forums - craigslist

Economics of unpaid labor in CL help forums. < DNFTTrolls > 2021-10-19 07:35

Economics of unpaid labor in CL help forums.

Using unpaid labor in help forums is too expensive.
It is pushing CL beyond deplorable.

Why is CL staff not answering questions in
CL Help Desk and
CL Flag Help Forum

Received wisdom is that CL does not have enough employees.

Even on Oct 4, 2021, the day Facebook was down,
CL Flag Help Forum had only 22 new threads.
In CL Help Desk 4 new threads.
Approximately one thread per hour counting both help forums.

It appears to me that one CL employee can do this in under one hour.
CL staff would not give answers instantly at night,
but is it worth letting random unqualified users give instant answers filled with insults?
Even if the help seeker must wait 24 hours for an answer by CL staff that is still faster.
CL Flag Help.will tell them they must wait 48 hours before they can try again.
That obviously has nothing to do with the reality of CL ads.
The benefit of CL staff answering
is that a help seeker will receive one brief reply
instead of a long thread full of trash and insults.
Help seekers would not need to answer the ridiculous questions in the Flag Help Forum.
CL staff have access to that information.

CL staff is already doing work that is even more dirty than that.
At least I like to believe the imagination of < Imelda_Snarkos >
--- why have rants < whocarescl > 16:11
For the same reason we have toilets. < Imelda_Snarkos > 2021-10-18 20:23
R&R is the toilet of CL so it's where the turds belong. Staff flushes it pretty regularly.
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=318659228

It is probably best to remove the Flag Help Forum.
If CL is not ready to do that, here is another Flag Help Forum suggestion.
If random unqualified CL users are given the power to dish out 'help'
give the help seekers some power to evaluate the help they receive.
For Flag Help Forum only:
Make the OP of the thread the only handle
that can flag and give rating points to replies in their thread.
On the page after clicking on
compose new thread
advise the forum poster to avoid arguing with people who reply
and to use flags and rating points instead.

An example from the Help Forum:

Sold Status < Mewantingsoldstatu > 2021-10-10 11:59
How do I change my post's status to sold?
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=318536288

why on earth would you < - > 2021-10-10 12:09
advertise something that is sold?
delete the ad you fool!
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=318536405

The 'fool' asked for a translation from the language of Facebook Marketplace to the language of CL.

It appears that all people asking for help are considered guilty of something.

To quote another observation:
You need a stroke of genius, NC. < HelpfulHedda > 2021-10-07 14:16
Stop treating help seekers as if criminal in their intent from the gitgo!
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=318499383

It is much worse in the Flag Help Forum.
Flag Help Forum is captured by a gang of forum hooligans.
They are addicted to the power they feel over their captive audience.
They get people who are already annoyed at CL
and they increase the temperature
by a dozen old tired, often repeated insults.

What do you think these top posts in the Flag Help Forum are about?
They invite coordinated flagging of replies in that forum that do not agree with the gang.

Silently . . . . § < EggmanWalrus > 2021-10-18 06:58
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=318646845

Please people, Flag silently. § < EggmanWalrus > 2021-09-15 10:30
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=318172763

Silently . . . . < EggmanWalrus > 2021-06-28 18:11
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=315295794

Dragonflies are best when flown silently ... § < read-learn-succeed > 2021-06-04 09:06
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=314594622

Not trying to jinx this forum, but.... < rev6pk > 2021-05-20 16:23
...is everyone's least favorite asshole in timeout?
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=314228618
--- Not trying to jinx this forum, but.... < rev6pk > 2021-05-20 16:23+17
: . . HHHHHHIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSS < diputs > 2021-05-20 16:26+9
: . . No I'm still here. :P § < Imelda_Snarkos > 2021-05-20 16:34+4
: . . We can only hope... § < Darlin__1111 > 2021-05-20 17:03
: . . Like all of us he deserves a chance to get < vrtil48 > 2021-05-20 17:25
: . . : . . Well, give him credit where credit is due. < EggmanWalrus > 2021-05-20 17:39+3
: . . : . . And I really hope, if this ever happens again, < EggmanWalrus > 2021-05-20 17:41+3
: . . : . . : . . And I agree with a posit of his..... < vrtil48 > 2021-05-20 17:49
: . . He seems to have disappeared … < read-learn-succeed > 2021-05-20 17:48+4
: . . : . . Even big G had to take a day off. § < diputs > 2021-05-20 17:57
: . . gfgf < Commiegohome > 2021-05-20 18:30+7
: . . : . . Or showed up in a thread more than once < EggmanWalrus > 2021-05-20 18:38
: . . It is not going to learn < 1streaddirections > 2021-05-21 03:51
: . . : . . And I still say < 1streaddirections > 2021-05-21 03:54
: . . : . . : . . Maybe. Or maybe a gentle < EggmanWalrus > 2021-05-21 04:23
: . . : . . : . . : . . The two < 1streaddirections > 2021-05-21 04:55
: . . : . . : . . : . . : . . Well, okay, in that instance, < EggmanWalrus > 2021-05-21 05:00
: . . : . . : . . I've always thought... < Darlin__1111 > 2021-05-21 07:19

In contrast to above, telling other people what is allowed in Flag Help Forum
Well, you're talking about subject < EggmanWalrus > 2021-05-10 12:01
matter that is not appropriate for this forum.
Unless or until you have an ad in ad space that was flagged off, we cannot help you.
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=314009194

This situation is not new.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2399312
April 2, 2011 Craigslist has been disrupted
Having had an ad inexplicably flagged, the flag help forum is no help at all, unless you consider random, uninformed speculation a form of help.
For one thing, the tone of the flag help forum is that of a hazing circle. It's just a lot of people sitting around being snarky, making rude comments at relative novices and calling them names.

When something similar is posted in CL forums it is flagged and removed
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=318328090
post 318328090 is located in thread 160724 of cl - feedback
tul What am i doing wronge? < Dana28yr > 2021-09-21 15:46
: . . try the flag help forum. Make sure to follow < mortie3k > 2021-09-21 15:59
: . .: . .Do not do that (THIS REPLY FLAGGED AND REMOVED)
Summary of the removed post:
A warning that Flag Help Forum is the place where ad posters are shamed and bullied.

None of the people in this gang know how to use ad ID to find the timestamp when the ad was posted.

Humans can only flag ads they can find. < DNFTTrolls > 2021-09-29 09:43
This ad was Posted 2021-09-29 05:28 SF time.
This thread was started at 5:51 SF time.
This ad was never listed for any humans to find.
-TTFND 20210929
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=318378681

Only 2 people who occasionally reply in the Flag Help Forum know how to do that.
One of the members of the gang goes to great lengths
to block forum posts of just those 2 people as they annoy him.

Excellent question < read-learn-succeed > 2021-10-15 17:23