Help / FAQ's
Please use our online help guide as well as our frequently asked questions below to find answers to your questions.
Close By Me's Online Help
Frequently Asked Questions
how to find your post in the listings
If you have published an ad but you can't locate it on the site, there are a few things to consider:
Your ad will appear on the site 15 minutes after you publish it.
You may need to refresh/reload the page that displays listings for the category where your ad was posted.
Make sure you are looking in the correct category (for example: skilled trade services vs. skilled trade Employment, general for sale vs. general community).
Make sure you are looking under the correct date. Your post will appear under the date when you published the ad.
If you are unable to locate your ad using a keyword search, make sure that the keyword actually appears in the text of the ad.
Other possibilities: your post may have expired, or it may have been removed from the listings by flagging.
posting deleted
There are 3 possible reasons:
Your post expired.
Your post was flagged by other closebyme users.
You deleted the post yourself.
flags and community moderation
Closebyme provides free and nearly instantaneous self-publishing for our users postings each month, subject only to our Terms of Use and other posted guidelines.Our flagging system allows closebyme users to flag inappropriate postings for speedy removal, while preserving everyone's ability to express themselves freely and in a timely fashion.
By using the flagging feature located at the upper right corner of each post, you can take action if you feel a posting is inappropriate, by clicking on:
miscategorized - wrong category/site, discusses another ad, otherwise misplaced
prohibited - violates closebyme Terms of Use or other posted guidelines
spam/overpost - posted too frequently, or is too commercial
If a post receives enough negative flags it will automatically be removed (only one flag per person per post is counted).
Posters whose postings are repeatedly flagged are subject to staff review and additional remedial measures.
Many postings are removed through community flagging each month, and of these we consistently find that 98-99% are in violation of the closebyme terms of use or other posted guidelines.
No moderation system is perfect, and 1-2% of ads removed through flagging are within our terms of use - but without the flagging system, closebyme would quickly become unusable.
Flagged postings that meet our guidelines and Terms of Use may be reposted, reworded as necessary.
Posted diatribes against flagging tend to get flagged off quickly.
services
We accept commercial posts under "services offered."
You are welcome to advertise your services there. It's free.
Commercial posts submitted to categories outside of "services offered" are subject to removal.
