Thanks for giving us a few more years before we collapse.

I take it you're a writer, based on the confidence you have in your opinions, and your narrow view of the rewards of writing.

Very ambitious. Too bad every other small pub. in the world has the same pipe dream of getting people to write for NOTHING in return. I give your pub. a couple of years before its "collapse."

Talk to a good corporate lawyer. Learn what duties a controlling shareholder has to a minority shareholder. Learn what kind of pain a deep-pocket minority shareholder can cause in a privately-held company.

I'm guessing they have lawyers in New York, Lock.

I concede that this is a discussion that you should probably withdraw from, but not simply because we "don't like you."

I sat next to you at lunch at Inman in San Francisco year before last, and It's impossible not to like Craig Newmark. It's also impossible not to like and admire much of what you've done.

That's not my point here, and because it's not I can see why you want to duck it. Who's evading whose point now?

You and I both grew up in New Jersey, you in Morristown, me in Elizabeth - places that are close geographically, but worlds apart culturally.

You want to deal with the very, very many dark pockets of your community by Morristown rules while those pockets play by Elizabeth rules. I can tell you where that gets you. Or Hobbes can tell you, since you prefer not to listen to me. You have your nose rubbed in where it gets you every day, but continue to pretend that you have some ability to change it by applying Morristown rules. You either have to know, in your heart, that it doesn't, or you're a fool.

Everyone can judge for themselves what your "community" amounts to at the end of the day, and determine whether they like it or not. On the whole I like it. But, I was raised to believe that the strong in any community have an obligation to protect the weak - or at the very least to warn them - not just to stand by, murmur the occasional admonishment to the predators, and see how it plays out.

You've watched these predators in action for years - where the hell are any warnings about them to the people who like you and stupidly trust you?

Best regards,

Joe

I can see you just don't like us, gotta leave it at that.

Craig

Not sure what point you think I'm evading.

I'm just getting back into this after years away from it. When I had to deal with it in the context of my print publication I did put a few guys out of business.

I never had to handle the volume of problems you've had because 1) I didn't operate on your scale and 2) I didn't tolerate or condone as much bad behavior as you do, or approach people as naively as you do.

In 4 1/2 years as a social worker I dealt with a lot of bad guys, and for everyone I reformed I helped send another 2 to jail. You may view that as inhumane to them; I view it as humane to the 11-year old girls and boys they were no longer raping.

Everyone may have to make a living, but not everyone should be allowed to make a living the way they do, Craig.

If you say you;ve gotten bad guys to reform, you deserve credit for that.

I hold no brief for overloaded state agencies … Cops are overloaded too, but anyone with their head screwed on right calls them when they see a crime rather than wondering whether they might be burdening the police with their call.

Which approach is more effective and humane? What's humane toward one person may simply be condoning their inhumanity toward another.

"Please remember that everyone has to make a living …" What a total crock of patronizing crap, Craig. Who the hell do you think you are to make that kind of a statement? You're slipping into believing your press when you start talking that way.

At a certain point this byplay between us comes down to a simple question: what kind of community do we want to live in?

You're obviously comfortable with presiding over a community that's a combination of a snake pit and a mosh pit, and have a bemused tolerance for it that you're somehow able to view as a humanitarian approach. I've spent a fair amount of time lurking in various corners of your community and, like many people, I recoil in horror from what it amounts to, taken as a fair whole. I'm truly amazed at the pass that the press has given you - another sign that they're doomed.

I don't want any part of treating predators as humanely as I treat their prey, and I don't see how anyone who pretends to a sense of morality or decency - or community - can do so.

Also, you're assuming something, and didn't get it right, sorry, I rely on the preponderance of evidence. I've handled thousands of cases, out of hundreds of thousands, maybe low millions, how about you?

Please remember that everyone has to make a living, and that, in hundreds of cases, I've gotten bad guys to reform. I also know that the state agencies are already overloaded. What approach is more effective, and humane?

Craig

You are unbelievably quick and alert!

I'm not in any way questioning your good intentions - just pointing out the reality of what you allow rental services to do on your site. I think your approach has proven that you're in over your head with the rental services.

I believe in innocent until proven guilty also. But the standard for summary execution for anyone defrauding readers on my site is going to be a preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt. And I'm not going to cajole and encourage them to behave - I'm going to swing an axe.

You can spend all your time removing these folks ads, time after time after time after time, if you believe that's the way to go. How long have you been sweeping out these stables, Craig? And are you still doing it? Look at your site in Chicago, and get real about it.

I'm not going to just remove their ads - I'm going to work to have their real estate licenses removed, which is a much more effective way to stop them from placing fraudulent ads.

You have the approach that's right for you and your community. People care about you a lot, Craig, and they cut your site a lot of slack because of that. Not all of us enjoy that luxury, so we have to offer people a better experience than you do.