A suggestion that would help the classifieds..

[Rob1981]

How about checking them more often for duplicate ads? It can't be that hard, especially when the "quick stats" at the bottom left shows the most recent classifieds...and many times it shows the same topic name. That's plenty of proof there is spamming going on.

People post the same exact things a few times (maybe by accident sometimes, but other times it's just spamming).


I've reported several of them, and yet they still remain on here.


Spamming of any form shouldn't be allowed. A person should post the ad once, and no more than that. If the text is only slightly different (but the basic idea is the same), one of them should be deleted. There is no need for 2 ads saying the same exact thing.

[Crys]

New ads are checked a minimum of once each business day (the weekend's ads are checked on Mondays). Ads are allowed to be duplicate as long as they are in different applicable categories or counties. Such ads only _appear_ to be duplicates on the "newest ads" page. Excessive duplicates (more than three or four even if all counties and categories are applicable, at the webmaster and site administrators' discretion) are removed once a business day, as are all true duplicates (for instance where the person placing the ad hit the submit button twice). We simply do not have the resources to monitor the classifieds twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Our classified guidelines are available here: http://www.thebubbler.com/modules.ph...isclaimer&no=3

[Kris10]

We do ask in our Classifieds FAQ that posters delete old versions of an ad before reposting.

If you have an ad on theBubbler with outdated or inaccurate content, please delete or edit the ad. If you wish to repost the ad to make it appear more recent, you must first delete all older versions of the ad. Per our classifieds disclaimer, excessive postings may be deleted and abuse may result in termination of privileges on theBubbler.com.

We often see ads like "four puppies available for adoption" placed one week, then the same ad posted the next week with the quantity changed. We do request that the older versions get deleted so classifieds readers know which ad is the most current. We have been trying to find and remove duplicate ads like this, and stressing that sellers need to remove old ads before reposting.

[keith]

Sometimes people post the same ad in different categories.

For example, a classic car might also be advertised under convertibles. One recently had a laundry list of items that included 'For Sale - Pets and Pet Supplies' and 'For Sale - Furniture' because items in both those categories were in the ad. That's cool with us.

By the way, when I'm not out of town or on the road, the free Wisconsin classified ads here at theBubbler get checked more like six times a day, and about 3 to 6 times a day on weekends. Same for responses to ads.

Regards,
Keith

[Rob1981]

Sometimes people post the same ad in different categories.

I'm not in reference to that at all. I'm in reference to ads that are the same thing/close to the same thing for one catagory.

Examples

Several repeat ads in Clubs and Organizations (events section)

3 ads for American Ambassadors: All 3 are very similar ads by the same person.

2 Gymnastics ads: By the same person, right next to each other. Very similar in text.

Party Ads: By the same person, text is just about the same.

[keith]

Originally Posted by Rob1981

I'm not in reference to that at all. I'm in reference to ads that are the same thing/close to the same thing for one catagory.

Examples

Several repeat ads in Clubs and Organizations (events section)

3 ads for American Ambassadors: All 3 are very similar ads by the same person.

2 Gymnastics ads: By the same person, right next to each other. Very similar in text.

Party Ads: By the same person, text is just about the same.

Deleted 2 of the 3 Ambassadors ads; deleted one of the gymnastics ads; deleted one of the Par-tay ads.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,
Keith