Craiglist and tracking views

Rails
1

well I got done with finally getting a bitly link for each of my
products and now I learn that craiglist does not support something like
bitly in the posting.

I have come across the idea of using a 1x1 image to track the views but
the issue I am facing now is where this data will be stored in my logs
and how can i best import it in my application?

My server setup is nginx and mongrel cluster.

and i think i can use something like

http://www.servername.come/images/1x1.gif?productid

that i can get the correct association.

Questions:

  1. Is there another way to achieve this?
  2. If i do take this route then as previously asked, where this data
    will be stored in my logs and how can i best import it in my
    application?
2

has anyone had any experience with this?

3

Quee WM wrote:

well I got done with finally getting a bitly link for each of my
products and now I learn that craiglist does not support something like
bitly in the posting.

Huh? You can put links in Craigslist postings. What’s the problem?

I have come across the idea of using a 1x1 image to track the views but
the issue I am facing now is where this data will be stored in my logs
and how can i best import it in my application?

Are you trying to track views of your Craigslist ad? If so, that’s a
different problem than bit.ly, and I suggest a Web search.

My server setup is nginx and mongrel cluster.

and i think i can use something like

http://www.servername.come/images/1x1.gif?productid

that i can get the correct association.

Questions:

  1. Is there another way to achieve this?

Well, it’s not clear what you’re trying to achieve in the first place!

  1. If i do take this route then as previously asked, where this data
    will be stored in my logs and how can i best import it in my
    application?

There are several ways. But you’ll need to be clearer about what
exactly you’re doing.

Best,
–Â
Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
[email protected]

4

Marnen Laibow-Koser wrote:

Huh? You can put links in Craigslist postings. What’s the problem?

Craiglist block any ad with a bit.lu link in it and says it violates the
terms of use.

Are you trying to track views of your Craigslist ad? If so, that’s a
different problem than bit.ly, and I suggest a Web search.

Web Search is what led me to bit.ly and the reports it provides but
since bit.ly is blocked, I need to do something else.

There are several ways. But you’ll need to be clearer about what
exactly you’re doing.

I want to post ads on craiglist and then track how many times each of my
ads has been viewed on craiglist and show this data in my own
application.

5

Matt J. wrote:

Not so much - I just don’t think there’s any way to do what you’re
trying. As far as I know, Craigslist doesn’t take HTML ads, and the
images on the listing page are uploaded directly - probably to stop
people doing exactly what you’ve described.

Craigslist also has a history of being fairly unfriendly to search
aggregators and API access - see the recent piece in Wired for more
detail.

–Matt J.

Thanks for the reply Matt. I am afraid your information in regards to
craiglist and html may be out dated as it seems craiglist does accept
html in their ads. see example:

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/ctd/1549432695.html

looking at the page: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cta/

all the ads with the img tag are where the person posting the ad has
added their own image without the craiglist interface.

I have tested posting my own ad with html and it does go through. Though
when i tried posting the hidden image using the bitly link, it did throw
an error. so I am forced to use the direct link to image and write my
own log parser to pick out each call to the image hidden for the ad and
then show that data.

6

On Jan 11, 2:49Â pm, Quee WM [email protected] wrote:

Seems the post was buried and might have gotten off radar.

Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Not so much - I just don’t think there’s any way to do what you’re
trying. As far as I know, Craigslist doesn’t take HTML ads, and the
images on the listing page are uploaded directly - probably to stop
people doing exactly what you’ve described.

Craigslist also has a history of being fairly unfriendly to search
aggregators and API access - see the recent piece in Wired for more
detail.

–Matt J.

7

Seems the post was buried and might have gotten off radar.