According to Wikipedia, Craigslist is a central network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements (with jobs, internships, housing, personals, erotic services, for sale/barter/wanted, services, community, gigs, resume, and pets categories) and forums on various topics.
Craigslist service was founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark for the San Francisco Bay Area. After incorporation as a private for-profit company in 1999, Craigslist expanded into nine more U.S. cities in 2000, four each in 2001 and 2002, and 14 in 2003. As of September 2007, Craigslist had established itself in approximately 450 cities in 50 countries.
As of 2007, Craigslist operates with a staff of 24 people.[2] Its sole source of revenue is paid job ads in select cities ($75 per ad for the San Francisco Bay Area; $25 per ad for New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston, Seattle, Washington D.C., Chicago and recently Portland, Oregon) and paid broker apartment listings in New York City ($10 per ad).
Not everything on Craigslist is legit. Just like any other online ad posting there sites, there are people on Craigslist trying to con people out of their money. I found this article on MSNBC.com, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23925847/.
In the article, which you can read by clicking on the above link, lawmakers talki about Craigslist being a free service that offers all types on criminal activities. Here is a quote from the article, "it seems there is no evil of which Craigslist isn't capable ... or at least won't get blamed for." I can't help but wonder if a FREE service is really worth it.
I would have to say, if Craigslist wants to change their reputation, that Craigslist needs to have better control over what is posted, or allowed to be posted, on their web sites. Craigslist could charge a small fee for listings to be posted and still be a player in the online marketing/selling arena.
I don't believe Craig Newmark expected Craigslist to become a place of criminal activity. But, as many online marketers know, the Internet is like the wild west. Many online marketers, whether legal or illegal in their techniques and practices, are still chasing after that undiscovered gold. Whether it's the search for the gold, or just the thrill of seeing what someone can get away with, something has to be done about these criminal acts.
To squelch the unlawful online acts, I believe it has to start with companies like Craigslist, eBay, and the like. I've gotten emails from many people that say the Internet is nothing but a terrible place to do business. They have a hard time finding people they can trust. What can we do to help that situation? In my opinion, there are two things you should do, write an article about your experience (good or bad) and search Google for the person or company you're looking to do business with.
It doesn't take long for an article to get to the top of Google, and if there is some unlawful practices going on by the company or person you're looking to do business with, you will find them in your searches. Don't wait for someone else to get scammed, do your part to help stop the criminal activities, whether on Craigslist or not.
Jeffrey Sloe, Internet Marketing Advisor
440-725-3729
jeff@internetmarketingadvisors.net
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