SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the too-risky-to-keep-running-the-dept-generating dept.
In response to the passage of the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), Craigslist has removed Personals sections for U.S. users:
Classified advertising website Craigslist has closed its dating ads section in the US, in response to a new bill against sex trafficking.
The bill states that websites can now be punished for "facilitating" prostitution and sex trafficking.
Ads promoting prostitution and child sexual abuse have previously been posted in the "personals" section of Craigslist.
The company said keeping the section open in the US was too much of a risk.
In a statement, Craigslist said the new law would "subject websites to criminal and civil liability when third parties (users) misuse online personals unlawfully".
Reddit also took the opportunity to ban a number of subreddits (list not exhaustive), including some like /r/escorts, but many more broadly related to "transactions for goods and services".
Also at Ars Technica and The Verge.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @04:15AM (16 children)
Back in the 90s, I used it to buy/sell used stuff, but not for a decade or so now. Seems only crazy wackos hang out there. You respond to a sell ad, the seller seems a weirdo retard, not actually interested in selling. You put out a sell ad, only crazy loonies with crazy loonball inquiries reply. Maybe the weirdo seller was that way because of all the wacko inquiries.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @04:18AM
There are also many bot listings that look identical to genuine ones.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Grishnakh on Tuesday March 27 2018, @04:46AM (7 children)
WTF? I've sold tons of used stuff on CL in recent years, and in fact managed to sell a car there just yesterday. My experiences have overall been very positive.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @04:52AM (1 child)
I think it speaks more to what the AC is interested in. Probably 70% honey pot ads.
(Score: 3, Funny) by captain normal on Tuesday March 27 2018, @05:06AM
Ok...that does make sense. I've only used CL for stuff, not trying to find sex or love. That just seems weird, looking to get laid on CL?
The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.
(Score: 3, Informative) by captain normal on Tuesday March 27 2018, @04:59AM (1 child)
I'll second that. I've sold and brought stuff on CL for years. There are scammers that post/respond to ads on CL, but you can usually tell just by the posts and the odd replies to your ad.
The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 27 2018, @01:23PM
If you bother to contact, there will be an ensuing scam involving deposit of funds or cashier's check... the actual worthlesness of cashier's checks was one of the big disillusionments of my childhood - people actually trusted those things for decades, but they never were really trustable (though in the old days they may have been a little harder to forge...)
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday March 27 2018, @06:49AM
I ended up buying my Diesel van from a Craigslist listing. My own personal feeling is we both got what we wanted.
Personally, I think Craigslist is a great place to put up stuff you think maybe one of your neighbors ( including in neighboring cities ) might want, but you really don't want to ship the thing - you'd rather him simply come pick it up. With communications what they are today, its so easy to phone ahead, and you have the object right out in the front yard for your customer's inspection, and if its what he wants, fine, swap some money and the guy loads it in his car and gone. Both people happy.
But sex services, no. I admit looking at them. Just looked far too risky. Fishing for suckers. But then, I consider damn near all "personals" in that light.
You start dealing with people like that, the wrong one can screw you over far worse than a bad car deal will.
If worse had come to worse, it would have cost me about $4K.
That's peanuts compared to what getting involved with the wrong people could cost me.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @04:22PM (1 child)
yep. bought my last two cars from CL. much better than a dealership if you know various automotive stuffs.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday March 28 2018, @04:50AM
Dealership... you don't know anything at all about the car's history, all you know is the dealer probably bought it at auction. Why it was at auction is anybody's guess, but very few of the reasons are favorable to you.
Dealerships have very finely tuned presentation skills. They can polish a turd to a lustrous shine. That car will look like it just came off the showroom. However the big money is in the engine, transmission, and electrical gremlins. Why do you think everyone seems so pissed at used car dealers? They are like house flippers... beautiful re-stucco and paint, shrubbery neatly trimmed, hot buns in the oven... and when you move in, you discover there is significant problems in the foundation, the plumbing is badly corroded, and there is hidden damage from a leaky roof.
And I know good and well the used car market is flooded with machines that look beautiful, but may have been submerged in floodwater or involved with personal vendetta problems.
As far as I am concerned, CL is the ideal place to buy/sell a vehicle. Just be honest and fair. Most people are.
Understand the other person is likely distrustful. They have good reason to be.
I was afraid to carry cash, and insisted the cash transfer take place in the bank. He was afraid of title transfer trickery, he wanted it done at AAA. He was also afraid I might involve the van in an accident before transfer, but he would drive - ok, I countered by having him take the van to my mechanic for going over. That was acceptable, no brick and mortar businessman there for fifty years is gonna stoop to CL chicanery. Little by little we worked around each other's concerns. Then went to AAA for preparation of title transfer papers, then to USBank, when he got his cash and signed the DMV papers and handed them to me, right in front of their security camera - both of us looking right into the lens so just in case either of us was pulling a fast one, the bank had the evidence of the deal, - then to Mercury Insurance, where I assumed liability in his presence, then I drove him back to AAA to submit the signed papers, then drove him home, then I had my "new" van.
Anyway, this is how my CL deal went down, just in case anyone else wonders how complicated a CL deal is, or how to protect yourself from common fraud. I knew good and well I did not want to be carrying cash, and he knew good and well someone might well try to steal his van right in front of him. If either I or he was intolerant of each other's concerns, fraud would be very likely. You can usually tell when someone is trying to pull a fast one... they will get all bent out of shape about changing anything.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @05:04AM (1 child)
My experiences on Craigslist, both buying and selling, have been overwhelmingly positive.
You do need to exercise judgement and a willingness to "filter" people out before they waste your time. I use at least one phone call to do this. You can in a few minutes determine whether you're dealing with a flake or not. A few flakes might slip by, but most of them will be obvious and you can tell them something along the lines of "I am pretty sure the item is sold, I will call you back if the sale doesn't go through" ; that ruse gets rid of them.
Make no mistake, there ARE a lot of flakes who will waste your time if you let them, but a bit of common sense can and will save you a lot of aggravation and / or time.
In any case, Craigslist has destroyed the newspaper classified section, so if you don't sell via Craigslist, unless you are willing to use eBay, it could be tough selling your stuff. There's plenty of good info on how best to make use of Craigslist, out there on the web. It is a bit of an art, but most people can grasp the essential concepts and get good results thereby.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by anubi on Tuesday March 27 2018, @06:58AM
I think Craigslist is for my neighbors. They are expected to call if they want it, come by, pick it up, and pay in cash.
And EBAY is for the nation. I am expected to ship it. And take pre-arranged payment methods through third parties.
I've used both, and appreciate each ones strengths.
I would not put a used bicycle on EBAY, nor will I list a water pump for a 1938 Ford on Craigslist. The bicycle isn't worth the shipping fees, nor are any of my neighbors probably interested in the pump... but someone in the nation probably needs that exact pump badly.
No, I will definitely not miss the personals section going away. I have seen it... was not impressed. Looked like a quick way to get into more trouble than I care to deal with.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 27 2018, @01:16PM (4 children)
Depends on where you live, I guess. I've sold a few smaller things through CL (including a vinyl record collection) and even bought a $2500 car through a CL ad (plus in-person visit, test drive, etc.) a few years ago. The site itself feels creepy, but the actual people I've dealt with have been fine.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by zafiro17 on Tuesday March 27 2018, @05:20PM (3 children)
I've also had good luck with Craigslist, and been exposed to a handful of scammers. But they tell you how to deal with it right on their front page, or when you post something for sale. The number one rule is: deal in person with your buyer/seller. None of this escrow, money transfer via wire service, ship it postpaid, crap. Post your belongings, ask for a phone number from anyone who contacts you about it, go from there. I've had good experiences, and bought and sold some useful things. All the scammers reveal themselves immediately through their idiocy.
If Craigslist needs any single improvement, it's a button that lets you send the idiot spammer/scammer a small electric shock through their phone.
As for the end of sex personals - probably for the best and more trouble than it was worth. Guarantee you some other company will emerge this week, to take up the slack.
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis - Jack Handey
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 27 2018, @07:26PM (2 children)
Yeah, I wouldn't even think about mailing/wiring payment (of any form) for something that _might_ be sent to me later by anybody on any anonymous message board....
As for the sex personals, seems like it would be easier for everybody involved if there were a major site or two or five where everybody knew where/what they were... doesn't have to be CL, but would be a lot easier to deal with known possibly lightly regulated entities rather than fly-by-nite operations. I know, the Puritan answer is that nobody has sex unless you are unfortunate enough to be bound in an irrevocable life bondage and anomalies such as Sarah Palin's daughter are to be denied/ignored/covered up as best as possible.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @12:40AM
Yeah, this is what I'm most concerned with (aside from incompetent and vengeful lawmakers). What are all those scammers going to do with their time now that they're not spending it on CL personals?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @05:05AM
CL does a great job doing what they do, so does EBAY, so does Tinder.
CL is not Iinder, nor is it EBAY.