Craigslist TOS ... I'm afraid of it.

[Tarzan2]

I was presented with Craig's List's new Terms Of Service when I last went to post an ad there and I read it all. There was a link to another page that listed fines for breaking the rules and I read them too. Now I'm afraid to post anything on their site. In http://www.craigslist.org/about/liquidated.damages, clause 3(a) states that anyone posting content that is 'unsolicited' can be fined $100 for each piece of content posted. It would seem that practically all content on Craig's List is unsolicited, because individuals have not specifically been invited to post their content.

I have asked a few others to look at the wording and they seem to agree with my interpretation. Would anyone here care to take a look and see if I'm mis-interpreting the clause. Can Craig's List begin fining people for placing ads if their current revenue source is insufficient? Have they used the wrong terminology and effectively shut down the whole purpose of what Craig's List was originally designed for?

Thanks for your opinions!

[HTMLBasicTutor]

I'm not a lawyer but I think that was written to deter spammers, people who hire others to post for them, autoposting and maybe flamers.

I know in the Web Design section some have called out a bad employer (justly or not). There are also some ads that don't meet the labour code which get called out. Then there are the ones that post in the wrong section too.

TOSBack has Craigslist on it's list of monitoring but it seems Craigslist has blocked them or the TOSBack site isn't maintained anymore.
http://www.tosback.org/policy.php?pid=36

[Tarzan2]

I'm pretty sure the INTENT of the TOS is to deter SPAM, but the wording is of great concern.
Thanks for the tosback link. There are so many great sites I have learned about from this forum!
When you state that an ad gets called out, what does that mean? The ad is removed?

[HTMLBasicTutor]

When you state that an ad gets called out, what does that mean? The ad is removed?

Members reading the ads post their own "ad" telling the person to get real about their offer. They put Re: Original ad Title in the title. I don't read other sections of Craigslist so I don't know if in the other sections people do that.

Usually, the "get real" replies disappear after a bit.

When you read an ad in the top right there are 4 ways you can flag an ad. I would image if you ad got enough flags it might be removed. Can you image how big of an operation that site is? Might take them days to get through all the reports/flags.

You will have to double check but I think your ad expires in 60 days anyways.