Is there no way to tag / flag these ads? Doesn’t anyone vet the ads before they are posted?
1 Like
While mods can delete and block the trash who posted it (PremiumLab), I see no way to delete the ad.
Only whoever owns the site can do that.
1 Like
Owners appear to have gone on walkabout…
If it wasn’t for the active members here that I respect and enjoy it would be easy for me to leave. The owners treat this site poorly not addressing glitches in a timely fashion is bad enough but not yet acting on this is gross negligence.
4 Likes
Wow! Wow!
It would be nice if the admins could address the spam ads, possibly assign a member to delete them.
Agreed. If there is no way to filter out hundreds of off topic ads it would be better to just shut the classifieds section down.
I don’t mind adds. They introduce new products and innovative designs, so I won’t block them. The ones that block content or cause the screen to shift around while answering a post are aggravating to the point that I would never buy the product. As far as tge drig advertisements go, there are enough references to recreational drug use expressed by members tyat the forum owners probably figured it would be a public service announcement. It would be interesting to take a pole on how many members who detest big pharma but have no objection to the availability of street drugs. With all the negative attention given Fentanyl, I’m shocked to see that as one of the proffered drugs. Currently, the toll on Baltimore streets is on the climb with over 27 deaths attributed to Xylazine laced Fentanyl. People gotta do what people gotta do. Sad to think the marketing potential is that lucrative for such a seeming holsum and health conscious forum.
The marketing department should at least consider the optics as it reflects the standards of decency.
Well, won’t have to worry about the drugs on the Classifieds as it seems it was taken down…at least I can’t access it and get a ‘page not found’ message.
That could be the result of the administrators trying to clean up that section. Just a guess.
We enjoy the use of this website and its clasified pages for free. Scammers are everwhere and the moderators can’t necessarily control it without constant engagement.
Between the scammers and the compliants above it seems that the classified ads are a thing of the past. Hopefully they will bring them back.
But before you get on here and complain about people not doing their job, please consider that they are (were) providing this as a service to us for free.
I can’t blame the administrators for taking them down. There is a saying “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Matt
2 Likes
Advertisements are a good thing, but occasionally I get pop ups that interfere with writing replies. Free is free, but interfering with responding to a post is aggravating. It does nothing to ingratiate me toward the product. I wonder if the advertisers realize their product is being viewed as a pariah.
Hey mate,
Don’t kid yourself, we, as users of this site are all part of an ecosystem. We are a commodity. The content that we create and generate sustains this website. There were no accusations of people not doing their job. I myself wrote numerous emails to every address related to the management of this website. Sometimes it’s necessary to generate some noise to affect change. As a manager of a number of web platforms myself, there are i innovations of infiltration every day that have to be dealt with. For a number of years now this site has not had much in the way of bad content injection. There are just a few holes in the Dyke that need to be patched. This is likely why the market page is down for the moment. The site administrators just need to patch a few holes.
1 Like
And there go the classifiedes. Is this site coming to an end? It is starting to feel like an old Compuserve forum.
I agree Dave. It was a forum for many perspectives which was interesting. Not so much any more but that may be me.
I’m afraid my passion for being on the water is fading with my physical abilities.
Sitting in a comfy chair next to a body of water is becoming more attractive.
1 Like
This is so sad. Perusing the Paddling.com Classifieds was a weekly (or so) ritual for me since the days of Paddling.net and I hoped to post one when I saw what was going on here. I sympathize with the site owner who might reasonably be concerned about liability. But surely there must be entities who can advise on how to protect themselves while still providing the service. Other more local sites I’ve seen have handled this kind of activity with a disclaimer coupled with a top-pegged post detailing how to detect scams and how not to become a victim of them. I’m really hoping that the owners are in a process of trying to fix this problem rather than abandon the Classifieds permanently. They provided a valuable service to the paddling community that would be sorely missed. I also hope that perhaps the owners might post some information about their plans.
The ads that you see “decorating” sites like this are not chosen by the web admin. Sites are paid by the surveillance advertising industry (google, amazon, etc), typically when you click on one of them. The ads are chosen based on what their surveillance thinks you are most likely to click on. So if you see a lot of drug ads its because your browsing patterns make you appear to be a old fart in need of medical support. 
For example, if I start seen ads for bras its because my wife, who uses our wifi with the same router and the same IP address, bought one.
Do you use that same excuse when your wife asks why you’re seeing ads for bras?
The OP was referring to actual classified ads that were added to the classifieds not to the ads by google, etc. The classified section was almost completely taken over by those ads before the owner took the section offline.
The drugs in the classifieds ads were not the normal drug ads from the pharmaceutical industry but ads for various types of illegal drugs (fentanyl, etc.) that were posted just like the boats.
1 Like