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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: 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]