What on earth is the point of a classified?

With the new search now removing classifieds from its results except for all those who pay top dollar, what on earth is the point of paying for a classified ad unless you're already near the top of the pile for your classified?

It forces people who are looking for *businesses* to go back to the classified tab, and that is not a bad thing.

What needs to happen is this: they need to fix the Google app and apply the enhanced search capability to all the tabs, so we can filter and use boolean operators. In time, it'll happen, but it's so effing slow in coming.

It's an awful thing, the big push is on the new search, removing classifieds from the main body of the new search, when the new search is the latest big promotion, makes classifieds for all but those who appear in the top eight or so absolutely pointless.

I mean people pay for a classified and it doesn't appear in search all? Paid ads don't appear in search all? This is absolutely bloody ridiculous. How the bloody hell can a paid ad not appear in search all? This is completely absurd.

Yes, but search all is still a frustrating experience. It's basically Search Places. Which is not the same as searching for a business or a new product. Search is still terribly anemic, and search all just makes it worse. The ooh shiny doesn't last for long. Once that's over, people go to the right tab and find what they need.

Agree
Search All is a new tool. It's a shiny new tool, but it is not the only tool you have.

For what it's worth, Search All was a great tool for the first 12 hours. It is so easily manipulated that there is little point in looking anymore.

ive used new search all maybe twice.. i've always used the tabs, so yuh.. i still do lol

The other tabs are still there, and the new All search is several orders of magnitude better than the old version, so there should be no need for complaints.

it definitely diminishes the value of your classified ad (unless you are top 10) when it comes to less savvy, lazy or newer users.

It will definitely help the business of those places who pay for a 10 ten spot in the classifieds.

I remember days not to long ago, you pay a but ton of lindens you get to the first page, Now not sure, Pay larger but ton of lindens and get to the top of that itty bitty list?

Sounds like someone is racking in on more lindens if you ask me. Not sure here but that is just what I am thinking. If that is the case shame on them. Bad enough that you have to pay so much to start with now you must pay even a greater amount..

the classified situation is beyond a joke.
i have pulled all my ads and now have an extra few thousand L$ to put toward tier each week though.

Personally, the 'top ten' should go too. If the rest of the ads only show in the Classified tab, why give such preferential placement to the top ten? Personally, I ignore those as wasted space. Don't even look at them.

I think the classifieds on the right side look nothing like results and should be changed, or changed to pay per click or something. But I do think it's possible the plan may be to make them worthless so the whole classifieds system can eventually be dropped.

Actually, when I am looking for a shop I open the creator's profile and then page to the classified section.

Many people who have a shop place a reference there, or sometimes in the "Picks" section. However, in many cases "Picks" contains other information, hence it's not as convenient.

Anyway: Search is useless WRT classifieds. But in the profiles a classified is pretty useful.

Ciaran and all,

I would suggest filing a support ticket to complain that you paid money for an ad which does not show up in what appears to be the official new "classified" search. When they respond with the search FAQ, write back that you know how it works: that's what you're complaining about.

Stop paying for them, as Nina did. The revenue drying up will do far more than our complaining will.

Post a comment in Cristalle's "Would you pay more than 50L" thread. James Linden, who is trying to tweak the search engine, was participating in that thread and said "keep the comments coming." That of course got buried since hardly anyone reads anything in this forum besides the 1st post of a thread.

I can respect whatever opinion you have about the search, but I don't see how you can claim that there's no need for complaints unless you have paid LL advertising dollars. People like Nina, and Ciaran, and myself are not just paranoid idiots.

I completely agree with you Ceera. My classified appears in the "top ten spam list" and I don't even look at it myself, just like I don't look at pop-up ads on web pages.

My traffic plummeted once I appeared on the top ten list. This is not money well spent.

I have several classified ads, ranging from 77L to 616L. So far, I am still receiving tp's. I will say though that the new system is complicated enough that I have contemplated removing my ads. The moment I unchecked all of my classifieds, several folks tp'ed using the classifieds. I quickly checked them all again. lol.

Now that I think about it, I should have asked what version they were using.

I think it's pretty clear that search all is worthless. And the only reason why people even use it is because they are clueless and lazy. All it is is an enhanced search of places that now includes objects. It has the feature we want - boolean operators - but it is limited in that it only returns 5 pages - and they won't fix it for months (!!)

I'm trying to be patient, but it is more than annoying that they are screwing with our businesses this way.

I agree. I want those gone.

I have often thought . . . something which sounds paranoid - that LL wants to get rid of all the mess of content creators, and just keep the top ones.

I know, it's paranoid, but I have often thought it, over the past couple of years. I'm sure they don't really want that. But whether or not they want that, what they do often seems to favor it.

coco

I think it's due to the fact that most Lindens do not actually use the grid at all, so they're completely out of touch and clueless about how residents actually use the grid.

Pastrami's comments about WindLight illustrate that the most to me (i.e. "just turn up the brightness of your skin!" completely misses the reality that few skins are mod, or are mod but weren't designed to change the brightness).

One Linden who dealt with UI design was thinking about removing calling cards because they had "no use" until people pointed out they're vital in starting conferences (was before the new communicate window) and my personal use of them to find out when I friended someone.

Or the "fix" that broke warppos ("oops... people actually use that?". Etc, Etc.

I don't doubt that all mean well and actually do believe that they're changing things for the better. They're just not aware of what the reality is like.

I guess you would have to count me as clueless and lazy then since that is my usual search. The new system doesn't work as well as the old I agree but if the advertisers would actually list their products correctly it would help out a bunch. As far as I can see way too many ads list keywords that are completely unrelated to the products they are selling. Do a search for flexi skirts using almost any tab and you'll likely get an ad for a BDSM, sex pose, strip club, or dungeon shop. The advertisers are as guilty of making the search feature a joke as LL is.

I find the classified as being a necessary evil to my business. I constantly vary the amount I pay weekly to see the difference in tp's I get. I think it is best for anyone with a shop to have a classified, even if its only 50L, so it shows up in your profile.

The funny thing is I dont use the search at all when looking for things, I almost always use SLExchange, then I look the creator up in world and go to their shop. And I guess the funnier thing is I don't have any of my items on SLExchange...lol(Well havn't for about 8 months). I really need to take some time and do that soon. Its free advertising even if you don't actually sell anything through there.

Yes, I've found many shops by looking for creator and then looking for their shop in the classfied tab of their profile. Find them on OnRez and then look for name in people search and then classified for shop. Amazing how many, though, do not have a classified or a pick, so I have to move on to next person to look at.

Exactly what I am doing. Looks like quite a lot of people do it that way.


Yes, I agree. You really should invest the time to get yourself listed on SLX. A good New Year's resolution if I ever heard one!