Hugh, JR, and the rest of my fellow patriots:
I would like to ask your readers who, like myself, have used Craigslist (and maybe similar sites) for years to do everything from buy and sell farm animals to random goods to meeting other people via the personal ads. Have you come to the point where you’re so frustrated with even using CL because of the onslaught of phony, obviously robotic in nature, responses you’ve received either from your own ads or others?
Call me crazy, but perhaps it’s a direct result of our very own government’s attempts to not only track us (CL does often verify accounts via phone/text) BUT to also dissuade us and frustrate us as we attempt to barter, buy, and communicate with others? Talk about a PSYOP exercise. Create programs to post and respond to user ads in such a manner as to ultimately either gather intel or frustrate them from further usage?
On a side note, this veteran of OIF who learned about this website during my deployment in ’08 would like to thank all of you for helping me to prepare (via your contributions to this site) for that which seems to be heading our way with greater and greater swiftness. God Bless You All! Our country will survive, but it’s not going to be fun nor easy. At least I know I’m not alone. – R.B.
HJL Replies: You have to look at the agenda behind the face. It is a safe bet that nothing in this world is truly free. Everything has its cost, and like in the case of Craigsist, that price is often information. If you are not being charged for the services rendered, who is paying the bills? Facebook makes its fortune from selling advertising that you have to view or from getting a cut from companies that trick you into giving your private information away for free. Craigslist lets you advertise for free and doesn’t get a cut of what you sell, but who pays for the servers and bandwidth usage? It’s a safe bet that they don’t do that out of the goodness of their heart. They are getting something for the dollars they spend, and it is often either information that they sell to others or a cut of the profits from those who do get your private information.