.com!
Frequently Asked Questions
- I've heard that craigslist-search sites like this always end up getting blocked. How is searchtempest.com different?
- Can you put the results all together / filter out cities with no results / sort them by date / improve the keywords?
- I know I'm closer to city X than Y, but it's not showing up there in the list.
- I'm experiencing a problem with the site.
UPDATE: Workaround for cities with no results!
By far my most frequently asked question is whether I can get rid of the cities with no results, for people who are looking for rare items across a large area. For reasons described below, unfortunately this is not possible.
However, a way was just suggested to me to work around this. You can do this by searching inside the results page for frames with results. So instead of scrolling and scrolling and looking for them, just do a search in your browser (by pressing CTRL-F), and search for the word 'displaying' (no quotes).
This will skip you straight down to the frames with results found! You may also find it useful to show more than 10 cities per page. You can now do this by clicking the 'Options' link at the top-right of the results page. (Be aware though that more than 50 or so cities per page can slow down computers without a lot of memory.)
Hope that helps!
I've heard that craigslist-search sites like this always end up getting blocked. How is searchtempest.com different?
The difference with Search Tempest is that it doesn't actually 'crawl' or 'scrape' craigslist. In fact, the ST server doesn't access craigslist at all. Instead, the site basically just automates the process of typing in the search in each craigslist city. Your browser sends the search requests directly to craigslist, and the listings you see in the results window are exactly the same as if you'd gone to the craigslist sites and entered the searches manually.
The great thing about this is that, from craigslist's perspective, it's exactly as if you had done the searches manually. The results pages are opened as you view them, so there is no added strain on their servers, and the requests come straight from your browser, so searchtempest.com doesn't enter the equation at all.
Why don't you filter out cities with no results/show the number of results for each city/put all the results in one big list?
I would LOVE to be able to do these things. Unfortunately, this ties into the point above. Because the results go directly from craigslist to your browser, my code can't actually do anything with them. That includes even viewing them to know how many there are, etc. They're simply passed on, as-is. Otherwise, the Searchtempest code would have to actually look at the results, which would break craigslist's terms of use, not to mention likely get the site blocked. However, I continuously do everything within my power to make things easier. See the new stacked mode and advanced keywords for examples.
Could you add options to filter the results by date?
Same deal I'm afraid. The requests go straight from your browser to craigslist, so there's no way for me to add any functionality beyond what they provide. Hopefully the new stacked results mode (available through the Options link on the results page) will help though.
Can't you use AJAX or Javascript to do these things?
Unfortunately javascript has security blocks that prevent any cross-site scripting. So... short answer, no - Javascript can't be used to do anything fancy with the craigslist results. (And besides, it would be breaking their terms of use.)
I know I'm closer to city: _____ than _____, but it's not showing up there in the list.
The sort-by-distance option is still quite new, and there are bound to be a handful of cities that are mis-calculated. Please send me your address with zip code and the exact name of the craigslist city or cities that appear out of place. I'll try and get it fixed ASAP.
If you could paste the URL of the results page you get (ie: http://www.searchtempest.com/results.php?...") into the email, that might help too.
When I click on a craigslist ad then click 'back', it jumps to the top of the list and the ad isn't hilighted. Why?
This is due to a bug in internet explorer. Unfortunately there is no way for me to work around it at present. You could use the Firefox browser instead, or maybe open the ads in new tabs, as described in the Tips.
When I do a search, the results page just says "Loading..." forever.
If you are using Firefox, this shouldn't happen. If it does, please send me an email.
If you are not using Firefox, try refreshing the page - it should come up the second time.
How come searchtempest.com doesn't remember the cities I've searched so I don't have to enter them next time?
Search Tempest should remember all your settings. If this isn't happening, you probably need to enable cookies.
Searchtempest isn't working properly in Opera
Simple fix there: Tools/Quick Preferences/uncheck 'enable referrer logging'
Check here for more info.
Searchtempest isn't working properly in Safari
Unfortunately this is a known issue with no easy fix. For now, I'd suggest getting Firefox.
Check here for more info. You can also search the forums for even more on the Safari problem.
I'm getting blank windows for each city in Firefox.
Under Tools/Options (or Firefox/Preferences on a Mac), Advanced, make sure the checkbox "Warn me when web sites try to redirect or reload the page" is not checked. (For some reason when ST redirects to Craigslist, instead of warning, it just... breaks.)
I've got another question that wasn't covered here.
You could check out the Help and Tips page, in case your question is answered there.
Also, go take a look at the new forums! There's lots of useful info there already, and more being added every day. You can also post questions or suggestions, or just random drivel, if you so desire. :) I read the forums regularly, and will answer your questions in short order. If you have a suggestion, I may well take it too. That's how things like the regions dropdown and the refresh button got introduced.
Cheers,
Search Tempest Nathan