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Craigslist and its merry band of Wii reseller flaggers

February 22, 2008 on 9:21 am | In business |


Lucky me - I happen to have a pretty reliable source of Nintendo Wiis. For the last few months I’ve been getting about 3 Wiis per week. Most of these have gone to clients and friends as gifts, but I’ve sold a few as well.

I used to sell them primarily on eBay, but lately there have been so many fake bidders that you have to watch your auction like a hawk and cancel any bids from a new user or a user with zero feedback. Whether this phenomenon is the result of a slew of new eBay users who just don’t understand the process, or whether it’s primarily nutjob anti-capitalists, I can’t say for sure. (I suspect the latter.) Either way, this, along with eBay’s ridiculous fee structure, has pushed me away. I now sell my Wiis on Craigslist.

Until today, I’ve sold about 6 Wiis on Craigslist without incident. Today, however, some merry band of idiots is out there flagging my Wii ads as “inappropriate,” and they’re being automatically removed from the site. It appears that I am not alone. What is it about reselling Wiis that causes so many otherwise reasonable people to fly into unchecked rages? I have to wonder where these people do their weekly shopping - surely it must be hard to go through life with the attitude that people should sell you whatever you want at cost.

Anyway, I did learn an interesting trick to keep your posts from being removed from Craigslist - just edit the ad every so often, and the “flag counter” will be reset.

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  1. […] Craigslist and its merry band of Wii reseller flaggers […]

    Pingback by Eddie On Everything » How to stop your posts from being flagged on Craigslist — February 22, 2008 #

  2. There are groups of people that are ganging up on posters and flagging off anyone’s ad they want - they flag rescues, shelters, community information ads, unspayed or unneutered dogs, people who misspell, people who write in capitols, free dogs, all pit bulls, free cats, all ferrets, all services, too high fee, no fee, supplies and much much more. They also regularly “google” people’s phone numbers and email addresses to post more personal information about breeders, “sellers” and who ever else they deem stalk worthy.

    I, personally, am more interested in the pet section because these are live animals needing homes, but please know that there are general flaggers also that gang up and target people. Competition flagging is another problem on Craigslist. If you are experiencing problems outside of the pet section – please refer to the general flagging forum link below. Also, be sure to contact abuse@craigslist.org if you are being harassed, targeted or slandered in any way. This is their site and they should do a better job of maintaining/moderating and supporting loyal users.

    This site is community based, so it is important that we quit letting these people decide how things work around here. Whenever I’ve emailed staff they’ve responded with “I need to hear that from more people.”

    Ask for an increase in the number of flags in your local area to remove an ad and ask that a Term be added addressing Abusive or Team Flagging in their Craigslist Terms of Use.

    Some of these flaggers are also known to hack the flagging system by using IP proxies to ensure the ads they want are removed.

    If you visit the forum below you will see that the forum has been recently semi-overtook by unhappy targeted pet posters – help out by joining in the conversations and discussions. Remember to protect your personal information by using an anonymous email through yahoo, hotmail or lycos. Have fun and try not to take any of it too seriously, although animal’s lives are at stake so it can get heated at any time.

    http://craigslist.org/forums/?forumID=4915 - For Pet Flagging – help out! Join in!

    http://craigslist.org/forums/?forumID=5194 - For General Flagging

    http://groups.google.com/group/craigslistpetsalesflagginggroup - No longer available to the public - ASKED BY CRAIGSLIST TO SHUT DOWN.

    http://www.noflagnuts.com - Tips and Tricks to posting on Craigslist, most important tip – REPOST often.

    http://craigslist.org/forums/?forumID=38912

    is where the anti-flaggers are hanging out - you are more than welcome to drop by, ask for help on an ad and what not. Keep the number to yourself though or at least let me know before you give it to someone.

    stopabusivecraigslistflags@hotmail.com is another group that is fighting the pet flaggers, they have put together a great email campaign – contact them for more in depth information or to be added to their mailing list.

    if you’d like to complain privately - email one or all of them @

    craig@craigslist.org

    abuse@craigslist.org

    clint@craigslist.org

    Talk soon and keep your emails and forum posts as clean and as short as possible - gets the best response.

    Comment by Knuckles — March 21, 2008 #

  3. Reposting only gets you blocked out entirely. CL is totally apathetic about the flag abuse and refuses to even admit there is a problem. Work your way through the long web of voice menus and you get the same voice that is on the menus, who will tell you to go use another board.

    They could address the problem easily by requiring a verification word before flagging, just as they do for posting. What they SHOULD do is require everyone to have an account before posting or flagging, and limit the number of times a person can flag during one period. They could verify one account per person with phone numbers as they do now on some boards.

    But it will take a consumer advocate, a lawsuit or a big media journalist, to get their attention, by pointing out that whether or not CL is a private site, they are enabling and advocating harassment and limiting freedom of speech by not addressing the wrongful flagging issue.

    Comment by LA Communications — March 28, 2008 #

  4. That last comment makes a lot of sense. In fact, I wrote it. I don’t know who posted it here, but the bottom line is flagging is a big problem at CL and it enables, and encourages people to harass and bully others for any reason at all.

    Messages to Craig often get the most juvenile response, as if he didn’t even read what you wrote.

    There are in fact people who sit and wait for new ads to flag, people with longterm vendettas or grudges, and apparently no other purpose in life. I’ve also discovered news about professional flaggers who sit around for hours at a time and do the dirty work for others.

    Craig and Co. simply refuse to admit this problem exists. Since Craig so obviously loves flags and doesn’t care if they’re used to bother people, I propose people start mailing all kinds of flags to his office. It’s a peaceful protest, and maybe he’ll get the message when they start being delivered at his door from all over the country.

    Comment by Another Poster — July 12, 2008 #

  5. I take this moment to thanks dicks like you.
    Your selfish greed is the problem.
    You prevent 3 a week from arriving on store shelves. By doing this you and all the other “capitalists” ensure limited availability and continued scalping by creating false demand.
    hang on while I migrate from my local CL to sfbay..clicking flag a few times…done bitch.

    Comment by pfughking gherkoff — August 8, 2008 #

  6. to the comment before this one - no one is creating “false demand.” the very fact that people are able to turn around and resell them disproves that very assertion.

    perhaps you should have studied a little harder in econ 101.

    Comment by eddie — August 8, 2008 #

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