Craigslist.org began its life as free-form board for local people to swap, hook up and take advantage of the hive mind. As it has grown into a mainstream garage sale/job search site, however, it is increasingly exploited for less savory purposes. Just as the site put into practice new measures to curb ads for prostitution and other illegal activities, the New York City Police Department told the Daily News that the site has become an avenue for the sale of street drugs.

According to the story by Patric O'Shaughnessy, a common slang has developed which buyers and users understand. The word ski, for example, refers to cocaine, while crystal meth can be called cristina, or tina, as in "Tina Turner tickets for sale." Since street slang evolves faster than fruit flies, craigslist will have a real chore smoking out the druggies among its posters.

While craigslist continues to operate with an org extension, it is not a not-for-profit, which I feel is deceitful. eBay owns 25% of the site.

I just hope that "leather recliner" isn't slang for some kind of dope, or my vigilant search for one on craigslist could present me with a nasty surprise.