[NikolaNovak]

Hmm, tricky.

On one hand, I enjoy potential for anonymity on the web, and even in a social network I want there to be an option to contribute thoughts/opinions/content anonymously. FB & Twitter's veiled (not even upfront and honest!) insistence on phones is awful.

On the other hand, when it comes to marketplace, I very much don't want to have a no-name random person with burner phone and fake account showing up to my door to pick up synths or cameras or baby stuff :-/

[johncessna]

> On the other hand, when it comes to marketplace, I very much don't want to have a no-name random person with burner phone and fake account showing up to my door to pick up synths or cameras or baby stuff :-/

That's an interesting perspective. Is it the 'burner' aspect that you don't want, or the lack of being able to look at someone's social media to determine if this is someone you want to do business with?

[NikolaNovak]

Ultimately it's a recursive thing:

If I buy or purchase something from FB marketplace, it's because I desire the real or perceived assurance of a real permanent public identity. Or to put it another way, I want their stake in the game to be comparable to mine.

If somebody is contacting me on FB marketplace in an anonymous fashion with no history or traceability, to me, they're voiding the benefit of FB marketplace. It becomes an uncomfortable asymmetric situation, and I see no benefit, and multiple drawbacks, of engaging with them with my full public, historic, traceable personality, against their black box.

There is nothing wrong with the anonymous mode, in fact it's great - as long as it's symmetric.

If my SugahHoney2001 meets your RoosterBooster17 in a parking lot via Kijiji to exchange some cameras, cool.

If my John Smith meets your Jane Doe at my doorstep with full identity on FB or Linked in to buy some synths, cool.

But if my Tom Jones, 57, Brampton, working for Microsoft, 845 public photos, hobbies of square dancing and kite gliding, is approached by your ___ from ___ and ____, I'm not going to respond - it's placing all the risk and commitment on one side of transaction.

Hope that elaborates my personal perspective somewhat :)

[lazide]

Not the original poster, but my personal concern with Craigslist (and why I rarely use them anymore) is safety issues and/or weirdos.

Unknown people driving by at 2am, folks who look straight out of a ‘COPS’ lineup showing up then ‘not having all the cash’, etc.

Meeting in a public place saves some of the hassle, but adds another - lots of flakes, and time spent getting to and from.

If the item is big ticket enough it’s worth it, but man is it a waste of human effort most of the time. Sad.

With time being more scarce for me now personally, I also just can’t justify dealing with it most of the time.