What was the price of posting to Craigslist "erotic services" before the May 2009 switch to "adult services"?
May 6, 2010 1:13 PM
I am an academic economist who studies the economics of underground markets, particularly methamphetamine markets and (separately) commercial sex markets in the United States.
One of the things I'm currently studying is various aspects of Craigslist's entry into the commercial sex markets in US cities over time. In November of 2008, Craigslist adopted a new rule that required everyone to pay $5-10 per advertisement posted to their "erotic services" section. This article supports this claim:
"Craigslist had already made some changes to curb illegal activity on its site. Under pressure from 40 U.S. attorneys general, the site agreed in November to charge people posting erotic ads $5-$10 by credit card and require them to submit a working phone number to use the site."
But, in May of 2009, Craigslist decided to (a) discontinue its erotic services site, (b) create a more restrictive section called "adult services" and (c) require all cities to receive $10 per advertisement (with another $5 for a repost).
What I'm trying to figure out is what prices were by city just prior to the May 2009 change in the site. Some cities apparently were priced at $5 prior to the price change; some were already set at $10. And as I'm interested in purely in the price change, I'm trying to find out which cities were which.
I tried the wayback machine, but no luck, as the most recent page that comes up is from April 2008, which is several months before the November price change. Anyone know this information at all?
"Craigslist had already made some changes to curb illegal activity on its site. Under pressure from 40 U.S. attorneys general, the site agreed in November to charge people posting erotic ads $5-$10 by credit card and require them to submit a working phone number to use the site."
But, in May of 2009, Craigslist decided to (a) discontinue its erotic services site, (b) create a more restrictive section called "adult services" and (c) require all cities to receive $10 per advertisement (with another $5 for a repost).
What I'm trying to figure out is what prices were by city just prior to the May 2009 change in the site. Some cities apparently were priced at $5 prior to the price change; some were already set at $10. And as I'm interested in purely in the price change, I'm trying to find out which cities were which.
I tried the wayback machine, but no luck, as the most recent page that comes up is from April 2008, which is several months before the November price change. Anyone know this information at all?
Send FOIA requests to the state agencies that are pursuing this. Because it's an open matter, they might not be willing to provide the documents quite yet.
posted by yarly at 2:34 PM on May 6, 2010
posted by yarly at 2:34 PM on May 6, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
I thought I might find an answer in the text of the agreement between CL and the AGs, but the only interesting things I learned was the CL planned to donate to charity 100% of credit card payments for "erotic services" postings and that CL insists on its name being lowercase.
posted by Xalf at 1:24 PM on May 6, 2010