By Juliette Tang
Let's face it: Craigslist's new "Adult Services" listing is pretty much just like the old Erotic Services one, but with a new name, a higher price tag, more inconvenience, and no more nude photos. But there's a new Web site coming to town that might change the face of online soliciting for good: Stagslist.
Unlike Craigslist, Stagslist publicly accepts its role in facilitating online sex work. Stagslist exists solely as an online listing of erotic and adult services and gigs, with the difference being no monitoring, no charge, and no personal verification. For some sex workers, the lack of verification on Stagslist (Craigslist currently requires a phone number, a credit card charge of $10, plus a working Craigslist account) will be liberating. Stagslist offers greater privacy and a forum to post whatever you want, because they won't screen or modify your ads. And for other sex workers content with Craigslist's verification system, who feel that it offers a barrier of protection between them and the outside world, Craigslist's Adult Services listing will still be an option. The arrival of a new erotic listing in town with the openness and viability of Stagslist will level the playing field so that Craigslist hopefully won't be the main provider of an online adult services forum in San Francisco. And it gives sex workers the option of choosing which platform best suits their specific needs.
Stagslist goes live on July 9, 2009, at noon. While right now, there's nothing on the site, I'm interested to see what Thursday will bring.
Full press release after the jump.
"When craigslist was pressured into shutting down its erotic services section, we decided to pick up right where they left off; stagslist is what craigslist was" says Lawrence. stagslist’s objective is to provide a forum wherein adults can post their erotic wants and services safely and easily, with no invasive personal verification or monitoring. Given the past popularity of the now-defunct craigslist erotic services, stagslist's founders sought to make the site familiar and easy to navigate. Lawrence goes on to say that their counsel is firmly of the opinion that craigslist did nothing wrong or illegal. Title 47 USC § 230 states that no provider of an interactive computer service, such as stagslist or craigslist, shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider, (such as an ad poster). craigslist was in the unfortunate position of having a public image to protect, and it was already under fire from several state attorneys general when the famed "craigslist masseusse murder" occurred in Boston, earlier this year. The company was left with little choice but to abandon the "erotic services" category, or risk it's more lucrative and less controversial, real estate and jobs postings.craigslist tried to reinvent itself by creating an "adult services" category, but it has limitations, which neither the posters nor their clients are thrilled about. For one, the price doubled to $10 per listing, which craigslist states that they must charge due to the need to hand-review and approve every ad. The ads cannot contain any suggestive language, nor can they have nude pictures. The ad poster must also provide a credit card and a phone number, both of which are validated. Lawrence said that because stagslist's entire business is only erotic services, it does not have the public-pressure issues to deal with, and therefore, they do not perform any verification of the posters, nor do they screen or modify the ads, except to remove certain content-filtered language. The objective is to not to limit freedom of speech, but to ensure that the postings are not blocked by spam or ISP filters, or cause the site to be branded XXX, which could lower its search engine rankings.
The stagslist.com website goes live on Thursday, July 9, 2009, debuting in the San Francisco Bay Area, with additional locations opening wordwide in following weeks. Lawrence said that they wanted to launch the site with "a bang" so they were focusing exclusively on the San Francisco area to ensure that both the posters and their customers achieved success. To entice advertisers to propagate the site, they are setting up a call center to inform all known advertisers that postings are free for the entire month of July. To drive customers to the site, stagslist is putting 25 men on the streets all weekend, wearing bright blue shirts embalzoned with "STAGSLIST.COM" in hot pink. They will be handing out 20,000 cards and flyers around local men's clubs, bookstores and bars. Lawrence adds that as a community-conscious organization, we will be careful to instruct our staff not to distribute to anyone who appears to be in the company of a minor, not to bother any customers of local businesses, or obstruct sidewalks. Dropped cards are to be picked-up along with any other litter in the distribution neighborhoods.
Comments (12)
The web is TEEMING with advertising malls, most of whom require little to no verification and many, many of which are free (many more which are low-cost). Most of them are more appealing than CraigsList too. Most of them rank higher on Google than CL. (Not to mention all the regional/national escort discussion/review boards.)
Because of the CL problems, there are several people/companies trying to step into the void and ride CL's infamous coattails. I guess the one who gets the most press wins. Though "completely free" as a business model rarely works. We'll see who's still standing 12 months from now.
Just understand -- none of this is new, none of it original.
XX
Posted by Amanda | July 6, 2009 11:00 PM
Our primary goal was not to beter craigslist, but rather to provide exactly what its users had experienced before it changed. It actually took a lot more work to make the site look and feel like craigslist than it would have to include enhancements.
For the launch, this Thursday, our objective is to give our users the same "old craigslist erotic services" experience that they knew and loved!
Trev
Posted by Trevor Lawrence | July 7, 2009 06:45 PM
I personally like the "old CL" I've seen the rest and they do have lots of enhancements and features, but the thing about the CL format is that it's kind of a "surprise package" when you click on a posting - you have no idea what's there - sometimes it's "oh my God, what is that???" Other times, it's a beautiful surprise - I like the surprise factor!
I hope that "stagslist" holds true to their claim of being what craigslist wss, (including the nude photos - that was half the fun!
Tad
Posted by Tad | July 7, 2009 10:05 PM
Hey, I liked the "old Craigslist" - there are prettier sites for sure, but it is simple and now there's no nudity - takes away a lot of the fun! I hope Stagslist is what they claim. I'll be checking it out on Thursday.
Posted by Markus | July 8, 2009 03:44 PM
There are already sites out there who ARE just like the old CraigsList and have been for nearly a year. I can think of a few off the top of my head.
A big advertising campaign to men won't neccessarily draw in girls. Nor will it work if girls aren't getting the clients they want. That's also not exactly controlled with massive advertising either. It's the X factor that makes most advertising sites (CL-style or not) fold in less than a year. I've been watching this happen since 2002.
XX
Posted by Amanda | July 8, 2009 10:58 PM
Stagslist.com's developers are aware of the other sites and we agree that advertising alone doesn't cut it. The key to a site like stagslist succeeding is to get the posters to place their ads simultaneously with the "surfers" seeking them.
I believe that many have failed because they didn't do their homework or legwork. We spent a great deal of time actually speaking with the girls who post the ads and got feedback directly from them, which generated some great ideas on how to make it successful for both parties.
If we're right, everyone gets what they want. If we're not, no-one's harmed, except for my wallet!
Trev
Posted by Trevor Lawrence | July 9, 2009 12:36 AM
The site is great. Nudity is back, and it's simple and easy again. I plan on using it instead of others I use, and will most definitely recommend when I rate using myredbook. Thanks Staglist for making it easy again.
-ND
Posted by Nellie Dawg | July 11, 2009 02:22 PM
Your site is very similar to this other site www.clerotic.org which also appears to be a craigslist alternative for escort services. However, they seem to have more posts but you have more categories.
Posted by James | July 13, 2009 08:02 AM
We just launched the site this past weekend, but we have over 150 postings just in the San Francisco area. We're adding Sacramento this weekend, then the rest of California the week following, all U.S. states in August.
Our goal is to roll out regionally to ensure that if someone is looking, they find a good number of ads in their area.
Keep an eye on the site, the number of postings will expand rapidly as the rollout continues.
Trev
Posted by Trevor Lawrence | July 13, 2009 09:15 AM
Of all the CL contenders I've seen, I think www.pleasurego.com is in the best position to fill this niche. Although they charge a nominal fee for ad placement, they seem to be making inroads across the US and into other countries.
Posted by Jay | July 18, 2009 05:56 PM
Just stumbled across this site it's good better than craigslist because they gave up on it. there are lots of girls and posts on there and i hope i can get up the courage to call one!!!!
Posted by Jimmy | August 14, 2009 04:28 PM
just went to the site for the first time today. there are lots of posts and stuff it looks cool like old craigslist but way more women lol. maybe one of these days i will get the nerve to call one!
Posted by Jimmy | August 14, 2009 04:33 PM