Craig's List - a Company's Nightmare of Wasted Time and Energy

My friends have sworn about the wonderful deals they have discovered while surfing on the net through Craig's List, the "Non-Profit Organization" that was supposedly founded by a disabled man named Craig who could only work from his home computer and decided to help people with free online classified advertising. Some of my friends have even raved about how their experience with selling items on Craig's List was easier and cheaper than doing online auctions through eBay. A family member of mine also found - and bought - the house of her dreams through Craig's List. So why did I get the short end of the stick when I posted an advertisement to fill a legitimate job position?

Monster.com advertises the same jobs that I remember reading about and applying for years ago when I was first starting out in the job marketplace. It seemed to me that either the candidates or the jobs must not be that good if the same advertisements are being run over and over again. The newspaper classified job ads are so "yesteryear" and can be risky for the company if the right candidate is not found; therefore, I thought I'd try out the trendy new Craig's List to recruit people to work within my own company.

I was under the impression that I would be able to post on the job site for free and ask for resumes to be sent to me through Craig's List anonymously. This seemed to be the ideal situation since I didn't want people - or competitors - visiting the website to get our information and to call us or send us advertisements. There was nothing written in my advertisement for me to believe that anything I was doing might be "illegal" or not within the proper terms of using the Craig's List services.

Aside from all the hate mail that we received from unemployed and disgruntled people telling us to go to hell with our "capitalist" job (no kidding!), after two weeks of posting my ad successfully, I was then suddenly "banned" from placing any more ads on Craig's List but I was still able to continue surfing through their website. I tried contacting customer service to ask if I needed to pay a fee for placing a job opportunity, which I was willing to do after seeing the overwhelming response of candidates that the ad generated, but all I received in return was a notice of a "Permanent IP Ban - You Do Not Have Permission to Access" when I tried to go back on to the website. What on earth did I write about in the job description that was so bad?

Surfing around Craig's List for other possible "job" opportunities to research to see if my position genuinely offended anyone or the terms of use, I came across some positions that are being posted over and over again without these employers ever being banned from Craig's List. Reading through these "job" ads that are supposedly okay to post, I noticed that all of these companies have broken federal laws by requesting a person's photo and age. Some positions even require being of a specific race or nationality. Perhaps my company's job opportunity might have sounded "too good to be true" without the request for a photo?

What follows are some jobs advertised on Craig's List that have NOT been given the permanent boot:

ARE YOU ON ACID? GET PAID CASH

BEAUTIFUL AND SMART JEWISH EGG DONORS NEEDED - EARN $8,000

MAKE CASH NOW - LOOKING FOR PEOPLE WITH DEPRESSION

PARANORMAL AND UFO EXPERT WANTED IMMEDIATELY

CHINESE SPEAKING NANNY FOR DISABLED BUSINESS MAN

HIP HOP LOVERS DREAM JOB, GET PAID TO GET CRUNK

$$$PERM DONER - MAKE $200 FOR EACH OUNCE

MAKE MONEY WITH GAY MARRIAGES

PRETTY GIRLS WANTED TO GET PAID TONIGHT

GET PAID COLD HARD CASH FOR BINGING AND PURGING

PART TIME CUTE MASSAGE GIRL WANTED FOR UPSCALE PARLOR

BEAUTIFUL AND FRIENDLY GIRLS WANTED FOR FANTASY ROLEPLAY

EARN CASH FOR DOING METH, HEROIN, CRYSTAL, TINA AND BOB

HIGH SOCIETY SECRETARY, EARN $100,000 ASSISSTING PEOPLE LIKE PARIS

INSTANT CASH FOR HOT, FUN, FLIRTY GIRLS THAT LIKE TO MUD WRESTLE

EXCLUSIVE CLUB SEEKING GORGEOUS WOMEN TO EARN $10,000/PER DAY

FEMALE SEX COACH WANTED TO GIVE MEN SEX THERAPY

LOCATE DISTRESSED PROPERTY AND GET PAID INSTANT CASH

PEOPLE WITH CORPORATE AMEX CARDS WANTED TO ACCESS CASH ONLINE

PETITE 18-23 YEAR OLD LATINA MODELS WANTED TO MAKE $10,000 PER DAY

TELEPHONE ORDER TAKERS, EARN $100/HOUR FROM HOME

GET PAID CASH USING OUR CONDOM ALTERNATIVE

DO YOU WANT TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR FUNKY RASH?

CASH PAID DAILY TO DRINK WHISKEY

EARN MONEY GETTING VACCINATED FROM ANTHRAX

TV SHOW LOOKING FOR REAL PEOPLE TO DISCUSS THEIR SCHIZOPHRENIA

CASH PAID TO BEAUTIFUL WOMEN TO MARRY AN AVERAGE JOE

MOTIVATED AND CONSTIPATED PEOPLE NEEDED TO EARN $300 CASH

Am I missing something here?