CraigsList Guilty of Discrimination??

[VaHawk]

Isn't the founder gay? Then why is only the m4m section required to agree to a waiver of culpability? Hope this link works.

 

http://www.washingtonblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=2296

[VaHawk]

Isn't the founder gay? Then why is only the m4m section required to agree to a waiver of culpability? Hope this link works.

 

http://www.washingtonblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=2296

[guyinsf]

Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster's explanation makes sense to me: the warning about sexually explicit material is inserted into forums which are predominantly sexual in nature (casual encounters, m4m, erotic services) but not in those that are more relationship oriented. A quick perusal of the various forums confirms the radically different nature of the m4m and casual encounters sections versus the others: Not only do the former have more sexually explicit photos but even the headings for the ads themselves are more explicit, containing references to body parts and sexual acts.

 

I think CL is merely covering its ass by letting people know before they click that they will see lots of references to fucking and sucking and will see pictures of naked people if they open ads with embedded pictures. Given that they obviously don't require identification from the people posting sexually explicit pictures, it's amazing that they actually allow as much as they do. While other websites were busy pulling down all pictures with cock in them for fear that the Feds would accuse them of kiddie porn (even if the guy in the photo looked old enough to be a grandfather), Craigslist has continued to allow people who are so inclined to post pictures of their genitals in various states of arousal.

 

There's also a warning/disclaimer before the "rants and raves" section indicating that some of the content may be "patently offensive." Now if that warning came before the m4m forum, I could understand the complaint about homophobia. As it is, I just don't see any merit in the homophobia claim. (And why anyone would want to spend his/her time reporting on what's at best a minor difference between the m4m and other forums on CL instead of focusing on the many more serious threats the LGBT community faces is beyond me.)