In the "Wild West" of Craigslist's Erotic Services, does community policing prevail?
On the sex worker message board mypinkbook, escorts are working their nerves over some messy moderation on the Craigslist help forums. Like when one woman's ad got flagged for being "a little hookerish." Pot, kettle, black patent pumps, we know. The escort, DameKelly, shares the now-deleted Craigslist moderator response:
Maybe you are new to this so I will < explain_the_game > 06/24 16:11:07
You will post an ad under Erotic Services that really does not belong because you are offering a Happy Ending, which is illegal.
You will try to be clever in your ad so that it is not too flagerant but still communicates your willingess to use your 38 inch chest for the gratification of your client's sexual desire.
The readers will read your ad. Some will call you and give you money for porviding the illegal service you are offering and that they desire. Others will flag your ad and it may be removed. Then you post another ad.
This is how the game is really played in Erotic Services. It is not according to the tou, but that is how it works.
Complaining here will not help because 99 44/100 percent of Erotic Services doesn't follow the tou
With the post being gone now, it's impossible to say that this came from an actual Craigslist moderator. That said, the community rising up to lay down the law like this, on what's allowed in Erotic Services, is maybe the only apropos way to trot out all those "Wild West" metaphors the cops adore when talking whores on the internet. It was all those Gold Rush Working Girls who were the first women to do business in San Francisco — and plus ça change, the more escorts will buck the rules of any advertising system.