Craigslist Now Offering ‘Adult Services’ Instead Of ‘Erotic Services’

There’s a scene in the original Ghostbusters movie that summarizes Craigslist’s answer to the problems that have occured due to the erotic services section of their website — The Ghostbusters are in jail, and Winston asks the other busters if their plan is to go before a judge and tell them that some moldy Babylonian god is going to rise up and terrorize the city. Egon then retorts that the god is Sumerian, not Babylonian. Venkman then states that there’s a big difference…

If you haven’t heard, Craigslist has folded to the pressure put on them by numerous law enforcement agencies across the country. According to these agencies the erotic section of Craigslist was becoming a rampant forum for illegal soliciting of prostitution to occur. Law enforcement had been pleading with Craigslist to get rid of that section, or do something to put a stop to the activity.

The initial idea was that Craiglist would start requiring a credit card input to be able to post on the erotic services. All was well, and not much was made of it…until…a murder and two robberies happened in Boston, due to ads posted on Craigslist.

That brings us to the present, and yet more pressure has been applied by law enforcement. Craigslist has yet responded, this time their answer to the probme is a — wait for it — name change. That’s right, in a week or so the erotic services will be called adult services. Apparently calling the same thing by a different name is going to make a difference (hence my original Ghostbusters comparison).

To be fair, Craigslist is doing a bit more to quell the prostitution problem. First, every post put up on the adult section will be reviewed before going public. Also, new posts in the section will cost $10 and reposts will be $5. These measures I can see making a difference…

The name change just seems kind of unneccesary. Oh well, you all can still have adult fun. Just make sure it doesn’t get to erotic I guess.

1. anonymous 5.13.09 / 2pm

   I don’t see how that would make a change. The only people who can afford to continually post those ads will be the hookers under the guise of being an ‘escort’… That is all that section would become.

   Yet again, the public cries ‘there outta be a law’ and the reality is that no law will prevent evil predators from carrying out these terrible crimes.. all you wind up doing is messing with the regular people who have nothing to do with prostitution or the crime.