Rentals & Spam - You need to read this!

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Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
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If any poster that is looking for a rental property is being spammed (email or PM) by other posters trying to push their own rental property, please let me know via PM or email.

I will terminate the spamming posters account and I will personally bend over backwards to secure you an amazing rental deal, with either one of our current advertisers or other property owners we know and support.

We know a lot of people here at DR1 and have a reasonable amount of "pull" when it comes to negotiating rental contracts :)

We go out of our way to protect our paying advertisers, so if you are not already advertising with us, now is the time to start.

Dominican Republic Rentals

Do we send our advertisers clients?
Just ask Judy at Las Canas, she is almost fully booked for the next 3 months and 90% of her rentals are from DR1.

Sosua : Dominican Republic Rentals : Condo For Rent
 

BushBaby

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Jan 1, 2002
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But posting anything we know of or have heard about on the thread in question would be alright wouldn't it Robert? I mean, it is Up Front, open & honest!!

Personally I rarely get involved with property things - too much hassle, but where I have knowledge of a friend renting out a property which meets the enquirers standards & specifications, I would hope I could put the details about it on the thread?!! ~ Grahame.
 

Chris

Gold
Oct 21, 2002
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www.caribbetech.com
Of course BushBaby. This problem here is the spam - people trying to push their own property and the spam usually is of the type of "Wow! Do I have a deal for you". All done by pm or email and the new poster is unaware of the due diligence that is needed.

Like I've said before to new posters .. take the first 10 pm's or emails you receive after your first post .. all with a grain of salt!
 

Steve Costa Azul

I love Rocky's Ribs!
Jul 15, 2006
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Spam

If any poster that is looking for a rental property is being spammed (email or PM) by other posters trying to push their own rental property, please let me know via PM or email.

I will terminate the spamming posters account and I will personally bend over backwards to secure you an amazing rental deal, with either one of our current advertisers or other property owners we know and support.

We know a lot of people here at DR1 and have a reasonable amount of "pull" when it comes to negotiating rental contracts :)

We go out of our way to protect our paying advertisers, so if you are not already advertising with us, now is the time to start.

Dominican Republic Rentals

Do we send our advertisers clients?
Just ask Judy at Las Canas, she is almost fully booked for the next 3 months and 90% of her rentals are from DR1.

Sosua : Dominican Republic Rentals : Condo For Rent

Just to clarify, spam means unsolicited posted information, NOT when a person replies to another, after the original post!

For example ~ If a person starts a thread stating, I have this villa for rent, anyone interested? This IS spam.

When a person responds to a poster, who is looking for a villa to rent on the north coast and happens to have what he/she is looking for. This ISN"T spam!

If you don't believe me, LOOK IT UP!
The key word here, is unsolicited.

Isn't this forum partly here for many to learn and discuss things?

What if a poster came on and asked if anyone had a boat that they could rent and then a poster responds with, yes I have one that I could rent to you? This is the same thing but it would be fine.

Unsolicited emails are spam, providing information between one another within a forum should be no problem.
Steve
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
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Let's make this very simple.

If you're a property owner and NOT a current advertise and you promote your property on DR1 in anyway, this includes replying to posts on the message board or sending PM's or emails, your account will eventually be erased. Yes, you will get a "first offense" warning, but the next time your caught, your account will be erased.

Steve, we don't have a "rent a boat" section on DR1.... yet, so that's a little different. These types of posts are normally directed towards the classifieds.

We work very hard to maintain DR1 and make sure our advertisers get a great return on their investment. At the end of the day, they are the ones that pay the bills and their investment in DR1 will be looked after.
 

Steve Costa Azul

I love Rocky's Ribs!
Jul 15, 2006
405
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Spam

Steve, self-promotion is spam. Advertising is something you pay for.

I stand by what I said. ;) It was only when the DR1 got the real estate section, that any talk of real estate for rent became taboo.

If dr1 had a car rental section, all posts of renting cars anywhere else, would become taboo too.

Dr1 can't have a piece of every pie, it just doesn't work that way. :ermm:
 

Steve Costa Azul

I love Rocky's Ribs!
Jul 15, 2006
405
0
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Not Spam

You can stand by what you say as long as you want to ;) But until you own the DR1, you're gonna have to go by 'Robert's Rules of Order'. :laugh::laugh:

I do play by the rules. Just don't call a solicited response "spam" when it clearly is not. ;)
 

Bob K

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Aug 16, 2004
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I usually try to stay out of these squables, and i may be a little more dense then the average pumpkin but:

If a poster is looking for a condo/villa to rent short or long term and i happen to have my private condo/villa for rent, am not allowed to respond to the post or contact the poster in any way????????

Am i understanding that correctly????

Bob K
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,574
341
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dr1.com
I usually try to stay out of these squables, and i may be a little more dense then the average pumpkin but:

If a poster is looking for a condo/villa to rent short or long term and i happen to have my private condo/villa for rent, am not allowed to respond to the post or contact the poster in any way????????

Am i understanding that correctly????

Bob K

Of course you can contact them, just not via DR1 (posting, PM etc), unless you're an advertiser.

This has come about, due to the fact that some posters own property in the DR and are constantly spamming posters that post looking for a rental. They do not contribute to DR1 in anyway, they just use it as a way to solicit business.

On the other hand, we have posters that are property owners in our rental and directory sections that do support DR1 and need to be protected. These posters will be allowed to post on the board, send PMs, use our email system etc etc. They will get the full support of DR1 and we will go out of our way to direct clients towards their properties.

DR1 is not a one way street...
 

Ringo

On Vacation!
Mar 6, 2003
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Robert..

Perhaps I do not want to know?

Robert: "Of course you can contact them, just not via DR1 (posting, PM etc), unless you're an advertiser."

So PM's on DR1 can be viewed by you and others?

I support the what you are trying to do about spamming but does this open up a private message not being private concern?

Respecfully, Ringo
 

Chris

Gold
Oct 21, 2002
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www.caribbetech.com
I can't view private messages from others. Usually, because of the nature of software, the administrator can. This is normal and necessary for maintenance. Your email provider or isp could view your email should they want to, or for a maintenance issue. Geez, in many countries the government can view your email. I doubt however if there is someone in the DR1 office sitting in a dark corner and 'reading private messages'. I've found the DR1 private message system more secure sometimes than other methods of communication.

What Robert is talking about, is consistent misuse of the DR1 as a resource. Not the one-off occurrence where someone is looking for something, and another poster just happens to have it. He is talking about people that troll the board and consistently offer their goods or services to others, using the DR1 pm system or email system, without an intention in the world of giving something in return. Like using your telephone without paying for their calls.

This is not a new rule for the board. It has always been there, along with the self-promotion rule and in my opinion is a very good thing otherwise we will be overrun with spammers.
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,574
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dr1.com
So PM's on DR1 can be viewed by you and others?

Our admin software does not allow us to read peoples PM's.
Our message board is based on VBulletin and their feature set for both user and admin is well documented. Plus we don't have time to scan our database, pick out PM's etc. We leave that sort if stuff up to the NSA ;)

How do we catch people spamming via PM?
Simple, make a post under another username and wait for the responses.
Yes I have done this, yes I have caught a bunch of people.
We will continue to do this and we will continue to erase spammers accounts and block their access to DR1.
 

Ringo

On Vacation!
Mar 6, 2003
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Thank you Robert.

I would guess that the task of finding and getting rid of spammers is a never ending task. As a past DR1 (and future) paying customer for my rental ads, I thank you for your help and honest concern. (I get the "rental management" offers via PM when advertising but I just delete them.)

(Will post two rentals in a couple of days.)

Regards, Ringo
 

Beads

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May 21, 2006
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People have to remember the basic facts of the internet. Whoever owns this domain name essentially makes the rules of how things work and what people see when they visit the site. Access to it is a privilege and not a right. Any information on the internet is not a secret. Sending someone a PM is ALWAYS viewable by the domain owner, webmaster, etc. The person you send the PM to could also post it someplace else.

Remember if you want something to remain a secret don't post it anywhere on the internet.
 
A

apostropheman

Guest
People have to remember the basic facts of the internet. Whoever owns this domain name essentially makes the rules of how things work and what people see when they visit the site. Access to it is a privilege and not a right. Any information on the internet is not a secret. Sending someone a PM is ALWAYS viewable by the domain owner, webmaster, etc. The person you send the PM to could also post it someplace else.

Remember if you want something to remain a secret don't post it anywhere on the internet.
if you mean that Robert/admins on DR1 can read PM's i think that Robert disagrees...see post #16 , two posts before yours :D
Our admin software does not allow us to read peoples PM's.
Our message board is based on VBulletin and their feature set for both user and admin is well documented. Plus we don't have time to scan our database, pick out PM's etc. We leave that sort if stuff up to the NSA ;)

How do we catch people spamming via PM?
Simple, make a post under another username and wait for the responses.
Yes I have done this, yes I have caught a bunch of people.
We will continue to do this and we will continue to erase spammers accounts and block their access to DR1.
while the option for admins to read PM's is generally available in many applications it does not mean that it has to be or that it is.
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
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dr1.com
Let's not get off topic with the PM stuff. This thread is about people spamming their rental properties and what DR1 is doing to prevent this.
 
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