey ad I responded to – i-Say.com – I queried for that job – the guy told me that I would be paid to type up surveys. There’s a good reason I use a few different emails, one is a SPAM only so I used that email to apply with him. Sent him the letter that I was interested and waited.
Since then, I’ve been getting 20 emails a day from this i-say. No jobs, all want me to fill out surveys, which I won’t do. I tried to unsubscribe and it asks for a pin number, which I also don’t have. So I ended up forwarding everything to the gov’t with a SPAM complaint.
So should anyone see a job post for i-Say, it is a huge scam.
I don’t flag, just move on and let others make their own decision.
Hey Deb,
Just an idea — can you have these people send their ads directly to Jodee? Better yet — set up a permanent blog post and allow them to post their jobs in the comment section. That way those writers interested will be able to “Subscribe to Comments” and see the latest ads coming in.
I’m sure there are more efficient ways to do this, but this might be the fastest and easiest for you…
~Graham
@Graham – I once took out an ad on Craigslist to let employers know they could place ads on my blog for free – and I was flagged. Heh.
@Deb – LOL! The irony…
~Graham
I have never flagged, although I have been tempted. I have noticed that the quality all of the jobs on craigslist has started to decline. I don’t know if this is because of flagging, the economy or what- but I have all but given up on finding anything on craigslist besides scams, lies and people who want something for nothing. I’m beginning to think I may move on from craigslist as a source of employment. I can’t help but wonder if employers who are offering genuine, fair opportunities are getting tired as well.
I flag any ads in search of someone to write an academic paper or admissions paper, but that’s really it.
I, too am an aggressive flagger. I try to make a living by writing, and I flag time-wasting and unethical ads that disrespect that. I want to discourage repeat posts from scammers and sleazebags. My local Craigslist is full of them.
Many ads aren’t legitimately seeking writers. They want typists or transcriptionsits or commission salespeople.
Many of those that actually pay offer sub-minimum wage, which is illegal, and therefore even worse than paying “exposure.” I encourage everyone to flag those ads.
Contests are another problem. They aren’t jobs or gigs.
I’ve been writing professionally for more than 25 years. Many businesspeople recognize the value of professional skills, but many think anyone can do it. People who work for less than minimum wage make it harder for me and my peers to make a living.
If you’re a beginner, and you need exposure, please volunteer for a non-profit agency. You’ll get published clips and perhaps help to make the world a better place. Please do not help someone make a profit when you aren’t getting a fair share. You hurt the profession and your long-term chances for success.
I encourage your readers to help the profession by flagging ads that are inappropriate. We can help each other by doing so.
“I highly doubt that anyone who flags to eliminate competition would post about it here.”
Actually, months ago, someone admitted exactly that here. It was before Deb switched sites and I don’t know if you can still see that post here – but I never forgot it, because I posted it at my own blog and was amazed about it. Someone said they were doing it to beat the competition and were happy to do so. It was a really lame situation, but that one person can’t be the only one doing it. It’s dumb, there are so many jobs available.
@ Jennifer: Wow, it takes a lot of nerve to admit to deliberately flagging jobs so you have less competition! I think that stinks. If I apply for a job and get it, I would like to think it was based on my qualifications, not the fact that I did something so underhanded.