Facebook Says a 'Technical Issue' Caused Drugs, Animals and Other Illegal Listings To Flood Its New Craigslist Competitor (businessinsider.com) 42
On Monday, Facebook launched Marketplace, its own take on eBay and Craigslist to offer users a platform to buy and sell things. Less than a day later, the company said there was a "technical issue" that caused drugs, animals, adult services, and other illegal items to appear in Marketplace. Business Insider reports: In a statement to Business Insider, Facebook director of product management Mary Ku said the company is "working to fix the problem" and "closely monitoring our systems to ensure we are properly identifying and removing violations before giving more people access to Marketplace." To police what is sold in Marketplace, a Facebook spokesperson previously told us that the social network will rely on its employees proactively looking for offensive listings as well as users reporting posts they think should be removed.
Technical glitch (Score:5, Funny)
Or attempt at providing an authentic Craiglist experience?
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Technical glitch (Score:4, Funny)
PHB1: "Hey, let's be Craigslist without the blackjack and hookers!"
PHB2: "Excellent idea, I'll get on it! ... By the way, what's Craigslist?"
PHB1: "Uh, blackjack and hookers."
Re: (Score:2)
PHBender: I’m going to build my own classified ad site with blackjack and hookers.
PHPBender: In fact, forget the classified ads.
Still can't make it work with Facebook's version of events, even when I tried really hard.
Re: (Score:3)
Is it possible to browse without a FB account?
Re: (Score:1)
Hubris (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Facebook is surprisingly profitable [wsj.com].
Standardized sharing [Re:Hubris] (Score:3)
Why doesn't somebody come up with a standard to share and control sharing of info so that one is not tied to a monopoly to house such info?
Companies who "lost" the network effect fight or only sell generic hosting should be happy to support such a standard because it would level the playing field. Zuck would be zucked.
It might require a non-profit "registry" of contacts, though.
Re: (Score:1)
Why doesn't somebody come up with a standard to share and control sharing of info so that one is not tied to a monopoly to house such info?
We did, it's called HTML. People would rather click buttons on Facespace.
Re: (Score:3)
Where I get your perspective, why mess with success? I think there is good to be had here.
Who knows that E-Bay has the most optimal solution for online auctions sites? Maybe there is something else to be learned? The only way you kick the huge guys like E-Bay off center is to innovate around them. The problem is that innovation is not always successful, often it isn't, but that's what makes this whole thing keep working.
So what if somebody thinks they can make money on Craig's list idea? Or somebody
Re: (Score:3)
As both a buyer and seller I think gunbroker's auction system is much better than ebays. Just the 15 minute rule alone (any bids in the last 15 minutes sets the clock back to 15 minutes) turns a GB auction into an actual auction as opposed to a sealed envelope bid that closes at a specific time. Cheaper rates, no forced payment methods, etc. are all great for sellers as well.
Re: (Score:2)
No argument here. I'm sure some scrappy little startup with a great idea will innovate eBay into obsolescence. However, Facebook is NOT a scrappy little startup and leveragin
Technical Difficulties (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah. It was full of people.
Re: (Score:2)
Technical Issue (Score:2)
Smells like... (Score:5, Insightful)
"...the company said there was a "technical issue" that caused drugs, animals, adult services, and other illegal items to appear in Marketplace."
Er, a technical issue?
Smells more like simple supply and demand to me. One would think one of the largest for-profit corporations on the planet would recognize a revenue stream when they see it.
And don't bother talking about morals or ethics. They sold your digital soul ten times over for far less.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Smells more like simple supply and demand to me. One would think one of the largest for-profit corporations on the planet would recognize a revenue stream when they see it.
Exactly! The next step is to launch Zuckerberg into orbit so that he's outside of any jurisdiction! Maybe sometime afterward somebody can send him a habitat and some oxygen... or not.
No, it really isn't easy to copy eBay (Score:1)
As long as they've been in the Social Networking business???
Hahahahahahahhahahahahaaaaa!!!!
Re: (Score:2)
So the more varied life experiences now have to be considered when creating open marketplaces on the once useful and pristine internet.
Copy existing rule lists other online sites have and play catch up?
Or rush out a beta experience, gather real raw data, build inner city mind share and then regulate as the brand builds.
Re: (Score:1)
They've already BEEN compiling that data for YEARS; so I think they should have known to start with a stricter ruleset.
Re: (Score:2)
FB,... is under no obligation whatsoever to guarantee freedom of speech for users....
Eventually we will all be Chinese....
Wetware (Score:2)