Craigslist and its (ab)users

Now I’m not here to warn you about scams, plenty of other people have done so already.
There are some other things that bother me and one of them is that very often I have to deal with people who
are just rude and inconsiderate. A while ago I offered some items in the ‘free stuff’ section and I got replies that
said something like: ‘Where can I pick it up?’ They didn’t ask if they could have it and in most cases there was
no name either. Another type of response I got was: ‘Call me’, followed by a phone number. I don’t have to call
anyone and I certainly won’t do it if you can’t say ‘please’.

At some point I had 5 or 6 ads and a guy emailed
saying: ‘I will take everything’. No you won’t, I’m not giving it to someone greedy like you. I appreciate a little
friendliness and courtesy, people who don’t show any I won’t deal with.
Another thing that bothers me is that some people never show to pick it up, even after making a specific
appointment.  I have canceled other activities to accommodate buyers and takers of the free stuff. They didn’t
cancel and didn’t even respond to my email in which I kindly asked if they still wanted it. Sometimes I’m inclined
just to throw things in the dumpster because I don’t want to deal with that kind of behavior anymore.
 
Someone offered me something in response to a wanted post. I made an appointment for a specific time and
date. After 21/2 hours of walking and riding the bus I found out he didn’t have it anymore. He had my phone
number and didn’t bother to call. And a lady I bought a bed frame from just went ahead and sold it to somebody
else, not telling me until I was there to pick it up. Can you blame me for being skeptical (understatement)?

It has happened several times that my for sale or free stuff ads, that were perfectly legitimate and in the right
category , were flagged. I suspect some people who want the item apply for it, then flag the post in order to
eliminate competition.
 
May be less irritating, but still annoying, is that after I respond to a wanted ad I don’t get the slightest
acknowledgement. A few weeks ago a lady offered to trade toys for converting some computers documents
to a different format. I told her that I really have no use for toys and I would be happy to do it for free.
No response, not even a simple thank you for the offer.
 
I always skip ads that are written in uppercase only, in many cases they don’t have proper punctuation either
and are hard to read. I can deal with bad grammar and spelling errors. Not everybody masters the language
perfectly although, with all the tools available, it should not be hard to find the correct spelling. Some of the
mistakes are just funny, a while back a lady was trying to find ‘tubber where’, instead of ‘Tupper Ware’.
And I can’t count the ones that used the word ‘labtop' instead of ‘laptop’.
 
Some people insist on posting ads in the wrong category and advertise items that are strictly prohibited,
such as pets for sale. The last couple of days I have been flagging a post for a handgun. The ad is being
removed but reappears a short while later; I guess he can’t take a hint.

These days, with the economical problems we’re suffering from, some individuals and businesses try to
take advantage by wanting to hire people for ridiculously low wages. Just the other day someone wanted
to hire a person to babysit and do other household chores, full time, for $400 a month.
Wow, a whole $2.50 an hour. They want to hire experienced and qualified people for less than the state
minimum wage. And I get tired of businesses wanting to get their work done by unpaid interns. ‘If you do
this for free we may have a paying job for you in the future’, yeah right!
 
I don’t know what it is like in other parts of the country but out here there are some users (or should I say
abusers) who find it necessary to write comments about other people’s posts. Sometimes it is a friendly
warning about a suspected scam however most of them are just outrageous and totally unnecessary.
They use foul language and curse for no other reason than to be obnoxious and to insult the owner of the
original ad. And then of course those comments elicit more comments and in most cases the writers show
very little taste, to say the least. If you have a problem with a post, contact the owner and tell him.
May be he made a mistake and advise him to adjust it.
 
Craigslist ads are not moderated, and I can understand that would be undoable for a free service that size.
The drawback is that people can just post anything, and it will be in the open until it is being flagged.
And since some of those posters don’t seem to have anything better to do they just re-post, may be hoping
that people will get tired of flagging. The anonymous nature of the site makes it so attractive for people with
less that honorable motives.
 
I know that Craigslist is not the only place where bad behavior shows up. You see it in traffic, in stores,
on TV, just anywhere where there are people. Craigslist unintentionally provides them with another
opportunity to show off their lack of good social skills. I guess I just have to deal with it.