Today on the Forum

interestingly enough, the "help, my fsbo isn't selling" seems to have been removed from the forum.

not a great indicator that the post wasn't a fake.

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:12 PM

Also removed: "I'm asking $3,000 for an apartment in PLG, but I can't rent it for some reason. It must be the racist, fickle tenants or the lazy realtors."

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:20 PM

and i got totally attacked for saying it was possibly a fake ad...

niiiice...

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:22 PM

Looks like it is still there?

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:23 PM

you people are crazy. not a great indicator that the post wasn't a fake? does that even make a sentence?
i don't blame some folks for removing their posts when folks like you sit like salivating dogs waiting to pounce...get a life

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:25 PM

You don't think it suspicious that someone mentioned that an ad might possibly be a fake and then within an hour is is taken down by the original poster, 3:25?

Come on now. You can't be that naive.

Same goes for the 3000 a month PLG rental. It was obviously sketchy from the get go, yet he/she managed to get about 30 comments raging about the place.

Talk about a waste of time.

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:30 PM

I have an apartment that hasn't rented for six months. I am asking $5,000 but I think that is fair considering what I paid for the house. I think the rent is market rate, but the tenants are all racist and the realtors are all lazy so it hasn't rented. What should I do? (Except lower the rent?)

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:34 PM

I know for a fact the ad wasn't a fake. helllllooo, the OP included the ad links and was only asking for pricing suggestions... and i am far from being naive. the only time wasted was by the original poster who was reaching out for pricing suggestions (broker or not, they obviously were seeking suggestions..) but instead had to read the rantings of those cynical, boring, rude posters who instead of offering constructive criticism had to be nasty and vengeful. I, for one, don't blame them for taking their ads down so they don't have to feel like people are stabbing them in the back) and certainly don't think they were bogus to begin with.

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:41 PM

So Dick Cheney...I mean 3:41...it wouldn't be possible for a disgruntled neighbor, broker, friend, ex-wife to pluck out a craigslist and/or nytimes ad and post the link to brownstoner and draw attention to ANOTHER person's property or listing??

Lord you are starting to scare me with your naivety.

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:44 PM

If you don't like what's being said about a post you make to the forum, a normal person would do one of two things:

1. Not respond to the negative posts
2. Already know that a "i have a 3000 a month rental in plg, even though that's 1000 dollars more than every other rental...what's wrong with mine" post will draw criticism.

If not, then you're not very familiar with brownstoner.

Certainly the "normal" response would not be to completely delete the posting from the forum.

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:47 PM

and lord 3:44 you scare me that your mind even works like that...either you are a nasty cynical lawyer or an unemployed ex convict scam artist who could actually take the time to think like this.

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:48 PM

i'm a minister.

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:50 PM

3:25, 3:41, 3:48 = person who posted about the 800K apt for sale and 3000 a month plg rental who deleted both posts on the forum.

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:52 PM

I would gladly pay $3,000 to live in PLG.

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 3:57 PM

Ok, so unless Mr. Brownstoner tells us why these two posts were removed (can original posters take their own postings off the forum?- I haven't a clue), here's my scenario - suggested by 3:44's post above - I, for one, really was naive (I'm not 3:41) that anyone would do such a thing, and it frankly is rather scary - makes me want to think twice before I post *anything* on the internet again:

Broker living on PPW made a not nice comment to PLG landlord about the price of the rental. Someone took PLG landlord's Craigslist lising, and created fake post about it on Brownstoner. PLG landlord then assumed it was PPW-living broker, and then created fake post about PPW's apt. sale listing in the Times (it was a real FSBO listing there, identified as a FSBO by owner/broker, until it disappeared earlier today - I thought it was a nice place when I first saw it in the Times, and not horribly overpriced.) Or the two had a feud for some other reason and acted it out here.

This is my FICTIONAL story - maybe because I can't quite believe 2 people are out there doing such things at the same time, so, to set my mind at ease, it had to be a feud between the two of them of some sort.

The PLG apartment is still for rent on Craigslist, price reduced ever so slightly...

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 5:11 PM

Or, I suppose one nasty person could have created BOTH fake posts - in which case, I sure hope Brownstoner blocked them from posting....

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 5:28 PM

And who but a broker would have any incentive to do such a thing? To a landlord renting on his own, or to a broker selling FSBO?

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 5:39 PM

Man, this is complicated. And I thought I had a twisted mind... I guess I'm Laura Ingalls compared to some of these conspiracy theorists. But something must be up if they were removed, since posters can't remove their own posts.

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 7:23 PM

Definitely sounds like a broker-orchestrated drama. Agree with 5:39 that no one else would have an incentive to do such a thing. It's also very indicative of the market...

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 7:31 PM

oh interesting, 7:23. i didn't know posters couldn't remove their own posts.

and the plot thickens.....

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 7:32 PM

so what do i win for calling this guy/gal out on the scam first?

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 7:36 PM

Maybe Brownstoner doesn't want to tell us what's been going on ... as he doesn't want to give other nasty folks ideas...

And, as to calling it a scam post first, when I first read the suggestion that these could be fake posts, I didn't get it - as I saw the Craigslist ad, and I had already seen the Times ad online. You needed to spell out for us naive folk just what you meant by "fake."

.....wiser now..

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 8:12 PM

This is extremely intriguing. I posted earnest responses on the FSBO--I think I even defended the OP because I'm a regular Pollyanna. I hope there is an update to Forumgate soon...

Posted by: guest at January 28, 2008 10:08 PM