So I'm thinking about this. There's such a great # of scam ads on craigslist, kijiji, pinball forums (although they usually get weeded out quickly here), etc. There's also an overwhelming # of trolls replying to ads. This isn't restricted to pinball.

The experiences of most of my friends, in many geographical regions, is that the majority of responses to ads placed are from trolls. Some responses are just shit-talking. Some are one-off expressions of interest of people who never show up. Some seem like real responses, but they're just people stringing you along to waste your time. (An example is a friend who gave away a pile of lumber last year in Ontario. Someone repeatedly strung her along, they really needed it for some sort of project for poor kids at some school or other, could she take the trouble to put it aside, and then later put it back out so they could be sure to get it? This happened a couple times over a couple of days without them showing up. Then finally, ok, I'm on my way, be there in 30 minutes, please bring it back out for me. 60 minutes passes and my friend calls her, apparently she got stuck in traffic but would be there in 10. 30 minutes passes and she had to stop for a phone call, etc. 30 minutes more pass and she suddenly remembered she had to go to a funeral. Uh huh. After having her day wasted, it was clear that this person was never really coming and this had all been an elaborate scheme to waste my friend's time.)

So here's my conspiracy theory. It seems that a significant percentage of ads placed, regardless of geography and media, and a significant percentage of responses to ads, are by scammers and/or trolls. It doesn't seem reasonable that a significant percentage of people would take up trolling or scamming for a hobby, it wouldn't be worth their time or money. But, if it was worth their time or money? Companies like eBay and Amazon take in tens of billions of $$$ in profit every year, and it is in their best interest if people find classifieds ineffective and frustrating because that drives more traffic to their site. And it would be nothing to them to spend a few million a year and fill a building with a couple hundred full time, salaried trolls doing their very best to gradually run classifieds into the ground. In fact it would ultimately be a very profitable investment on their part.

What do people think, is that crazy and paranoid, or does it make perfect sense?