Q: What do those flag links do??

Q: Aaaak!. My ad got flagged off! Wazzup with that??

Q: Hey, I can't post. Did I get blocked!!??

Q: Who are you people?

Q: Why is this FAQ linked on craigslist?

Well, three of them remove ads that readers (like you) don't like. The fourth nominates an ad readers like a lot for the Best Of page. If an ad gets enough flags, it's history. This system is fully automatic, nobody reviews it unless it is the best of craigslist flag. If an ad is removed the person who posted it gets an unbelievably polite email telling them their ad's toast but not much else. (If your ad got flagged off go here in this FAQ). The number of flags needed to remove a post varies by category and city. CL staff can change the flag thresholds as they see fit. They don't tell people what those thresholds are. One person can flag an ad more than once (and have it count) but it is a real pain to do multiple flags and nobody bothers (I mean a real pain).

The CL help system has information on what the links mean subtly hidden here and here. If you pause your mouse over a flag button a little clue-me pops up as well.

Some examples:

• Putting an ad asking for something in the Free category. Free is for giving away stuff. Wanted is for asking for stuff.
• Any ad that discusses another ad. See this little rant about Discussion Posts. Also, If a discussion post has someones personal identifying information in it, consider this.
• Putting an ad for a roommate or house mate in the Apartments for Rent category. Apartments for rent is for renting an apartment; no other tenants included. If you are going to be sharing the space post in Rooms & Shares.
• Putting an ad for your service or business anywhere but in the services category. Commercial posts go in services.
• Putting your M4W ad in W4M. Oops.

Read through the craigslist terms of use at least once. (twice if you weren't sober the first time) Check out the Prohibited Items list. Understand more stuff is prohibited that is not on the list (use common sense) Read all the help FAQs. Ask questions in the helpdesk forum if you aren't clear about something you are thinking about doing. It's pretty simple. Play Nicely With Others....but especially Play Nicely With Craigslist. They are bringing you this incredible resource for free. Show some class and have some respect, O.K.?

• that constitutes or contains "affiliate marketing," "link referral code," "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or unsolicited commercial advertisement.; Translation: FREE IPOD!!!. 'nuff said.
• that constitutes or contains any form of advertising or solicitation if posted in areas of the craigslist sites which are not designated for such purposes; Translation: A business posted outside of services is pretty much spam. See this note however.
• that includes links to commercial services or web sites, except as allowed in "small business ads". Translation: See above. Yeah, linking your business website is spam. NOTE: If you host some pictures on a commercial site and link to them in your ad this is not a problem. You are not advertising the site where the pictures are. If you link to something like a page on Amazon where there is a pic and description of the thing you are selling you are also not considered to be linking to a commercial site. You are not advertising Amazon, you are just using them as a reference. But if you have your own website and you want to advertise it, better post in Services somewhere. The same goes for posting ads for commercial website that you are affiliated with (maybe a distributor for their products?)

Posting too frequently (overposting) is a major problem. This really pisses people off. If you think your ad has to be one of the top ten on the page...well...what about everybody else? Everybody can't be on the top of the pile. So Play Nicely With Others. Take your turn. Sure, there are websites on the net that claim to have great advice on how to market on craigslist. A lot of them advocate being an asshole. Do you really think you are going to get enough money to make acting like that something you can live with? Craigslist could make a LOT of money if they wanted to. They pass on it and keep it free for you. Take the example. There is a better way to be in the world than just another jerk businesman/woman stepping on anybody and everybody in pursuit of a buck. Do not post more than one ad for the same item. Do not repost your ad more than once every 48 hours. Always delete the old ad when posting a new one.

Some examples:

• Posts that are not in the city closest to where the poster lives often get called spam. Poster is in Florida but is posting in NYC.^note

• Posts that are repeated too often get called spam. Reposted every other day or every day or every freakin' 20 minutes....!!!

• Multiple posts for the same thing get called spam. We heard ya the first time. And the second time. And the third time...

• Ads that link to eBay or other auction items are also spam - check out the FAQ Guidelines regarding auctions.

• Ads posted more often than once every 48 hours, multiple ads for the same thing up at once, ads for the same thing in multiple categories or sites...all pure greed and all called spam.

Back to the top of the Unofficial Flag FAQ

  Wazzup with it is your free classified ad annoyed enough of your fellow craigslist users to get it removed.

  But first things first. Do a little attitude check. Go ahead, right now. How do you feel? Are you annoyed? Angry? Outraged? A bit bewildered?. Consider that having your free classified ad taken down is hardly a big deal. It's not like your dog came down with herpes or your (now) ex-roomie skipped on the phone bill AND scored your favorite Flaming Turds CD. It's just an ad. Cost you nothing but a bit of time. If you are getting a big emotional reaction over it stop reading right about now. You have emotional issues. You need a therapist, not a FAQ. The authors of this humble document cannot help you. You could post a flaming "suggestion" in the FeedBack Forum filled with passionate references to Flag Nazis, unfairness, censorship,Freedom of Speech, injustice, etc., etc. Many people do. Perhaps it makes them feel better. But nobody will care except for a few trolls who will be mildly amused at your distress. So get Help, really.

Onward...

   Ads get removed two ways; users flag them off or staff removes them. We will look at both cases. The important thing is you want your ad to stay up. So; figure out what went wrong and don't do it no more. End of problem.

Users flagged your ad off.

• This process is automatic. Annoyed users flag your ad. Enough flags and it goes and you get that little email with the story. Staff never sees it.

• All the flags (except Best Of) do the same thing. The number of flags needed to remove an ad varies by category and city. Craigslist staff does not talk about what the number is. See the first section of this FAQ for what the buttons mean. One accidental flag won't do anything, it takes several to remove an ad.

• Nobody knows why your ad was flagged off. Really. No one can crawl inside the head of the people who flagged your ad and see exactly what they were thinking. This is why staff says not to ask them in the FeedBack forum. They really don't know. However users (and staff) can look at the details of an ad and many times they can make some pretty good guesses. You might post The Details about the ad in Flag Help Forum and ask the peanut gallery for help.

  These are the Details about your ad that they need to help you :
  

  1. Complete text and headline of the ad. Copy and paste it. Don't be shy, nobody knows who you are. If there was an address or phone number replace it with xxx-xxx-xxxx or something.  More>>>
  2. Did you get a flagged-off email? How did you know your ad was flagged off?  More>>>
  3. In what category did you post?  More>>>
  4. What price did you have listed in the headline of the ad?  More>>>
  5. How many copies of the same ad were posted at once?  More>>>
  6. How often the ad was reposted?  More>>>
  7. Describe any pictures and whether or not they were uploaded to craigslist.  More>>>
  8. On what site or sites was the ad was posted?  More>>>
  9. Did you use a counter or keywords in the ad?  More>>>
  10. Did you select the By-Dealer or By-Owner checkbox when posting? (if there was one to select anyway).  More>>>
  11. Have you had other ads flagged off in the past?  More>>>
  12. How many ads do you have up all together?  More>>>

• Anybody can flag anything for any reason. If they are having a Bad Hair Day they can flag your ad. If they don't like your spelling they can flag your ad. If they think you are the 9^th incarnation of the Devil they can flag your ad. If they think they are the 9^th incarnation of the Devil they can flag your ad. OK?. It takes a number of flags to remove an ad so one person having a monthly moment can't kill an ad. You have to annoy (or at least inspire) a number of people. That means you are quite possibly doing Something Bad.

• One person cannot set multiple flags on one ad. Well, ok, they can. But because of the protections craigslist uses it is a LOT of work to do. Even those that know how are very unlikely to bother. It's easier to send a hate-o-gram from an anon. email if you think something is truly wretched. The case where an ad has been flagged off by someone using a script or something is SO rare that it is well worth considering absolutely everything else first.

• People can and do get together to team flag ads. Craigslist can shut this stuff down by raising the flag threshold in a category. There are several forums dedicated to flagging ads. Ask in the Flag Help Forum for directions to one. You can read through them and see if any of your ads are being targeted. Most of the posts in these forums are calling for flags on ads that do indeed violate the craigslist TOU. However some people use these forums to call for flags on ads they simply don't like. Others don't understand the TOU very well and mistakenly target ads. At any rate craigslist condones the existence of these forums so there isn't much you can do. As the flagged off email says, "... if you are convinced that those flagging your post were mistaken, please feel free to repost." BUT, if your ad gets flagged off again and again then you are going to have to change something.

• Various categories develop regular readerships. These are people that have been reading through the category on a daily basis for years {?). In SFO the Free, W4M and Motorcycles categories have regular readerships. A lot of these "regulars" tend to think alike and over time they can develop a definate attitude about "their" category. They can be quite aggressive about things they don't like. Perhaps they feel your W4M ad is bitchy or your motorcycle is priced for more than their very expert opinion deems it is worth. They may not know eachother or ever communicate but they do tend to flag the same things and some completely innocent ads can get flagged off. (ads that are innocent in light of the craigslist TOU). Once again, as the flagged off email says, "... if you are convinced that those flagging your post were mistaken, please feel free to repost.". If the problem continues for you and you are positive your ad is kosher, contact craigslist customer service at Abuse@craigslist.org for help.

• Yes, other people have ads up that are lots "worse" than yours and they aren't getting flagged. Guess you must be doing something that is drawing fire to your ads. Find out what it is.

• For some examples of stuff users flag go here.

Staff removed your ad

• Staff only knew about your ad because somebody sent an email to abuse@craigslist.org and complained. Staff don't go reading through the ads.

• One complaint to abuse@craigslist.org will do it. Staff will look at the ad and if it violates the craigslist TOU they remove it. They might pull it if they just don't like it. It's their site. They are not cavalier but..well...it is their site. It is a private site, forget those Freedom of Speech arguements.

• If staff is doing a mass sweep on some spammer it is possible you got caught up in it. They will delete perhaps thousands of spams all at once and they go by the IP the ads were posted from. This means they don't look at every ad. It is not common for innocent ads to get clobbered this way but if you are posting from a public access point (library, internet cafe, poorly secured WiFi, etc.) this could be a problem.

• If you got an email telling you your ad was removed it might indicate the problem. You might not get an email and all you see is "removed by craigslist" staff when you go to look at your ad. If you don't know exactly what went wrong you might post in Flag Help Forum and ask the peanut gallery for help. Other users can look at the Details of an ad and many times they can make some pretty good guesses about what the problem was. Remember, even if staff removed your ad they remove a LOT of ads every day. They may not remember your particular case. (And this can be a good thing ;-)

• You have come to the attention of the Abuse dept. This is Not Good. Something has to be a bit more serious before someone will mail it to abuse@craigslist.org. If you keep it up you might get blocked. That won't solve your problem with keeping your ad up but it will solve everyone else's problem with having to see it.

• For some examples of stuff staff removes go here.

Back to the top of the Unofficial Flag FAQ

If you tried to post an ad and something popped up that said "Yer blocked suckah! Bwahahahah!" then yes, you're blocked. You are also trying to post on the wrong site. The 'Blocked' message on craigslist is more polite and it looks like this:

***************************************************

This posting is being blocked: Blocking Code 1234567

Common reasons include:

• Essentially the same item has been posted to multiple cities or categories, or more than once in 48 hours
• Post contains a link or URL to a commercial website or auction
• Personal ad appears to contain a phone #, email address, or URL

If you have reviewed our Terms and believe you have not violated them, please file a report and we will review this block for possible removal.

Look familiar? We made up the error number. These are not error codes, they are more like serial numbers assigned to each blocked post and they track exactly what the problem is. CL staff can look up the number and know what happened with your ad.

O.K. So what do you do about it? There are 4 kinds of blocks so first you need to find out what you are up against.

• Just the ad you are trying to do is blocked and it's your fault. See those three little bulleted items in the 'Blocked" message? Check your personal ad for a phone number (any string of digits even if they are spread out, it's software reading it boychik, and it's not real bright) , emails (any use of the @ symbol). Check any ad for a link to a commercial website. Check any ad for a link to an auction. Find one? Go back, take it out, do 20 pushups to build character and try again. If you are posting a lot of ads quickly, read this comment by Chaley in the forums (Chaley is craigslist staff).

  Craigslist also blocks certain words. If you use one of these words in your post you could get blocked. Needless to say the list of forbidden words is not published and it changes all the time. The idea is that if you use one of the forbidden words you are doing something you shouldn't be doing anyway. But it could happen that you are totally innocent and just tripped across one of the words (and of course you don't know which one). The thing to do is keep reading here. Try some of the tests mentioned to see if the cause is something else. Look at the part about posting the Details in the HelpDesk forum and see if anyone can diagnose it for you. If it turns out this is really the problem and you are not doing anything Bad then use that File a Report link in the blocked message. (The link here is just an example. It does not work)

• Just the ad you are trying to do is blocked and it's not your fault. Some webmail domains are being blocked due to abuse (by other people, of course ;-) The domain is the part after the @ symbol. The domain for Foo_foo@hotmail.com is Hotmail.com. Like that. Recently Sneakemail is being blocked. Try posting using your normal home email (you can change it later). If that works then either you were using a blocked domain or your individual web email addy was being blocked for other reasons (see the next item).

• You, personally, have been blocked. This means you are on the Abuse depts. shitlist. Not Good. If you have been getting a lot of ads flagged off that could be a clue. It doesn't matter if the ad(s) you got blocked over were in Cars+Trucks or Baby+Kids. Blocked is blocked. You won't even be able to post a Personal. Try a test post in Free or somewhere...you know, something like "Free Mattress!!, some stains and tears, smells a bit from our Llama sleeping on it. First come first gets...on curb at 530 Market St...."   If that gets you a 'Blocked' message then you are indeed screwed. If you know what you did then you need to email Abuse@craigslist.org and impress the abuse folks with how you have reformed yourself and won't do it no more, etc. Include the email address you were trying to post from and the error number from the 'Blocked' message. If you sincerely don't know what you did ( after reading the info at the> Conduct and Terms of Use links) you could try posting the Details in the HelpDesk forum. The peanut gallery will help you try to figure it out and staff might chime in as well.
  
  Details about your blocked ad that they need to help you :
  1. Complete text and headline of the ad. Copy and paste it. Don't be shy, nobody knows who you are. If there was an address or phone number replace it with xxx-xxx-xxxx or something.  More>>>
  2. In what category did you post?  More>>>
  3. How many copies of the same ad were posted at once?  More>>>
  4. On what site or sites was the ad was posted?  More>>>
  5. How often the ad was reposted?  More>>>
  6. Describe any pictures and whether or not they were uploaded to craigslist.  More>>>
  7. What the error number you got was,. (write it down). Only staff can interpret these numbers and one might do so for you.
  8. Have you had other ads flagged off in the past?  More>>>
  9. What kind of internet connection you are using (home, work, internet cafe, school or library, etc.)
  10. What email domain you are using (the part after the @ symbol)
  11. Did you use a counter or keywords in the ad?  More>>>
  12. Did you select the By-Dealer or By-Owner checkbox when posting? (if there was one to select anyway).  More>>>
  13. How many ads do you have up all together?  More>>>

• You, personally, have been very, very blocked. Deep sixed. Major Blocked. Poster child for ExLax. You're lucky you can get on the site at all. This can be caused by two things; Talent and Bad Luck. In the case of Talent proceed as above. Email abuse@craigslist.org and open a dialog along the lines of how you now understand that you have been very, very bad. But you have seen the light, virtually Born Again in fact, and you really, really promise not to do it again. You won't even think about doing it. Bear in mind you have really pissed off some good people so it's going to take a lot more than your standard line of bullshit.

  In the case of Bad Luck...well...stuff happens. This is rare but it does happen. The internet address you are getting on the net with can be very similar to one being used by one of the aforementioned Talented individuals. You are getting caught up in a block against them. If you are posting from work one of your co-workers may have been up to some Sweetness 'n' Light that got the entire organization blocked. (a bit of discretion may be needed, esp. if it's your boss) . If you are using a WiFi network or other wireless someone else on the network may have been causing problems. Internet cafes, coffee shops, libraries and other places with public WiFi or net access may be blocked for this reason.
             If you are sure your operation is squeaky clean (or at least washed and dressed) then email abuse@craigslist.org and tell your story. The more information you provide the better they will be able to figure it out. Don't forget that error number. It is wise to send such an email from your home email and mention the email you are trying to use to post if it isn't your home.

Back to the top of the Unofficial Flag FAQ

Just craigslist users like you. Most of us have hung out in the HelpDesk, Flag Help and Feedback forums a bit and have watched the people and issues come and go. A lot of people show up pretty upset about their ad getting flagged off. Some are bewildered, others angry, a few in definite need of meds. But there is a lot of frustration with the flagging system: understanding how it works, trying to find information in the craigslist Help, just trying to keep an ad up. So we thought we would put together this FAQ and see if might help some people. We don't work for craigslist. We aren't affiliated with craigslist. We didn't ask for Craig & Co. to approve this. It's just our take on things. Hopefully it may help you. But don't quote us, we may be wrong.

If you would like to see something added, have a correction, complaint, suggestion, think something is misleading, want to make a donation ...whatever, then post in green in the Flag Help forum. Keep it constructive, K?




Back to the top of the Unofficial Flag FAQ

Craigslist staff links various public sites for their own reasons. We suppose it is an endorsement of sorts (and are flattered) and we assume we aren't too off base on the basic content. But this is still an unofficial user effort and it changes periodically. What you read here today might not have been what was here when staff linked it. So don't hold it against them, O.K.?




Back to the top of the Unofficial Flag FAQ

Join the Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign!

Craigslist uses the same community flagging system for the following categories:

• Community
• Housing
• Personals
• Services
• Gigs
• Resumes
• For Sale

The craigslist forums use a very different system. The forums system is not discussed here.

Questions about the forum flagging system can be asked in HelpDesk.

There is also some good information in the right pane when you enter that forum.

Back

Some real estate postings can be a little different. You want to post where the real estate is located no matter where you yourself are. So if you live in NYC and you are renting your vacation place in Florida then post in Florida. That is where people looking for a place in Florida will be looking. Mention in your ad that you are in NYC.

Back

Some real estate postings can be a little different. You want to post where the real estate is located no matter where you yourself are. So if you live in NYC and you are renting your vacation place in Florida then post in Florida. That is where people looking for a place in Florida will be looking. Mention in your ad that you are in NYC .

Back

If you never got a confirmation email, or you got an error about a "similar ad, ask about it in the HelpDesk forum.

Thanks

The craigslist customer service department (Annette°, Aristotle°, Clint°, Craig°, and Geoff°) monitors the abuse@craigslist.org email. If the situation is serious then email the ad number to abuse@craigslist.org with a brief note about the problem. Read This and then the rest of this section.

The customer service folks are VERY busy. Keep an eye on the big picture and only send in things that really need personal attention from staff. Material that is or could be immediately damaging to someone should be sent in. This stuff should not be entrusted to the community moderation (flagging) system.

Examples of some things you might mail in:

• Personal information. If someone wants to post their own name, address, phone number, etc. then that is their business. They can always delete it. But if someone else posts it (including copying their ad in a Discusion post) then that is a major no-no. If it your own info that has been posted, definitely mail it to abuse@craigslist.org. If someone made a typo with a phone number and now your phone is getting flooded with calls, mail in as much about the situation as you know. Be as complete, clear and concise as possible with your description of the problem.

• Really dangerous stuff for sale. Things like explosives (black powder, dynamite, blasting caps, det. cord, reloading primers, etc.). Hazardous medications (prescription stuff that could hurt the unwary). Just run of the mill bad ads for guns, knives, "420", "tina", erection enhancers of all kinds, etc. should not be mailed in. Just flag them. Ads only soliciting dangerous things should only be flagged. As a rule, ads that simply violate the craigslist TOU and/or are dumb should be flagged. Ads that really present an immediate hazard in the community should be sent to abuse@craigslist.org.

• Way out of line spammers. Too many to flag...like dozens of ads. Collect the ad numbers and send them to abuse@craigslist.org. These matters are too big for flagging to resolve.

• Injuries to you. If you are the target of a prank, if your copy write is being infringed, privacy violations, etc, then use the abuse@craigslist.org email. In these cases you yourself are the victim of whatever someone else is doing in their ad. If you yourself are not the victim, then just flag the ad.

• Someone posting something hateful and racist in Rants & Raves. Part of the reason Rants & Raves exists is to draw this garbage away from the other categories...and you signed up for "offensive content" when you entered the place. Don't waste anybody's time with it. If you don't like it, definitely flag it.

• Ordinary breaking the rules, not playing nice, etc. Customer service is 5 people, craigslist has around 8 million users. The setup really depends on you flagging bad ads. For day to day garbage, just flag them. Even if it is something that really pisses you off, just flag it. Count on it pissing other people off too, drawing more flags and getting removed. Save the resources of customer service for the real hazards, things that could actually hurt people, not merely offend or anger them.

• Scams. Unless it is something very new, just flag it. If you don't know if it is a new one, check in the helpdesk forum. Remember that even if CL staff deletes a scam post it will be back within the hour under a new name. The scammers are pros at it. Your ability to spot them and your good judgement is your protection.

Use your browsers Back button to return to wherever you came from.

Go to the top of the Unofficial Flag FAQ

• Scalping anything.. iPhones, TMX Elmo dolls. Playstation games you have on advance purchase, tickets of any kind, etc. Craigslist readers just get real tired of this stuff. Yeah, it seems like an easy way to make a buck, it's just capitalism, lots of people are doing it on eBay, blah, blah, blah. You are getting flagged off because people don't like being taken advantage of. A craigslist motto is "play nice with others". Scalping ain't playing nice. Take this garbage to eBay.

• Too erotic in Erotic Services As of this writing there seems to be some fairly aggressive flagging in Erotic Services. Some theorize it is competitors flagging each other. Others think a group of moralists of some type are ganging up on ads that violate the craigslist TOU. So far, of the example flagged-off ads that people have presented in the FeedBack, Flag Help and HelpDesk forums, none have been solidly inside the TOU.

• Selling puppies The craigslist TOU forbids sales of "Animals and animal parts, including the retail sales of cats and dogs." This is found on the craigslist partial list of prohibited items. Although there are ads for critters of every genus, species and variety on craigslist and they don't seem to get flagged by users, your puppy ad didn't last long. This is because a group of users has organized to flag ads selling puppies. They have their own agenda regarding puppy breeding. For further information on this you might ask them about it. Regardless, the CL TOU does seem to forbid their sale. Check out Jims post (Jim is the CEO of craigslist) here.

• Non-paying job of some kind in the Gigs section. A gig pays something..as in cash. If it doesn't pay money think about posting in Volunteers. If it is a barter deal (for pictures/portfolio, experience, etc) perhaps post in Barter. But non-paying jobs in Gigs is not prohibited by craigslist. Check out Jims post here. Still, if enough readers in some city don't like it they will flag it off. People looking to make some ends meet aren't looking for Investment Opportunities. It is worth always looking at it from the readers point of view and in the case of Gigs the readers are very often people that need to make some cash quickly.

• Ads posted too many times or too often. Ya gotta remember, every ad category has a regular readership. Some of those people have their own ads up too. When they see some ad being "top posted" a couple of times a day or 5 copies of the same thing they get annoyed. They don't like seeing their ads getting pushed down the page by a selfish advertiser. Nobody likes seeing the same ad again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again. Posting too frequently (too many times per hour) can also get you blocked.

• Keywords. craigslist asks you not to use keywords. You read and agreed to that when you posted. So cool it already. OK, you figure it's sophisticated to put lots of keywords in your ad so anybody searching for something else will see your ad. But..uh...right after they see it they are going to be pissed off because you screwed up their search. They are going to think "gee, what an asshole". Hittin' the [ Prohibited] button makes 'em feel better. If you think the WhiteText games will work think about getting blocked. That stuff really pisses people off and they'll mail it to Abuse@craigslist.org.

• Ad in the wrong place. Different categories in different cities have regular readerships that are...umm...sensitive about certain things. Put a wanted ad in the Bay Area Free category and it will be flagged off within 145 sec. of hitting the site (I checked ). Intangible items are also iffy in the Free section. If you can't take it home in the trunk... ("Look honey, I got it free off craigslist...!") Promotions are also a bad idea in the Free section. Again, see Jims post here: http://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=34180103    In SFO, roommate type ads in the apartments for rent draw a lot of fire.

• Ad in the really wrong place. Like the wrong city. NYC apartment hunters get irritated about having to skip over a zillion ads for vacation condos at the south pole. Folks looking for a house in San Francisco don't want to wade through the Generous Offerings of the Reno Real Estate people. Tends to draw [Spam] flags.^note

• 'Tude. If you're going to run an attitude in your ad you better be pretty funny. Ha Ha kind of funny. Yeah, we all know the flakes are thicker than dandruff on a snowman but if you go ranting about it in your ad you're going to annoy readers. Some of them (guess which ones?) are likely to flag the ad. Same goes for bigotry, male chauvinist pigotry, Homophobia and the like. How many women do you need to irritate with your charm before your ad gets flagged off? Sure, there is nothing in the TOU that specifically prohibits you from being an adolescent jerk. Do you want your ad to stay up or not?

• Discussions. Discussions are ads that complain about or comment on another ad. This includes your considerate warning about the latest scammer (we already read the millionteen warnings on the ad pages and that one in the posting email). Everybody knows already (except you). If you would like congratulations for your astuteness in spotting some scammer then here: Congratulations!. There, now you don't need to put up that discussion ad. How about those back and forth posts debating somebody's price on a car or the endless begging for people to get it together and post all the right dimensions in their ads in Bicycles. This stuff gets real old and people rightfully flag it. The advertising categories are being read by people looking for good deals on stuff they can turn around for a profit on eBay. Or maybe just for some cheap tires. Or they want to get rid of a mattress. Or something. If they wanted to read discussions they would go to the forums. If you have a beef with somebody's ad, send 'em an email...don't inflict it on everybody. If you want to rant about something try the Rants 'n' Raves section.

  If a discussion post has someones personal identifying information in it, consider this.

• Spamola. Yes, this one is for you Webmaster Jr. When you link your website in your ad people tend to reach for that [Spam] button. craigslist is a local trip, your website isn't. Same thing happens when you post a nice ad advertising your eBay auction. It's a no-no on craigslist and eBay.

back to info on your ad being deleted by staff or flagged off.

• Ads selling guns, drugs, your kid sister, etc. Read over the craigslist TOU. Drink a lot of coffee if your eyes glaze over. You agree to it every time you post...might want to read it at least once, right?

• Ads posted too many times. Having 3 or 5 or 8 or more ads up for the same thing is Not Good. You might think you are being clever posting to each sublist in the Bay Area and beatin' the system but..uh...all those ads show up on top of one another when browsing the whole site. Delete the old ads if you repost them.

• Commercial posts in the Wrong Place. Hello, Big Apple Futon? Are you listening? POST IN SMALL BUSINESS ALREADY!!!! [Note: as of this writing craigslist is experimenting with allowing some commercial posts in the regular advertising categories. Read about it here.. But a misplaced commercial post could still trip you up as could abusing the new system in the works]

• National spam. Post your ad once on the craigslist site nearest to you. If you post your ad in multiple cities you will have problems. (Your main problem will be Clint, the head Customer Service guy. They don't call him "The Hammer" for nothing).

back to info on your ad being deleted by staff or flagged off.































































































































If you got a flagged off email it should have a copy of your ad in it. Just copy and paste that into your post in the Flag Help forum. There is a lot of information that will be useful to people trying to help you. If it won't fit in one post (you get an error about a 2400 character limit) then break it up into two posts. Just post the first half in one post, refresh your browser so you can see the new post you made and then reply to your own post and put in the second half.

If you did not get an email telling you that your ad was flagged off then you have to go to your account or to the publishing email you got to see the ad text again. Click on the ad headline in your account page to see the ad again. (it will be pink if the ad was flagged off). If all you have is the publish/edit/delete email that you used to put the ad up in the first place, try clicking on the link in the email and see if a copy of the ad comes up.

█►►►►►LOUD ANNOYING HEADLINES DRAW FLAGS◄◄◄◄█

Don't forget to post answers to the rest of the questions in the list. In a lot of cases it will be impossible to say anything intelligent about why your ad was flagged off without all the information.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a flagged off ad.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a blocked ad.































































































































If the craigslist staff removed your ad you may not get an email about it. See the section of the Unofficial Flag FAQ on ads removed by staff. Ad removed by staff have actually been looked at by staff...and they didn't like the ad. Take this seriously.

Don't forget to post answers to the rest of the questions in the list. In a lot of cases it will be impossible to say anything intelligent about why your ad was flagged off without all the information.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a flagged off ad.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a blocked ad.































































































































Posting an ad in the wrong category is a major reason ads get flagged. In you want something then only post in the Wanted category. Sometimes people have trouble with personal ads if readers think it should really be in another category. People in the Help Desk and Flag Help forums can usually give you some advice about which personals category your ad should be in. They can just give you a feeling about how other people may be seeing your ad.

If you are a commercial enterprise of any sort (except for car and furniture dealers and some real estate people) then you need to post in Services. Readers get annoyed with commercial posters in the regular advertising categories.

Don't forget to post answers to the rest of the questions in the list. In a lot of cases it will be impossible to say anything intelligent about why your ad was flagged off without all the information.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a flagged off ad.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a blocked ad.































































































































Too many is Too Many. More than one ad up at a time for the same thing is Too Many. Delete old ads before posting new ones. Read the stuff on the posting forms as you are composing your ad. There are some warnings about posting to several sub-lists in the bigger cities. You should only post one ad. It will always show on the main list for your city and also on the sub-list if there are any and you specified one when you posted.

Don't forget to post answers to the rest of the questions in the list. In a lot of cases it will be impossible to say anything intelligent about why your ad was flagged off without all the information.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a flagged off ad.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a blocked ad.































































































































Posting too frequently is a major reason for ads getting flagged off. The rule is to repost an ad only once every 48 hours. But a lot of times readers will just get tired of seeing your ad even if you only repost it every 3-4 days. There is a regular readership for every category and these are the people seeing your ad again and again and again and again...

Don't forget to post answers to the rest of the questions in the list. In a lot of cases it will be impossible to say anything intelligent about why your ad was flagged off without all the information.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a flagged off ad.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a blocked ad.































































































































If people thought your pictures were offensive they might flag your ad. You might think that picture of your Johnson is just the thing to get the ladies to answer your CE ad but what they really want to see is your smiling face. Do you look like a nice person? They get real tired of looking at Dick Pics. At least put a ribbon on it or something fun.

They might also flag an ad if your picture didn't seem to have anything to do with the ad. All those pictures of a flower or a sunset in the personal ads are very romantic (?) but people see it as a scam. There is the pic callout next to the headline of the ad but when they open and read the ad they get a picture of a flower, not of you. They wanted a picture of you. They feel kinda scammed. They flag the ad.

Don't forget to post answers to the rest of the questions in the list. In a lot of cases it will be impossible to say anything intelligent about why your ad was flagged off without all the information.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a flagged off ad.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a blocked ad.































































































































Hopefully your ad was only posted on one site; the site closest to the item being sold. If you are selling your couch that is in your garage post on the site nearest you. If you are selling your cabin in Florida then post on the Florida site nearest to the cabin (no matter where you live). Ask in the Flag Help forum for some of the fine points on this.

If you post the same ad on more than one craigslist site you will be seen as spamming. People flag spammers.

If you post something on eBay and then advertise your auction (or the same item) on craigslist you will get shot down every time. The craigslist terms of use forbid this and the readers hate it.

Don't forget to post answers to the rest of the questions in the list. In a lot of cases it will be impossible to say anything intelligent about why your ad was flagged off without all the information.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a flagged off ad.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a blocked ad.































































































































Craigslist asks you not to use counters in your ad. Putting a counter in anyway is a good way to get flagged.

Craigslist also asks you not to use keywords. Putting a bunch of unrelated keywords in your ad will just mess up peoples searches. If everybody did it the search function would become completely useless. Being rude like this will draw flags to your ad.

If you describe your item well in your ad you don't need keywords. People searching for what you have will find you. There is no point in your ad turning up in searches for something else. People won't suddenly change their mind about what they were looking for just because your ad is crudding up their search results. They will simply think you're an asshole and flag you. No kidding.

Don't forget to post answers to the rest of the questions in the list. In a lot of cases it will be impossible to say anything intelligent about why your ad was flagged off without all the information.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a flagged off ad.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a blocked ad.































































































































In the autos and furniture categories there are checkboxes for ByDealer and ByOwner. If you don't check a box or check the wrong box when you are posting you can have problems. If you are a dealer or look like a dealer then you need to have the ByDealer checkbox ticked. If you have ByOwner selected people will figure you are a liar and/or are trying to scam them and they will flag your ad. If you are not a dealer then you don't want to look like one. Selling lots of cars or furniture, having a lot of ads up, slick HTML drenched ads are all things that will make you look like a dealer.

Don't forget to post answers to the rest of the questions in the list. In a lot of cases it will be impossible to say anything intelligent about why your ad was flagged off without all the information.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a flagged off ad.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a blocked ad.































































































































If you have had a lot of ads flaggged off in the past there is a good bet you are doing something wrong. If there is a pattern there you want to figure it out.

If your ad gets flagged off and you figure there is nothing wrong with it, repost it and it gets flagged off again then you should cool it with that ad for awhile. If you keep reposting it then it will seem like you are top posting and other people will flag you for that. Find out what the original problem was, let things settle a few days and then repost.

Don't forget to post answers to the rest of the questions in the list. In a lot of cases it will be impossible to say anything intelligent about why your ad was flagged off without all the information.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a flagged off ad.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a blocked ad.































































































































If you have a whole lot of ads up people might think you are some sort of commercial outfit. That will draw flags . This is especially true if you have a lot of ads all in one category and you post them at once so they are bunched together in the list. Try to combine ads when you can and generally keep a lower profile. If you are just somebody with a lot of stuff to sell you don't want to look like a dealer that should be posting in Services.

If you are a real estate agent or broker and you have a lot of ads up people can just get tired of you. You are getting free advertising for your business. If it looks like you are being greedy with that then people are going to start thinking "SPAM" when they see your ads. They will push the spam  button.

Don't forget to post answers to the rest of the questions in the list. In a lot of cases it will be impossible to say anything intelligent about why your ad was flagged off without all the information.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a flagged off ad.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a blocked ad.































































































































If you had $1 listed in the price field of the headline, it better be a $1 item. Putting some low price in the headline to sneak into ByPrice searches is going to annoy people (D'ya think?). Annoyed people will flag your ad. Any price you list in the body of the ad needs to match whatever you had in the headline.

Asking for Best Offer or asking for people to send you offers without naming a price in your ad can cause problems. If you do this then what you really have is an auction. Auctions are forbidden on craigslist and the readers really hate them. (Anything that makes craigslist like eBay tends to get flagged). You can name a price and say OBO (Or Best Offer) but you need to make it very clear that you will sell for the stated price or the best offer below that. It is kind of tricky because some people can read it the wrong way. It can be better to name a price and say "neg." or "negotiable". This really means the same thing as OBO; you are willing to negotiate on the price. People on craigslist want it cheap and if you look like you are scraping for the highest bid rather than just trying to get rid of it then they might think you are greedy...and flag you. If you really want the top dollar then try eBay; bigger market and even with the fees you might get more.

Not listing a price is usually not a good idea. If you have a number of things to sell in the ad at different prices then you might leave the headline price field blank and just list the individual prices of the things in the body of the ad.

Don't forget to post answers to the rest of the questions in the list. In a lot of cases it will be impossible to say anything intelligent about why your ad was flagged off without all the information.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a flagged off ad.

Back to the list of details that people need in order to help you with a blocked ad.

Sorry dude, the constitution only says that the Government cannot interfere with your free speech. It does not say that any private organization has to publish anything you come up with. CL is a private site, just like your home is. They publish things that people want to say on the web. They call the shots on what they will or will not publish for people. You can stand on a street corner and yell whatever the constitution permits you to, but if you want someone to publish it for you then you have to play ball with them. CL can decide that your little blast is more than they will tolerate and remove it... And/or eject/block you to prevent further problems. Very simply craigslist can say: "not here".

The bottom line is that you are a guest in someone else's house. Respect the house rules. You have "civil rights" on public turf, not in someone else's private domain. That is what the "civil" part is about.

Further reading.