changes to craigslist

The recent changes to craigslist go a long way toward making automated posting on craigslist difficult - and it's about time. craigslists reasons for waiting so long are beyond my mere mortal understanding ... but after a long battle with spammers they've finally delivered a crucial blow by employing their own technology, improved :: and a cease and desist order via snail mail addressed to Joshua McClure :: who apparently finds solace from his legal issues by living in some remote top secret lair located in {PANAMA|"BEAUTIFUL PANAMA ... "} :: Not to be outdone by common sense, Joshua McClure of Troopal Strategies not only ignores craiglist's cease and desist order, he also raises the price to use his craigslist auto poster. This is such a problem on so many levels. His near sociopathic stupidity coupled with greed {while interesting on a sociological and psychological level...these things just can't be covered on a whole farm of blogs; ever.}

Anywho, back on topic.

The following overview of craigslist's recent changes is in no way intended be conclusive, nor do I claim to be an expert - and since my writing is often just rambling, this "article" may require several major edits before the spammer's dust settles. The following are observations and not gospel. Your observation may vary somewhat from my own. Please feel free to post a comment to the contrary regarding this information. I don't mind being wrong.

Changes on craigslist that may affect you:

Phone verification and phone verified accounts

In an effort to make craigslist appear to be a cleaner place to live for its regular users — kudos to craigslist for giving every lady of the evening {his|her} own section, away from the curious eyes of minors — craigslist is once again targeting redudant postings—this time by implementing its own technology, much improved, to limit mass auto-posting activity: by targeting geographic location. Several weeks ago a craigslist user could sit at his or her computer in New York and place an ad all the way to Los Angeles.

That's over. Probably for good.

If you attempt to post an ad outside of your own local area, look out for a big change. Instead of seeing that familiar "Thanks for posting, we really appreciate it!" {especially if you're a hooker posting in one of our paid sections!} When attempting to post outside a newly set geographic range, craigslist users are now being rerouted to a new screen, and then asked to set up a phone verified account. This serves two purposes: it shaves off pages and pages of redundant postings—which is a really good thing—and it corrals users back into their own local area. This may or may not be a good thing for all. Time will tell.

So far, most regular users don't seem to mind the minor inconvenience of being asked to reverify...about once a month (that's right, be prepared to be asked to reverify your craigslist account routinely) Difficulty associated with reverifying for the first time: you may run into a problem if the phone number you originally used to verify the account is no longer in service. Most users can simply reverify and then happily post where they left off. Those regular users who experience a problem with this recent change may have a little wait while craigslist takes care of the problem.

These recent changes on craigslist may also affect regular craigslist users who are posting locally; realtors, leasing agents and sellers of goods who post a smaller but still significant number of ads. If you fit into this category then please leave a comment. I would love find out how you're doing.

Geographic limitations aka "GEO"

As stated above, an example of the effects of craigslist's recent changes regarding geographic limitation: if you live in New York, and you're going to visit, or move to, Los Angeles, and you want to place an ad in Los Angeles ahead of time ... well you may experience a new twist: you may find yourself being asked to verify your craigslist account, again, or for the very first time.

The request by craiglist to please verify your account is a result of a geographical location filter and one of craigslist's recent changes put in place in order primarily to prevent mass postings produced by craigslist auto posters. It does appear that this recent algorithmic change is designed to combat those using any form of automated craigslist software, without causing too much trouble for its regular craigslist users.

The changes are not without quirks. Please note: while one day you may be able to post your ad nationwide using a non phone verified account, the next time you try to post nationwide you might just experience this geographical limitation. You may even be asked to verify your craigslist account if you're posting locally. These recent changes on craigslist do not affect all regular users of craigslist in the same way every time, but overall: if you post more than craigslist's TOU allows then you're bound to run into this new change sooner than later. These changes are a perfect example of "results may vary" and your own personal experience with these new geographic limitations will vary based on parameters that (craigslist decides best serve their regular users; no one really knows what those are specifically.)

Speculation: the strength of their new and improved filters is said to be affecting different categories to some degree and others to greater degree, i.e., craigslist's jobs categories may be more difficult to successfully post on after these changes than in the real estate categories.

Regular users should not be affected too much because these changes are aimed at your ability to post outside set geographic areas only; most regular users of craigslist post only locally.

But if you're considering automating your craigslist postings? There is a big but coming: This is not good news for you, the perspective buyer, if you are thinking of buying and using craigslist automated marketing software. Posting on craigslist has become very cost prohibitive with phone verified accounts now being sold at astronomical prices ranging between $5 to $10 dollars each. That's bad news for spammers and not so bad news for legitimate users and business people who rely on craigslist nationwide.

Now back off topic—it's probably needless to say the recent changes on craigslist are very bad news also for Troopal Strategies Joshua McClure, Joshua McClure or his marketing campaign, and his bottom line. In what appears to be a get-whatever-out-of-it-he-can-and-fast in the race against time and litigation: he has raised the price to use his software. Be aware that if you decide to do business with Joshua McClure and purchase his craiglist marketing software ... in addition to giving a man of very questionable ethics your hard earned money - not only do you run the risk of having all of your customer information compromised - you stand to also experience Joshua McMclure's own special technological implementation: anti piracy measures. What this means is that, in order for the Pirate to prevent his software from being pirated by other pirates - your poster will go through a series of relentless pinging from your computer to his server before each post. This can be time consuming and certainly very counterproductive if and when the server your new craigslist poster connects to goes down or experiences network congestion, or when and if Troopal decides to manually shut down their server to update their anti piracy measures. Be aware: this is often.

Overall, be aware that posting on craigslist after the recent changes to craigslist with any form of a craigslist auto poster has become a very cost prohibitive business...and for a lot of people, a royal pain in the rear.

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How to Earn Lots of money online scamming people by selling Troopal craigslist marketing software

... and what I really want you, The Buyer, to consider:

Why is Joshua McClure raising his prices on his craigslist marketing software when he's being sued by craiglist for selling that software? Is he crazy? Is he desperate? Well yes to both - and it is beginning to appear that he hopes to earn lots of money online scamming as many people as humanly possible {by using 1 hand again|using both hands this time} and as quickly as possible before his runs out.

Deafndumbant Joshua McClure is pretty cunning :: "cunning": not to be confused with intelligent or thoughtful or being in possession of native wit ...

Buyer beware :: If you, The Buyer, are searching Google to find a craigslist marketing software solution to automate your craigslist postings; do you really want to buy your software from someone who is being sued by craigslist for selling craigslist marketing software? The quick answer to this question is: you may have no choice :: as of this writing all the major craiglist marketing software companies are currently being sued by craigslist - and they are

CLAD aka John Doe :: google for more info
clbotpro aka John Doe  :: keep googling
Troopal aka Troopal Strategies, Inc., TOM Games, Inc., Joshua McClure :: if you're regular reader of this blog or a ripped off consumer of Troopal's then skip the Google part

If you're looking for craigslist posting software to automate your craigslist postings then quite {frankly|boldly} I suggest you either check out CLAD or clbotpro. Why? Typically in these types of lawsuits attorneys will subpoena the defendant's customer information :: well they can ask John Doe for this information until the cows come home; how successful they are in actually obtaining this information is directly related to both the integrity of the defendant and/or how easy it is to figure out: who is John Doe? In the case of Joshua McClure and Troopal Sucks, conveniently located {BEHIND MILITARY LINES|IN A CEASE AND DESIST ORDER ADDRESSED TO YOU, THE BUYER, SERVED PIPING HOT DIRECTLY TO  YOUR FRONT DOOR!} ...

Note: I'm not a big fan of craigslist's litigious habits—suing everyone autoposting software company they can get their hands on {while they grant wide birth to every prostitute on planet earth, making it easy as 1-2-3 to create a virtual ecommerce sex empire.} In addition to spending so much time and money suing the creators of autoposting tools—craigslist could very well choose to spend as much time and money shutting down the illegal prostitution on craigslist as they do fighting spam on craigslist.

... what this could mean to you, The Buyer, is that all of your personal information may very well be turned over into the hands of the plantiff's attorneys. In these types of cases the plantiff's attorneys typically attempt to cut a deal with the defendant::troopal::in exchange for {reduced legal damages?} by :: you guessed it :: pressuring the deafndumbant to turn over your customer information. What could this mean for you, The Buyer? It could mean that your personal customer information could be used to pester you, The Buyer ... which is not necessarily a big deal, but you never know. Why take the chance: and help Joshua McClure spam his hungry bank account with oodles of your cold hard $$$. Oh I'm sure he started out with good intentions ... yet it's hard to dismiss the fact that he did lie about his infrastructure just to gain your trust and get your business {so that he could set your credit card to auto-suck your precious money, every month.}

A lil disclaimer please: craigslist marketing software aka autoposting tools in of themselves are not inherantly bad—for crying out loud, hello: earth to craigslist, come in! They can cut down on redundant tasks and free you to spend more time building your business {ask any realtor or small business owner who uses one.}

So if you, The Potential Buyer, decide to automate your craigslist postings then do ask yourself this. All software being sorta equal anyway :: I'll get to the comparison chart later :: would you rather do business with a John Doe or Troopal Strategies, Inc., TOM Games, Inc., Joshua McClure aka Troopal sucks? The answer to this question can be found by investigating the integrity of the defendant—in this case known as Troopal Strategies, Inc., TOM Games, Inc., Joshua McClure. You've been warned.

Anywho and whereforto, Joshua McClure is busily raising prices on his cl posting software forum membership, being sued by craigslist for selling his cl posting software, and happily taking your money — while in contact with craigslist — and entertaining the financial logic of turning over his entire customer list ... which incidentally, was compromised once already after Troopal.com was hacked weeks ago. A hacking; a leaking of confidential customer information - customer information that Joshua could have protected by keeping his customer database on that non-existent "back up server" he both: lied about having in place and—used this very lie to bamboozle then scam people into believing that his company was offering a secure and private product.

Anyone with half of a brain would cease and desist
— but not Joshua McClure and his ... uh ... Troopal Strategies.
Brazen & stupid, and stupidly brazen, he has also recently raised prices  

{wtf alert}

As of the writing of my last post ::
Regular Membership has been raised from $39.99
to a wallet smashing, eye ball confounding $59.99!

Troopal's Legal issues, and Joshua McClure's morality aside, this price hike just begs the question: are Troopal's current paying forum members getting better customer service now that potential buyers are being asked to pay $59.99 monthly? {also please note: buyer be aware: if you're stupid enough to fall for this and decide to buy this software, agree to these expensive terms, use this software and love it, make money with it, but then figure out that the monthly forum membership is a total scam ... too bad. Be prepared to lose access the the license server this software connects to and thereby: lose your ability to use the software—wow what a deal, sign me up now} Also, be aware, due to craigslists recent major changes :: to be discussed in depth next time we get together :: using craigslist is not as easy as it was a mere month ago and one would think that when a company's entire business model is under hostile attack, well that might be the time to woo new clients in with lower prices and solid customer support in place. Joshua has decided that this tact is not going to serve him and his wallet - as for his customers (who incidentally, should be irate and willing to attempt to make Joshua accountable) I'm sorry, but you people are really pathetic to lie down and let Joshua get away with this.

Joshua's price increase; the timing here alone is
compelling evidence for the exponential growth of stupidity and scandalousness

 Coinkydink; or desperado SCAMMING ALERT? 
You decide.

{click the image above to convert your wallet into an empty container!}

Please note: comments are open. Tell me I'm wrong.

Updated as of Nov 25, '09: looks like Troopal Strategies' Joshua McClure has...er...changed the prices of his craigslist ad poster prices once again (note to self: see an opthamologist soon.) But more likely - he has opted to no longer publically advertise its cost. Rest assured however, there is a cost for those services - and possibly a few hidden costs for you if you decide to make that purchase. Happy "Thanksgiving ..."

More on craigslist marketing software

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Joshua McClure - we demand Troopal sucks no more!

Joshua McClure, self proclaimed SOCIAL MEDIA GURU :: INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGIST :: and founder of  Craigslist Posting Software - Troopal Sucks {Hard|And Then Sucks $80 Dollars From Your Credit Card Each Month; Billed As "Pro Membership"} would have made Tom Sawyer proud. Anywho, let's just begin to discuss how bad Joshua sucks.

What exactly is an "internet marketing strategissst"? 
wikipedia defines strategist as: a person skilled in designing and planning action and policy to achieve a major or overall aim.
 
overall aim. So...then...logically, it would follow that part of the "overall aim" of a competent and smart internet marketing strategist would be to create a sustainable income. So. What's the deal with all the short spurts; those startup-then-fizzles?

Just visit his forum and you'll see that it's ghosted. It looks like unstable territory ahead. Can I offer you an $80 donation.
 
 

 

Internet. Marketing. Strategist.

:: next ::  

FACT: Joshua mcclure has been been a very naughty boy and busily bamboozling his customers out of $80 dollars a month to be a "Pro member" on his now completely useless and unmanned forum :: Tell me I'm wrong.
 

If you absolutely need troopal sucks; I mean, reeeally reeeally need it ::
then at least do yourself a favor and downgrade from pro to reg


Pull your head out...
stop being lied to and lead on!
Don't be an idiot.

Stop giving Joshua McClure
your money for this Pro member B.S.

Demand pro member features.
Demand accountability from Joshua.
Demand that he deliver the goods :: {YEAH RIGHT|AS IF}

He can't. He won't. I don't have to tell you.
You are going to keep on throwing away your $$$$ once a month.
Go ahead then, be an idiot despite the fact that:
Deep deeeeep downnnnn ...you...know...that troopal sucks

Company info on Troopal Strategies :: information; readily available on their web site as of this writing:

THE COMPANY  ::  wikipedia defines company as: a real company is a form of business organization :: business organization ::BEAVIS, uhhhhuhhuhehuh they said ... businezz orgaztion uhuhhhhhehuhhh

Who is Troopal Sucks?

Troopal Strategies, Inc. is based in Panama City, Panama. Troopal was formed by a group of EAPD users and licensed the software rights after EasyAd, LLC. was sued by Craigslist and stopped updating EasyAd Poster. Troopal Strategies is in no way affiliated with EzAd, LLC., Mesiab Labs, or Craigslist. The support team resides all over the world with the headquarters located in beautiful Panama City, Panama. The laws of Panama protect Troopal from being sued under U.S. law by Craigslist. Additionally, Our poster does not agree to the Craigslist Terms of Use and opt all EAPD users out of agreeing to the Craigslist Terms of Use automatically.

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