Classified Ad Forum: Needed or Not?

Who among you feel a classified ad forum on MadridMan's Spain Message Board could be useful/detrimental to current and future members/visitors of the message board?

Of course, this would be an ALL Spain classified ad forum just as this entire message board is dedicated to the country and to no particular city/region.

To me, the PROs would include given real-people a forum in which to list their personal apartments, personal services, and would allow visitors a way of finding what they want. If advertisements were allowed, visitors could seek out their services. I could transfer all self-promoting postings which were "illegally" posted in other forums to the Classified Ad forum and avoid hurting feelings when I deleted them.

CONs would include having a forum with possibly hundreds of advertisements and other clutter. It might invite a whole different "class" of members. (Class = persons with intentions different from our own)

I see from my fast list above that there are, to me, many more PROs than CONs, but I may be missing some. What do you all think? I value your input.

Saludos, MadridMan

MadridMan: I say go for it. The pros outweigh the cons as far as I am concerned. It could provide some financial rewards for all your hard work & time spent helping. People are smart enough to weed thru any underhandedness and with you as a Sentinel guarding the gate against self-promotors I think it can only be a plus. My only suggestion is to keep it separate and well distincted as paid Ads. Good Luck to you MM. I see it as helpful. Bill Ski

billy ski, I'll take your comments under advisement. However, I don't expect any financial gain from the addition of a classified ad section. I imagine it as a place to post text-only information. Besides, not sure how I could turn it into revenue anyway.

I don't think advertising for a flatmate is a commercial venture - after all those advertising the room are not the landlords. In cases like this I think a post offering rented accomodation provides auseful service and at no financial gain or loss to anyone involved.

I don't think it's a bad idea, I mean if someone on this board has a piso to rent or a tv to sell that's no big deal.

I think the people here won't abuse it. Just keep the idiot spammers out!

I also think that a classified ad forum is a good idea. Also, in this same classified ad, you could include all those threads from people looking for some companionship/friendship on their trips, as well as finding a home for the many posts re: MadridMan.com dinner get-togethers... I'm not quite sure how you would name a forum with all this in mind, but I thought I would share my idea, however far-fetched it may sound!!!

I think it's a good idea. At least give it a try. Perhaps we can find some people who are interested in "home exchange" too.

"Do it...do it now"

[06-20-01: Message edited by: Arnold Schwarzenegger ]

I too think it a worthwhile idea, some of the suggestions already posted sound good ie friendship/company for trips. How would the section work? Would you screen all postings for content? Would a profile for every person posting an ad. be available?Would you insist a valid e-mail address be used in the ads.?
Sorry if I have posed a few questions for you, but I think they are valid.

"Large chest for sale.....any takers ring blah blah" I think it's a smashing idea for somebody wanting to sell their furniture, etc, MM. However, you might not want to follow the lines of this section of classifieds from the Sur In English, which has a weekly free circulation of many thousands in southern Spain although I bet many MM members have already seen these whilst on holiday down here....... http://www.surinenglish.com/buscar.php :o

Hi Anchovy - I saw your advert in the ADULT RELAXATION category!

MM - I think it could be a good idea, and would probably become compelling reading even if I didn't need anything myself - just appeals to my nosey nature. I'm sure lots of people would find it very useful.

Jo-Anne

Boo! The link didn't work, but congratulations to you, Jo-Anne for working it out yourself. You do of course go to above mentioned link to Sur in English and then click on Personal and then Adult Relaxation...... But it doesn't seem funny now......although it had me rolling around when I posted it....sad really

Anchovy,

You old war horse! I'm still trying to figure out which kinky ad in the personals is yours.

I thought about an old TV show though. It would make a great ad.

"Have gun, will travel. Contact Wire Paladin at....."

Wolf (Who's dazed and confused.)

Okay. Okay. Today is the day... more "Classified" type messages are coming on nearly everday.

So what to name the NEW forum? How about simply "Classifieds/Personals"? This seems pretty all-encompassing, no? I'll add the new forum tonight and then start moving all previous/relative postings there.

Let's all keep in mind that this is intended to be a NON-commercial forum for flat-shares, looking-for-roommates, job-postings/hunting, get-togethers, furniture-for-sale kind of forum and not for services, business opportunities/SPAM, website advertisements, or the like. (I have a feeling this new forum will be the most difficult to moderate)

Saludos, MadridMan

There is already some advertising on these fora: Aerocity, for example. And the kind of 'scare' tactics (i.e., 'taxi ripoffs') to get people to avoid taxis and opt for that service. That's a type of advertising,
disguised as personal recommendation based on experience.

If you can get advertisers to use your 'non commercial' classified ad forum and keep out the people selling timeshares in Marbella, then go for it.

Hi Eddie! As I said, the new Classifieds/Personals forum is going to be the most difficult to moderate. I agree that sometimes people post things (you can usually see right through them) as personal experiences when they're really the owners of the service. I try to check suspicious IP addresses, but sometimes get no concrete results.

Re: Taxi-Rip OFFS, I guess I'll/we'll just have to use our best judgement if these kinds of postings are "announcements" or "safety/security" or "transportation"-related items. It's going to be tough for sure.

As for Aerocity, yes, they do advertise on MadridMan.com's transportation page and I realize it's probably more than a bit hypocritical to allow them to post information about their services on this message board when no one else can. However, a company such as aerocity, to me (since I've used them), provides SUCH a necessary and cheap alternative for transport to/from Madrid Barajas airport that I don't mind so much.

Notice though that they are never first posters, but rather answering questions people ask about their service. I've tried to make this point clear with them and they have been respectful with my wishes about no blatant advertising as we've all seen others trying.

I don't honestly think many people will be often checking this new Personals & Classifieds forum as it doesn't interest everyone, but if nothing else now we'll have a place to put these kinds of postings so that they don't "pad" the other relative, entertaining forums. Enjoy!!

Saludos, MadridMan

[ 08-18-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

MadridMan, Eddie,

Personally I have no problem with what Juan (Aerocity) posted. To those of us who have been reading these boards regularly, we know there are taxi drivers who are ripoff artists, and drool at the thought of getting an unsuspecting tourist into their cabs, so they can charge them an arm and a leg for the trip from Barajas to their destination in or around Madrid. Often two or three times what the price should have been.

If... in the process... Aerocity gets a little more business from amongst us, and if one more crooked taxi driver doesn't get a fare, that's good enough for me. I'm not about to get upset if Juan, Antonio, or any other contributing member of our group helps themselves a little bit, especially since they are doing so much to add to our understanding of Madrid.

Now, that doesn't mean I would allow someone to advertise a service, or anything that would be illegal, immoral, or actually be done in an attempt to draw people away from this site. That would be totally un-cool in my book, and I would boycott anyone who placed that type of ad.

Wolf (No jokes this time.)

I thought I'd jump in here and say I like the idea.
"Classifieds... they aren't just for breakfast anymore".

I think it's great too. And we always have "general chatter" or other forums to express likes and dislikes that would end up serving to moderate some would-be ads.

Thanks for your support and ideas everyone!!!! I really appreciate that. Afterall, as I'm ALWAYS saying , this is YOUR message board more than it is mine.

I definitely like the idea, and I have to second Wolfgang's thoughts. Although blatant advertising would be annoying, I will hopefully be using some of the services I have seen posted on this site. Antonio, I hope you guys can squeeze me in to Hostel Chelo one evening in MArch! THe Walks of Spain, Aerocity and Tapas Crawl are all things that appeal to me, that I wouldn't have found out otherwise.

I also definitely agree with Wolf and Nicole-
both examples (Aerocity and Hostel Chelo plus a couple of other 'enterprises')give far far more to this board with thier helpful - and time consuming - postings. Has anyone ever considered (MM???) that the above could be deemed public service announcements vs. commercials - i.e., paid ads?

It's my advertising background ... and big mouth ...

[ 08-22-2001: Message edited by: Puna ]