Craigslist Review

The local newspaper outlet here - Mid Iowa Newspapers allows people to place five classified ads in their paper for free each month. On the few occasions I have wanted to sell something in the classifieds, I went to them for the free ads. Those are in print and on the web.

Then I found someone's cat. He was obviously an expensive Siamese cat. I made flyers and stuff (and put an ad in Mid Iowa), and I decided to also put an ad on craigslist.org to get the most exposure. It was one sentence, about nine words. I used the anonymous email address thing, and it has the "It is NOT OK to contact this poster.... blah"

I kept getting these emails from people "just wanting to talk," or saying that it looks like we'd have a lot in common. Unless you lost your cat, we have nothing in common. Then there are the "I'm sorry, I couldn't read your message. Do you need help?" emails designed to get you to reply and get on a bigger and better spam list. Also there were work form home and Acai Berry emails. Next time I will not put in my email at all.

I think it's a good service. The website is a throwback to the days of the Lynx and text-only sites. I found my current abode to rent on there so I found that to be helpful. When I was looking for a place to rent, I replied to tons of ads and no one ever replied back. If you sold it, take the ad down. It's easy!

This website is a prime target for people trying to lie, cheat, steal, so watch out. But I think if you are vigilant and don't include an email you should be OK on there.