Of craigslist and chatroulette

The advancements society has made in the internet age are remarkable.

We accomplish once-monumental tasks at the snap of a finger and click of a mouse. Each day lately, I’ve explored some nuance of the web I’d yet to sample (I’m working on a really sweet RSS feed). It’s difficult to keep up with what’s new when I haven't grasped entirely the things I claim to know. I still don’t understand both Facebook and Twitter to their full extents, although it’s on my agenda.

Anyway, the culture we’ve fostered on quick, efficient task management can be a great thing (email vs. post office, online shopping vs. going to the mall, etc.). But many times the internet is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad place.

Craigslist

I have two qualms with craigslist.

To qualify these statements, let’s operate under the assumption that I trust everyone I do business with on the internet, mmmkay?

I purchased a 60” DLP TV before the Superbowl XLIV after my main man Jake moved out. Upon deciding on my move and learning the shipping cost, I realized I needed to sell it quickly. Due to its free-ness, I trusted (smart!) craigslist to let my business handle its business.

When aiming to pawn my beast of a television (still for sale!), I found a seemingly legit (but really not legit) buyer after a few hours. She would handle the shipping, send me a bank approved money order and be out of my life forever. All seemed hunky-dory. After a couple weeks the money order didn’t come. I realized I was duped.

I mean, yes, she said she was a deaf-mute woman from Seattle who was buying a television for her cousin in Indianapolis, so making phone calls were a no-no. But is it really my fault for believing her? (Of course.)

In my world, people of every type get the benefit of the doubt on the first try. No matter what defines you, you’ll always get a shot with me, regardless. Even if you’re a Helen Keller-type from the great Northwest, I’ll let you buy my TV! That is, until you burn me. The check never came, and I haven't put any effort into selling it anymore.

Nonetheless, television is still on the market. Dedicated Hombloggers, I challenge you to please fucking buy it, for the love of god.

Craigslist exists as a prominent tool for informal job hunting. I earned my internship at Luck Media and Marketing through a vigorous perusing of CL. So it has its benefits. The lack of a quality filter is a problem.

Most of the issue is with the applicant (read: yourself). Applying for jobs is a brutally mundane and tedious process. It’s a lot like baseball. If you connect on three out of ten at-bats, you are considered a good hitter. Same for applying. You’re going to miss a lot. I did.

You'll get to the point in the application process where you really stop caring about what you are applying for, just so long as you're applying. You play the numbers. Job quality takes a backseat to desperation. Nothing matters other than the existence of a job opportunity, and you're going to apply for that job because you are poor, mindlessly bored from applying for jobs all day and basically a whore to the system. You convince yourself you'd enjoy jobs you have no business applying for; jobs you are far overqualified for. But hey, jobs is jobs, man.

When I saw two listings that said “Looking for a PR/Content Writer,” I was resigned in viewing both of them. First was an herbal foods supermarket chain. It seemed pretty legitimate, working for a company given decent wage for work-from-home tasks. Not too bad. I applied, spent two hours on a proper resume and cover letter then submitted it. Granted, the company did have a Thai sounding name to it, I talked myself into thinking this was a valid company owned and operated by non-Americans who could use my services in translating their broken words to proper, readable English (I was wrong).

Diving deeper into the company's offerings, I was taken to a products page where I was (not) surprised to see the 'healthy foods' they spoke of wasn’t quite that. If by ‘healthy’ they meant ‘alters your health’ than I guess that’s not entirely false advertising. But ‘foods’ is certainly not a proper way to describe this.

Yes, I learned the position I sought after for hours was not a grocery store in need of PR/Content writer, but instead a company looking for a shameless man to SPAM you about a red bull with powers of ‘enhancing the activity of sexual hormones in men’ and ‘nourishing the body’s reproductive glands’ (with NO sugar, NO caffeine, and NO CALORIES. Tell me more!). Needless to say, Luck Media and Marketing seems like more gainful employment. Going to concerts and getting free awesome CDs might be a better job perk than bringing home free cases of liquid Cialis (cheers!)

I’m drawn to craigslist, though. I will continue to look at what kind of free shit I can get. But do trust that I won’t be so naïve next time I seek employment.

Chatroulette

The title of this post promises some musings on chatroulette. Here they are: Don’t go to chatroulette. Everything you’ve heard about it is true. I’m all for freedom of speech, but never should exist a forum where teenagers and grown men are placed randomly in the same room with no regulation or consequences. Everything you’ve heard about chatroulette is true. Anything goes, and it usually does. On the metaphorical tower that is the internet, chatroulette. is the end-place when people shoot down through the basement’s trap door. It’s lower than low. Yet I can't take my eyes off of it.

Thanks for reading, here’s a portrait of Carl Weathers.