{"id":1989,"date":"2011-08-18T15:42:37","date_gmt":"2011-08-18T15:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/?p=1989"},"modified":"2011-11-18T04:01:19","modified_gmt":"2011-11-18T04:01:19","slug":"craigslist%e2%80%99s-surprising-hostility-to-ordinary-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/craigslist%e2%80%99s-surprising-hostility-to-ordinary-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Craigslist\u2019s Surprising Hostility to Ordinary People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ordinary People Locked Out of CraigsList with No Recourse — Is this “Arbitrary and Capricious ?”<\/center>
\"Jim<\/a>

Jim Buckmaster CraigsList CEO<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

\u201cCraigslist locked me out for no apparent reason, with absolutely no warning, absolutely no possible way to get back in and no way to know what I did wrong. At the most, I had placed six ads for very different things \u2013 advertising a room for rent and some furniture.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOnce your craigslist account is placed on hold it is gone forever.”<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nNow that Craigslist has eliminated paid classified ads in local newspapers it has become the vital, in fact the only, way for ordinary people to look for rentals, to advertise rooms for rent or to sell a few household items. <\/p>\n

But apparently you can get permanently locked out of Craigslist \u2013 for no apparent reason, with no warning and absolutely no possible way to get back in. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo, that can\u2019t happen to me \u2013 right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, think again. I was skeptical when a friend <\/strong>(a light computer user and casual Craigslist poster) reported that he was locked out of Craigslist \u2013 cut off as harshly as if he was a Corporate Spam Business<\/strong> \u2013 and there was no way to use his account again \u2013 apparently ever. <\/p>\n

This was not a single specific ad that was removed – he had never even had an ad flagged — he was totally locked out of a phone verified account.<\/p>\n

False Hope<\/u>
\nWhat\u2019s worse, when Craigslist locks you or another legitimate user out they falsely tell you that your account is merely placed on \u201chold.\u201d This implies that someday you will get access back. In reality there is no possible way to reactivate the account. Several blogs have articles reporting that they have tried every imaginable way and finally given up. (See references below)<\/p>\n

\u201cNo Help\u201d Desk<\/u>
\nHe had sent in a request to the \u201chelp desk\u201d and received a canned response to look at their FAQs. The problem is Craigslist FAQs do not have an answer for this question. In fact, the word “hold” is not even mentioned in any of the FAQs; let alone any way to have it removed.<\/p>\n

So he sent another request \u2013 and got back another identical copy of the canned response to look at their FAQs \u2013 that had no entry for this problem.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most frustrating, there is no way for a Craigslist user to find out why he\/she was put on \u201chold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course you knew CraigsList has no support – telephone, email or any other way . . . <\/p>\n

A week ago I wrote to Craigslist\u2019s press office outlining this article and asking if they disputed anything here \u2013 and have received no response whatsoever.<\/p>\n

My suggestion for Craigslist\u2019s CEO Jim Buckmaster is —<\/p>\n

You were purportedly making tens of millions of dollars in recent press accounts – so spend a few dollars to help your users who don’t have much, if any, money to spare at all.<\/p>\n

1. Start with a FAQ<\/strong> telling the truth about what it really means that your account is put on “hold” – that your account is gone forever AND that you can’t ever use the same telephone number to start another account.<\/p>\n

2. Provide a easy way for legitimate casual users to get an account unlocked. <\/p>\n

References:
\n1. Best Answer – Chosen by Voters (Yahoo Answers)<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce your craigslist account is placed on hold it is gone forever.”<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2. Craigslist PVA – Are Your Posting Habits Killing Your Verified Accounts?<\/p>\n

\u201cHow long will craigslist accounts be placed on hold?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe simple answer to anyone looking to revive suspended PVA on Craigslist is that it can’t be done.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Craigslist Proxy – Why Were My Accounts Put on Hold?<\/p>\n

\u201cAccounts that are put on hold can never be used again\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ordinary People Locked Out of CraigsList with No Recourse — Is this “Arbitrary and Capricious ?” \u201cCraigslist locked me out for no apparent reason, with absolutely no warning, absolutely no possible way to get back in and no way to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1989"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2883,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions\/2883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daviddilworth.com\/pol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}