For the past couple of years, I’ve had a free classified ads section on this website. Every day I get multiple submissions for ads to be posted, but all ads require moderation. The main reason I set it up for moderation? 999 out of every 1,000 ads submitted are SPAM. The ads are from India, from folks trying to earn $77/hour from home by posting ads, Scam Ads, and in general, ads that have nothing to do with ham radio or the person posting being a ham radio operator.
We’ve had no new legitimate ads posted within the past 90 days, just SPAM ads. Got 4 more of the bogus ads over night last night.
The entry page for adding ads, clearly states:
One person\’s junk, is another person\’s treasure, thus the reason we have Ham Radio Swapfests year around. But what happens between those events? Got some extra / unused Ham Radio gear you want to sell or trade? Looking to buy some used gear? Post a new Classified, or Browse our Classifieds posted by other hams.
We will generally refuse ads from other countries (non-USA), Dog Breeders, Time-Share Condos / Vacations, those offering get rich quick, work at home, or other similar offers. Such ads will simply be deleted prior to allowing them to show.
Use of this site is intended primarily for Ham Radio operators. If you hae any questions about what type of ads area acceptable, feel free to contact the webmaster using the info at info@sanantoniohams.org.
SanAntonioHams.org reserves the right to decline service to anyone for any reason. This is a free site, sponsored by N5NTG, not affiliated with any individual ham radio club or organization. We are not responsible for what you buy, so the old saying “Buyer Beware” applies. Let us know, however, if you feel you got ripped off, or if someone is falsely advertising something for sale or trade using this free service.
All classified ads are free. This site is focused on Amateur Radio / Ham Radio items and topics, but for now, we’ll leave such restrictions open until we see if it gets abused. No postings offering anything illegal, sexual, or dealing with alcohol or tobacco will be permitted. We’re really not wanting to become the next job search site, or Apartment / House hunting site, but we won\’t turn those down until we figure out what direction our visitors want to move toward.
My posted terms of service, that every poster had to agree to, says:
No work at home ads allowed. No ads from India, etc. If you aren’t a ham radio operator or selling something other ham operators might be interested in, don’t bother posting your ad here.
We provide this service for free to the amateur (ham) radio community. We automatically mark as spam, any ads submitted by non-hams, or obvious non ham related ads from get rich quick schemes, work at home, and other crap like that. Your ad will be deleted without notice if you don’t meet our criteria of being a ham radio operator submitting an ad.
And yet they keep posting….
So I’ve reached the decision to pull the plug on the classified ads feature! Unless I get someone with a better reason for leaving the ads feature as part of this website, and a way to better promote using it, it’s history! As of 9am today, that feature has been deactivated!
Contact me at info@sanantoniohams.org or call me at 210-771-7075 if you want to discuss my actions.
The Blog section & Events Calendar are well used and read, so they will remain, never fear!
Lee N5NTG
Webmaster / Owner of San Antonio Hams dot Org
