scaping the goats

a hooker got killed. please let's not pretend she was giving legit massages, because you don't offer that in the "erotic services" section of craigslist. you just don't.

hookers get killed. people get killed. but this particular hooker happened to be pretty and didn't look like some cracked-out ho. the med student who probably killed her was dumb as shit, leaving a trail a mile wide and bright red for the cops to easily track him down.

but somehow the story gets spun and everybody goes beserk at the founder of craiglist for allowing this sort of smutty networking to happen. for free. the same stuff that's been happening since the dawn of time. it simply moved from the back pages of the boston phoenix to on-line. just like selling your old waterbed or finding a room-mate. we all know nobody reads newspapers anymore, not even free ones like the phoenix.

unlike trying to score in a bar, or approaching a street-walker, a cl hook-up was a pretty sure thing. i have gay friends who do it on a regular basis, for the no-muss-no-fuss convenience. i've seen the ads with $$$$$ in the headers, so the pros were hiding in plain sight. every so often cops do a "sting" and net a few, which always struck me as shooting fish in a barrel. and really, aren't there meth labs or gang members that needed shaking up way more than a chick who saw no other income options? i mean, how desperate and cornered are these women?

facing likely frivolous, but assuredly annoying, lawsuits and media harassment craig newmark announced a change in cl policy today. the "erotic services" section will be phased out in a week. attorney generals in a few places crowed about this part! woo-hoo, we beat the dirty smut peddler! the truth is this: the name will be changed to "adult services". moderators will now oversee this section. it will no longer be free. so before, when hookers and johns went trolling, that was the only time money changed hands. but now? craigslist will be profiting from them! well done, media hysterics!

it's sad what happened to that girl. wrong place, wrong time. yet nobody is willing to call it just that. heads must roll and the print media hates craiglist for hijacking all that ad revenue. nobody tagged that med student the "hotel killer", did they?