craiglist-helper synopsis

Perform sentiment analysis and keyword extraction on Craigslist listings

Background

I love Craigslist. I've found most of my housing situations through Craigslist and despite the occasional mix up with a stranger¹ I always find better prices there and interesting individuals. However, I find it exhausting to browse Craigslist and parse the sometimes poorly written or overly lengthy postings. I don't mind reading someone's well-thought-out description of their home and ideal roommate, but I do mind wasting time reading aggressive posts clearly written by emotionally distant landlords.

So I came up with the idea of using sentiment analysis in order to determine whether the author of the posting is positive. I only want to live with positive people so this helps me greatly. In addition, this program gathers keywords from the listing to help you get a sense of what they are describing. It also shows you the price for reference.

I will be adding more features such as an email drafter to further automate the process of setting up transactions.

Enjoy!

Made with 💖 by Mark

Examples

A positive listing

Usage

Install python and clone this repo

Open a command prompt

Install dependencies via requirements.txt

pip install -r requirements.txt

Run!

python3 controller.py

_{^{My intention is to provide a tool that can help aid the common sense of the user. This informed my choice of the Apache License. This tool is not a turn-key solution to online safety nor does it claim to be. This tool should not subsitute the use of Craigslist's safety toolkit.}}