
Craigslist Adult Services Shut Down Worldwide - bjonathan
http://mashable.com/2010/12/22/craigslist-adult-services-shut-down/
======
raganwald
Another victory in the war on consenting adults choosing what to do, with whom
to do it, and the terms upon which they do it with each other!

What surprises me when I read this stuff from my comfortable perch in Canada,
is how schizophrenic America can appear to the outside world. On the one hand,
there's a fierce independence from government, a belief in making your own
choices and not allowing the government to meddle in your private affairs.

And on the other hand, there's stuff like this, stuff that looks to a Canadian
like being deeply un-American, deeply opposed to American values.

~~~
tptacek
I don't agree with this assessment _at all_. I know myself not to be the only
person on HN with this take on the situation. But I would rather bite down on
a live, wriggling cockroach than debate it on HN. If you posted this comment
because you wanted to hear the contrary take on this, feel free to email me.
If you posted for some other reason, feel free to ignore.

~~~
raganwald
No need to debate. I'm perfectly aware that real life is far too complex to
boil down to simple slogans like "Government should be big/small" or "People
should/shouldn't have the right to _____."

My observation is that the image or brand presented to the outside world is
contradictory, not that there's anything amiss in how you choose to govern
yourselves.

~~~
tptacek
I don't think you've oversimplified. I think you and I completely disagree
about the regulation of prostitution. But I'm no more interested in debating
than you are; I'm just saying: look at this fine orange-and-grey-tinged echo
chamber we've built here.

~~~
raganwald
That's a very good point, thanks!

------
derefr
In related news, Craigslist Personals now rendered entirely useless by the
sudden influx of covert Adult Services ads.

Craigslist's primary reason for ever creating an Adult Services category was
simply to keep that sort of content out of every _other_ category. You could
imagine the situation now as similar to what would happen if Gmail's spam
filter were suddenly disabled.

------
mMark
Worldwide prostitution has ended! (/sarcasm)

Thank you to all the politicians who lobbied to make it possible for human
traffickers to move further into the recesses of the web, allowing them to
continue advertising in other print and net classifieds without Craigslist's
continued cooperation with the authorities.

~~~
thwarted
Prostitution classifieds will save print! Thank you, Craigslist!

------
noarchy
"Adult Services, which was previously titled “Erotic Services,” was expected
to generate $36 million in revenue this year for Craigslist, nearly one-third
of the $122 million the entire company has been projected to pull in."

That's a devastating blow, if it really amounted to that much revenue for
Craigslist.

Given those figures, it's clear that a market exists for these services, so
who will get the business now that Criagslist has withdrawn from it?

~~~
derefr
That paragraph of the article was completely irrelevant: Adult Services was
never part of whatever Craigslist considers its "business plan." Craigslist
doesn't try, in any way, shape, or form, to optimize for profit in the way a
publicly-traded company would. Disregarding the fact that running a single ad
on each page would make them ridiculous amounts of money, they're not even
charging for ads in any but a few category/location pairs (e.g. real-estate in
NYC.)

~~~
noarchy
I don't see how a loss of tens of millions in revenue qualifies as
"irrelevant". Even if it wasn't part of their business plan, it is money lost.

~~~
derefr
Because it's money they weren't planning on making, and could easily replace
severalfold through one of several quick, simple changes to their site if they
cared to. They weren't re-investing it in the business, using it to grow or
hire; it was simply sitting in their coffers or being paid out as bonuses and
charity donations. In short, if you consider Craigslist a black box, losing
this income source will have no visible effect on the external operations of
that black box—it will be as if it hadn't happened.

------
Bud
Are we going to ban computers, newspapers, the Latin alphabet, telephones,
magazines, and street corners, too?

After all, the pernicious influence of sex must be eradicated, everywhere. We
must stop at nothing!

------
lukeschlather
I guess they can go back to trolling the help wanted section.

<http://www.startribune.com/local/south/11545261.html>

(KO was a friend of mine, and I find all this grandstanding offensive. It's
not going to prevent murder, and it certainly won't prevent prostitution.)

------
jister
" following the suicide of 24-year-old Philip Markoff, who had been accused of
murdering one and robbing three women he met through listings in the section."

why put the blame in CL? people should be responsible wherever they are and
not point their fingers to someone else's when something goes wrong.

