The craigslist customer service department (Annette°, Aristotle°, Clint°, Craig°, and Geoff° and more) monitors the abuse@craigslist.org email. If the situation is serious then email the ad number to abuse@craigslist.org with a brief note about the problem. Read This and then the rest of this section.
The customer service folks are VERY busy. Keep an eye on the big picture and only send in things that really need personal attention from staff. Material that is or could be immediately damaging to someone should be sent in. This stuff should not be entrusted to the community moderation (flagging) system.
Examples of some things you might mail in:
Personal information. If someone wants to post their own name, address, phone number, etc. then that is their business. They can always delete it. But if someone else posts it (including copying their ad in a Discussion post) then that is a major no-no. If it your own info that has been posted, definitely mail it to abuse@craigslist.org. If someone made a typo with a phone number and now your phone is getting flooded with calls, mail in as much about the situation as you know. Be as complete, clear and concise as possible with your description of the problem.
Really dangerous stuff for sale. Things like explosives (black powder, dynamite, blasting caps, det. cord, reloading primers, etc.). Hazardous medications (prescription stuff that could hurt the unwary). Just run of the mill bad ads for guns, knives, "420", "tina", erection enhancers of all kinds, etc. should not be mailed in. Just flag them. Ads only soliciting dangerous things should only be flagged. As a rule, ads that simply violate the craigslist TOU and/or are dumb should be flagged. Ads that really present an immediate hazard in the community should be sent to abuse@craigslist.org.
Way out of line spammers. Too many to flag...like dozens of ads. Collect the ad numbers and send them to abuse@craigslist.org. These matters are too big for flagging to resolve.
Injuries to you. If you are the target of a prank, if your copy write is being infringed, privacy violations, etc, then use the abuse@craigslist.org email. In these cases you yourself are the victim of whatever someone else is doing in their ad. If you yourself are not the victim, then just flag the ad.
Some examples of things you should not mail in:
Someone posting something hateful and racist in Rants & Raves. Part of the reason Rants & Raves exists is to draw this garbage away from the other categories...and you signed up for "offensive content" when you entered the place. Don't waste anybody's time with it. If you don't like it, definitely flag it.
Ordinary breaking the rules, not playing nice, etc. Customer service is 5 people, craigslist has around 10 million users. The setup really depends on you flagging bad ads. For day to day garbage, just flag them. Even if it is something that really pisses you off, just flag it. Count on it pissing other people off too, drawing more flags and getting removed. Save the resources of customer service for the real hazards, things that could actually hurt people, not merely offend or anger them.
Scams. Unless it is something very new, just flag it. If you don't know if it is a new one, check in the Help Desk forum. Remember that even if CL staff deletes a scam post it will be back within the hour under a new name. The scammers are pros at it. Your ability to spot them and your good judgement is your protection.
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