
Amid calls to curb ads for illegal sex, Craigslist CEO defends status quo:
Finally, I get to use that picture again. Thanks, Jim.
Anyway, craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster is again saying things to the media that make my mouth stand agape. Let’s go to Mr. Buckmaster’s latest…
“I would not describe any section of our site as ‘sex related,’ ” Buckmaster wrote in response to a series of e-mailed questions from the Globe.
He acknowledged that Craigslist offers an “erotic services” section that should not include more than “legitimate escort services, sensual massage, exotic dancers, etc.,” but said that offers to exchange sexual favors for money are “strictly prohibited” and removed from the site.
“Roughly one percent of ads posted on CL are in the ‘erotic services’ section,” he wrote.
First I have to congratulate Megan Woolhouse of the Boston Globe for actually getting a direct response from Mr. Buckmaster. When she tried contacting Craig Newmark, according to the article, Mr. New mark referred her to his PR people who in turn referred her to Mr. Buckmaster.
Now let’s get back to his statement. Craigslist not sex related? That’s like saying the Mustang Ranch in Nevada isn’t sex-related. I would also go as far to say that craigslist is rape, robbery, murder, human trafficking and scam related but that’s just me. And the fact that you say the erotic services section should not include more than “legitimate escort services, sensual massage, exotic dancers, etc.,” doesn’t make it so obviously. Some would even argue the legitimacy of those services. Lastly, erotic services may only be 1% of the ads on craigslist but from what I’ve been told it generates the majority of the traffic for craigslist and in the internet business, which is, in fact, serious, traffic means money.
Jim Buckmaster reminds me of a dictator who refuses to accept that his country is burning around him.






Leave a reply to CKHall Cancel reply