First Annual Anniversary Indulgence: The Craigslist Files

where strangeness was born

(sorry for the late update. Some technical issues ate my life yesterday)

If there's one thing I've learned about the Internet by maintaining this blog, it's that there is no medium in this world capable of matching it in sheer volume of content. Because it's so cheap and easy to produce and publish online content, it manifests in one massive, unbroken stream that runs through so many possibilities that even the most wild, unlikely topics are eventualities. There is no greater demonstration of this principle than craigslist. Over the years, it has evolved from a text-only tool for some guy and his friends to an international depository of surreal human weirdness. Even better, it has created its own quasi-culture, facilitating content that never would have even been imagined were it not for the List itself. When I first started the Craigslist Files I imagined that it would run for a few weeks before I ran out of material. A year later and there's no sign that this barreling beast will even slow down.

From the very beginning, the Craigslist Files was the stage for the strangest, most absurd stuff I ever found online. Take, for instance, the post titled "Good Conversation is an Elusive Mist" from the very first edition of the Files. That one paragraph was merely the craggy maw of a very deep cave of non-linear thinking in which I would occasionally spelunk on a Wednesday. I have since come to appreciate the muddled weirdos the way safari-goers appreciate the mistakes of evolution that pop up in exotic locations. Sure, they're ridiculous and ill-suited for the world at large, but they're still beautiful in their natural habitats.

Of course, no real connoisseur of craigslist can come away from a post entirely satisfied unless there are hilarious misspellings and rampant abuses of the nuances of the English language. I have spent a year enjoying every iteration of "I Ned Halp" and other remarkable phrases like it, which brings me more joy than seeing a tour group made up entirely of nuns accidentally disembark from their bus into a leather fetish gay bar.

I was also fortunate enough to be the Internet's foremost analyst of craigslist during the prostitution controversy surrounding the site in May 2009. In an initiative spearheaded by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, those hedonistic heathens over at craigslist were forced to crack down on the rampant whoring made possible by the List. The Erotic Services section was replaced with the Adult Services section, new fees and oversight were instituted, and now only the top 50% most clever hookers get their Johns on craigslist. I am proud to have been waist-deep in that messy business when it was going down.

When domestic craigslist posts just weren't cutting it anymore, I took a few trips to the pages of foreign nations and discovered that the posters there were just like ours in the States. In fact, many of them were so like posts from America mainly because they were posts from America. I guess we actually do exploit the entire globe for our own dubious desires. Who knew?

Lastly, I want to thank everyone again who contributed to the Craigslist Files over this past year. Whether you were one of the folks who emailed me the occasional post just for fun, or you were a participant in our very first Citizen's Arrest contest, I appreciate that you've been willing to dig through the muck with me.

I hope you readers have enjoyed the fifty-some-odd case files and I promise to maintain my dedication to Craig and his one-of-a-kind List.