Return of the Expired Listings

zcommodore was the first to spot that expired listings are back. This fix probably went in with a host of other hot fixes last night. However, folks need to be logged into a Prosper account to view expired listings. This is obviously a nod to Prosper's privacy concerns. I see this as a reasonable limitation since it still lets lenders observe past listings and use them educationally to improve their bidding. Kudos to Prosper for listening to the community and pushing it out quickly.

There will be some that will say 9 days was too long a time to wait for the fix. They need to get over it. Prosper is still a small business and cannot drop everything to change one feature when the consequences for a few days of delay is very small. They listened to the lenders on this one and implemented a fix in a reasonable time frame. However, I do not understanding why Prosper didn't have someone (Prosper Andrew) post to the forums that the change was coming. Assuming that bamalucky would spread the word far and wide is not an effective communications method.

Update: Prosper's official comment on the reverse of fortunes

Prosper changed lenders’ access to records of prior listings last night.

Allowing members access to old listings is an example of Prosper’s ongoing efforts to balance transparency with privacy in the marketplace. Our original objective was to restrict access to non-active listings if there was no need to see them. However, many of you indicated that lenders use old listing data to formulate ongoing listing strategies. As a result, we changed the access to past listings so lenders can conduct research for future bidding decisions.

The changes include the following:

• Borrowers can access all their past listings
• Registered lenders have access to all past listings
• Potential borrowers and lenders have access to only current, active listings. This will allow registered lenders to conduct necessary research while ensuring borrower privacy.
• All of these changes are reflected in the “Listing not available” page

Thank you for your feedback. We hope this makes a positive impact on your lending strategies.