I read this news article today and was just appalled: Hoax Craigslist ads cost man huge property loss. Which brings me to my point. Since when was it true because something is on the Internet? And knowing there are so many hoaxes on craigslist, why would you not question it? seriously. What was that saying? “Never believe everything you read”? Yeah, this definitely should go into effect for anything on the Internet. You really need proof.
What does Craigslist do about it anyways? The most they could do I suppose is find out who supposedly posted the ad, and give the data over to the police. I really hope they get caught. Because seriously, that’s just not right to do. I suppose this is a good method to get back at someone. As a revenge thing.
But could Craigslist prevent more of this happening? Should they be forced to screen every single ad on their site? That’s a tremendous undertaking and honestly, it doesn’t sound probable or practical. But if Craigslist were held responsible for all their ads, now that’s a different matter. Of course, they would probably be taken down faster than you could say “Craigslist?” and go out of business. And you know they have a disclaimer which protects them in such cases for legal reasons.
I think personally, I’m just appalled at the evil that people do. Because make no mistake, this is evil. There is no quality of practical joke there anywhere. We’ve seen or heard about all the hoaxes on Craigslist, and it just makes me ashamed to be human. Personally, I don’t think they could be prevented. People are evil by nature. It’s what we do that makes us good people.
What do you think? Do you think more should be done to prevent such hoaxes?
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Craigslist is a self governed – for the most part – classifieds. There are links for every post that allow you to mark it as spam or fake. I’d see ‘em pretty regularly when looking for PSP stuff. I’d mark them as spam or fake and in about a day they’d be taken down.
Still – I blame the people who went out there and took the stuff more than the person who posted it. Who the hell goes to a home that looks lived in and just takes stuff? When does that EVER happen? Especially when the owner comes home and says ‘That’s mine! Don’t take it!’ and they wave a printout at him and leave with the stuff!? I hope those people get convicted of a whole slew of stuff and hopefully the guy will get most of his stuff back.
This is so f-ed up!
The people who took the stuff are to blame and committed theft.
I hope the guy gets most of his stuff back + finds out who put the ad up so he can sue their pants off.
[...] Internet Is Not Always True Yoshi pointed out a news article about someone posting a fake ad on Craigslist essentially saying “I have to leave the state – [...]
I’m not sure what could be done, but I would have thought the ad was some sort of prank unless the owner wasn’t going to be there.
That is seriously messed up. I’ve thought of some insidious ideas in my time, but that one tops them all.
Whoever posted the ad obviously knows the owner. They knew to post the ad when he would be away at the lake. Shouldn’t be too hard to track the person down if Craigslist keeps any logs at all.
But yeah, some measure of blame has to be put on the greedy people who went to the house and took the property. People are greedy and I can only imagine that the people who get up early to beat people to the best deals at yard sales to resell later on are the first people that showed up. Imagine if it had been true though. Sure it’s not something that happens, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t.
I’ve got some people that I should do that to.
@insomnic yeah it’s sad. And you know the people that came and picked up stuff will be exonerated as long as they return the items they picked up. stupid.
@joz I’m sure he’ll find out (or the police will find out) who made the post. And yeah I hope he gets his stuff back. I just don’t know how people can live with themselves after stealing his stuff.
@daddy forever and that’s the sad part. These people were using the craigslist as an excuse to steal. That’s just wrong. Sometimes I hate people.
@cybrpunk Yeah, actually this isn’t the first time this has happened. This happened to another person last year. And that was a totally messed up situation. I never followed what happened, but I know it was much worse.
@avitable lol yeah, I know some people too. :D
[...] when I wrote that post about Hoax Craigslist ads? Well, turns out, the police say it wasn’t a hoax after all. What apparently happened was a [...]