Something for Nothing? WTF?

In an effort to expand my pool of story submissions, I made the fatal mistake of posting a writing gig ad on craigslist. Needless to say it was flagged for removal.

Am I surprised that it was flagged for removal?

"No"

The subject of interest lies within why. And here is what the craigslist community had to offer via the CL "Flag Help" discussion forum:

"No links allowe, this ad has no local relavance and no pay gigs don't last." - Anonymous

No local relevance? How do you figure? I reside in the Los Angeles Area, and I am asking for story submissions from people in the LOS ANGELES AREA. AND my post is in the Los Angeles division of Craigslist.

"Where did you post this?...Well as Dashy pointed out, it has no local relevance, but it might have stuck had you offered to pay for what you were looking for." - Dragon-somebody-or other

I posted this in "writing gigs". Again, with the local relevance argument.

"What makes it so that this job is specific to Los Angeles and someone from Chicago or NY couldn't do it? And no, your ad won't last without pay." - Anonymous

Absolutely nothing! You people are reaching! My thanks and appreciation to the generous soul that would be kind enough to send in a story from ZIMBABWE for all I care. I did not purposely construct my ad to discriminate against those who do not live in Los Angeles. And doesn't this sort of negate the vague "local relevance" argument you were trying to make earlier?

All the same, my last post was "Don't forget to flag this forum post for removal as well. God (yes i said GOD) forbid anyone should read about my crime of posting a writing gig without pay. Better yet, you can read about it on my blog. I'm sure you have my blogger address. You can further chastise my TOU (Terms of Use) indescretions there. But keep in mind, there will STILL be no pay for your opinions on my blog either. You may have to spare some dignity to do so. Last i checked, that doesn't cost anything.. For most anyway. I'm sure my readers would love to hear why my ad was flagged.

I had no idea that people were so hard up that they felt such a compelling need to remove a writing gig ad that did not offer any pay. Yet, despite their strong feelings about possibly having to "give something for nothing $$$" they have to hide behind superfluous and totally irrelevant arguments.

Did I violate the terms of use? Yes. I posted my blogger URL within the body of my post. Yet Craigslist fronts an in your face link to "misc romance" in their personals section; which by the way contains content to vile to speak of.

In conclusion, bring it on. Fuel the fire with your criticisms. It won't stop me from shutting my mouth.

Bon Appétit