Craigslist: Defying the Laws of Math, Abusing Workers, or Lying? | Change.org News

Craigslist: Defying the Laws of Math, Abusing Workers, or Lying? | Change.org NewsCraigslist: Defying the Laws of Math, Abusing Workers, or Lying?
by Amanda Kloer · August 22, 2010
Topics: Pimping · Prostitution · Sex Trafficking
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When Craigslist changed the name of the "erotic services" section to "adult services" last year, they claimed they made a number of other changes as well, including creating a policy that staff would manually review each adult services ad before it was posted. It would be a good policy, if it were actually happening. But it's mathematically impossible for Craigslist to actually do what they are claiming to and review each post by hand.

Last year, Polaris Project spent several months counting the number of erotic/adult services ads posted on Craigslist across the country. They came up with a conservative average of about 10,000 unique ads a day, though some months had days with over 13,000 ads posted. That's a lot of ads to manually review. According to a factsheet on Craigslist's website, they have a staff of 30 people working out of their San Fransisco office who keep the company running on a day-to-day basis. That's a pretty small staff to review all those ads. Now we get to revisit elementary school math class to see if 30 staff reading 10,000 ads a month is even possible.

If all 30 staff members (including CEO Jim Buckmaster) are actively reviewing adult services ads, that means each of them must manually review around 330 ads per day. If Craigslist employees work standard eight hour days, that means they're reviewing 42 ads an hour, or a new ad every minute and a half, without stopping. During the heavy months when they get more than 13,000 ads, they would be reviewing an ad a minute for eight hours a day, every day, with no breaks. That is a grueling schedule; if I worked for Craigslist and this was actually the policy in place, I'd quit.

In reality, the 30 staff members of Craigslist are doing all sorts of things to keep the company running other than screening adult services ads. That means that the number of ads per employee per day jumps to an impossible number. So what's the deal, Craigslist? Are you a magical company able to defy natural law? Or are you overworking your small staff to the point of exhaustion? Or are you lying about reviewing all the adult services ads you receive by hand? A lot of people would love to know your secret.

You can be one of almost 10,000 people who have asked Craigslist to stop lying, to actually reform their adult services section and really review ads. Unless, of course, it turns out Craig Newmark is a magical leprechaun who has imbued his company with special powers, which I guess is always possible.

Photo credit: acidwashphotography

Amanda Kloer is a Change.org Editor and has been a full-time abolitionist in several capacities for seven years. Follow her on Twitter @endhumantraffic