Seun:

Some states are less popular than others, so I decided not to include them. What's your state?

having all the states included will make the site more popular.
_{just my opinion.}

Seun, i'm from Enugu State.

This website in question is still under test but believe me, I understand something will be done to integrate at least one Eastern state if not all.

Nice work admin,bt i suggest there should b rum 4 images thou nt necessary to b uploaded to ua server instead a kind of image board code.

deleted

@admin i sent u a mail about MobileNigeria but u never reply?

Hi Seun, I love your job, I have been following all the trends of your sites recently.

Questions, how do intend to turn this to money. Offline payment or online payment by advertisers in Nigeria?Perhaps yu may be looking at direct payment to the bank before allowing advert on the site. Really thinking about that.

Good Job.

All the states have been included.  Have fun! www.nairalist.com

I am wondering if webmasters like me will be able to pull feeds from there or something that can add value-added services for our clients,

I am wondering if webmasters like me will be able to pull feeds from there or something that can add value-added services for our clients,

Thanks for the feedback. RSS feeds are on my todo list. I'll get to that as soon as I can.

The site has been getting great reviews and i understand. but good reviews is not what you will need, you need sincere reviews so let me give it to you. I don't know but i believe you took more of the craiglist idea than the gumtree idea or even the alibaba idea. of course all have their advantage or otherwise. so here is the thing i have against the site. If i am looking for where to buy computer (which is the popular thing of sale) which column do i check out. That is what a site should do react not just respond. As the post begin to get bigger and bigger, then it will be an issue.
secondly someone talked about a search included in it. I don't think it is a minor suggestion. No site can survive without one.
Finally i like your work and am a big fan of yours just realize i no mind stealing your beautiful idea so act fast and smart.

this a step in the right direction,a wonderful idea.

I would suggest that the site should not be flooded with heavy graphic that would make loading slow.

Nice job,keep it up.

Seun, thanks for heeding to my call by adding all the states. You're the main man.

As the site gets bigger you are going to have to add more sub categories. For dating for example you can't just have them all on one page. There is going to have to be "Men looking for women", "Women looking for men" The same applies for housing and other stuff as well. Imagine having to wade through thousands of ads to find what you are looking for. If the "Men looking for women", "Women looking for men" are all mixed together it is not going to be fun wading through them Also separate the ads by date added.

There is going to have to be "Men looking for women", "Women looking for men"

If you think about it, this isn't really true. Men and women looking for each other can use the same section. The men will mostly post ads and the women will mostly read and respond to ads. And both parties will be satisfied. The only people that won't be satisfied are men looking for men and women looking for women. They will each need their own categories, if you think about it, but heterosexuals need only one. And that's very convenient.

Imagine having to wade through thousands of ads to find what you are looking for.

That's what people do each time they read newspaper classifieds, and they don't really complain. People don't always know what they want, so it often pays to show them everything that's available. However, I'm already formulating a site search plan to help people who know exactly what they want.

If i am looking for where to buy computer (which is the popular thing of sale) which column do i check out?

Sales. I didn't feel I could spare an entire section for computers or electronics. If what you say is true about computer ads being popular, then it will definitely dominate the sales sections. Example

Good job!!!I like it,simple and straight @lst for now.I'm sure it's going to be repackaged soonest.

Nice job. At least you are getting things integrated as suggestions are still on.

More people please, come over to my section and read not just this one alone but other posts then comment. We are real good in here. Don't you think so?

The site isn't going to be solely for/restricted to Naija's geography alone, is it?
It does appear to be the case at the mo.
Please advise

We have an overseas section now.

I am wondering if webmasters like me will be able to pull feeds from there or something that can add value-added services for our clients,

Can you explain some of the places you might want to put the feed? Blogs?

I would suggest that the site should not be flooded with heavy graphic that would make loading slow.

That was one of my primary goals. Don't worry, it will remain as fast as it is now for as long as possible.

I think the site should be low-graphic, it makes alot of sense that way, and as for search, i have a very powerful search algorithm which i never completed, but somehow i feel it will work well with nairalist, when next i see you online i will discuss it with you - who knows, it may come in useful.

Nice one Seun!

The site is the BOMB jst like Craigslist.

1 stuff missing, uploading of pics incase u wanna show wat u re selling or waNT,

Today I implemented a RSS feed for the junkies who want to keep on top of the markets:
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/nairalist <-- please subscribe!

I also simplified the captcha to make it easier for newbies and people who use glasses, heh.

Now I'm ready to respond to all the suggestions on this thread that I may have missed.

Nice job. Keep the upgrade flowing and well tidied up.

Thanks. I've also implemented site search using google, and I'm working on keeping the index fresh.

In my opinion, I will advise you to

1. Create a custom search engine for the site instead of using the Almighty Google.

2. Hide poster's email address. This is because email harvesters can harvest and start spamming the poster.
- generate a random string in email format
- the new string is only valid for the duration of the post
- match strings to provided poster email
- send mails if info matches

3. Though I read you tried simplifying the captcha, I shall advice you look for a stronger spam control captcha. What you have currently can be read easily

4. In the dating section you requested for users to post phone numbers. I may may consider no phone numbers . People can do prank calls. Even in other sections do not permit phone numbers.
- you can block post by looking for numeric strings above certain length
- if they have white spaces, use a replacement string.
- or look for people trying to type alphanumeric and replace all strings.

These all depends on how you look at things.

5. I would include a numeric pagination in addition to the existing previous and next buttons. So users can jump to pages as they wish. It annoys me for sites that have only previous and next. I do understand the need to try to force progressive or regressive flow of information. But sometimes, having the option to skip pages is great.

I think all for now. There are many other things to be done but it is a work in progress

So Seun,

I just found out about a site that looks just like yours but ending with "lists" - probably a copycat from this forum did it.

Your response? 

Interesting stuff. Copycatting at best.

Further interesting info:

nairalist.com - registered dec 2008 - owned by Seun
[nairalist+s].com - registered feb 2009 - 'who is' this

All along while Seun has been putting in hard work and doing some planning, an unscrupulous smart Alec 'living in Boston' has been scheming. Where's the damn originality in this.

Anyway the ball is in Seun's court - could we potentially be looking at the first? pursued internet copyright case in Nigeria.

Also a good moral - if you have a good domain name and going live with it for commercial purposes, make sure you spend a few bucks more and reserve all similar sounding names otherwise you'll be up against plagiarists like Chukie.

1) Based on the footer, the copyright expired in 2005.

2) There is www.drudgereport.com and www.drudgeretort.com. Very close to my house, there are 2 fuel stations on opposite side of the road. When one drops price by 1 cent, the other drops by 2 cents. I swear the 2 are continuously spying each other with binoculars In the end, both co-exist in peace and harmony.

What Seun needs to do now, in addition to buying up as many similar-sounding URLs, is to study the other site, if possible have some ppl do some testing to see what they don't like and incorporate the good stuff into his.

Competition, it's what makes capitalism great

Cactus:

In my opinion, I will advise you to

1. Create a custom search engine for the site instead of using the Almighty Google.

Google pays me cash for using their search engine and it has the trust of the entire Internet. But it's slow to index new pages.

2. Hide poster's email address. This is because email harvesters can harvest and start spamming the poster.
- generate a random string in email format
- the new string is only valid for the duration of the post
- match strings to provided poster email
- send mails if information matches

I don't want spam replies to be associated with my mail server.

3. Though I read you tried simplifying the captcha, I shall advice you look for a stronger spam control captcha. What you have currently can be read easily

Nigerian spammers don't use robots, so a captcha is of no effect to them. It's just to slow ppl down.

4. In the dating section you requested for users to post phone numbers. I may may consider no phone numbers . People can do prank calls. Even in other sections do not permit phone numbers.
- you can block post by looking for numeric strings above certain length
- if they have white spaces, use a replacement string.
- or look for people trying to type alphanumeric and replace all strings.

If I block phone numbers and prank calls and email addresses, how will people contact each other??

5. I would include a numeric pagination in addition to the existing previous and next buttons. So users can jump to pages as they wish. It annoys me for sites that have only previous and next. I do understand the need to try to force progressive or regressive flow of information. But sometimes, having the option to skip pages is great.

Hmmm. Thanks for the suggestion.

1. You get money from Google.   OK

2. Prevent spam association with your webserver. UNDERSTANDABLE

3. Stronger spam control. Suggestion - NOTE THIS DOWN FOR THE FUTURE DEPENDING ON TRAFFIC

4. People contacting each other. WELL, I DIDNT REALLY THINK TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS. I THOUGHT EVERYONE IN NIGERIA SITS AROUND THEIR COMPUTERS ALL THE TIME LIKE I DO.

5. Pagination. OK

Obviously you are more familiar with the Nigerian IT scene, so you have a better understanding of how things work. Good luck


Additional Suggestion

A. For the items that have prices like Housing, For sale, create another column for the price listing. so you can have

TITLE LOCATION PRICE DATE

or however you choose to arrange it. Present information easier to the eye to scan.

'