Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Cheap Entertainment

Democracy, as we all know, is messy and no where is that more apparent than on craigslist, the every man's eBay.

My wife and I have been packing our belongings, preparing for a move back into the heart of Philadelphia after nearly sixteen years in the suburbs. In so doing, we have tried to abide by a few simple rules when trying to determine whether or not to keep something or sell it: (1) if we haven’t used an item in several years, out it goes; and (2), if a piece of furniture was acquired cheaply long ago and hasn't improved with age, it's time to sell. Toward that end, craigslist, has been of calculable albeit modest value financially and incalculable value as a form of cheap entertainment. My wife and I have literally had hysterics on numerous occasions, not over some of the things we’ve seen listed but rather with regards to the pictures people post with their items.

Hard as it may be to believe, there are a substantial number of pictures posted that are badly out of focus. That's right, utterly and hopelessly out of focus. It’s difficult to imagine what the sellers were thinking. If someone agrees it is very useful to include pictures of an item they wish to sell, takes one digitally, sees instantly it is out of focus, and says, what they heck, that’s good enough, one has to wonder about the written description of said item, which presumably requires more effort. (We will ignore for the moment all of the dark pictures posted. Not everyone can be a good photographer when it comes to lighting, but nearly everyone should be able to focus.)

Then there are those budding entrepreneurs who take their digital pictures vertically, which display horizontally unless they rotate the images 90 degrees CW when processing them out in the various software programs available. Yet, many don’t bother. Instead, they post the picture sideways, in essence saying, if someone wants this thing, let him crane his neck! Some sellers actually post multiple pictures and all appear sideways. Once in a great while someone else will post a picture upside down! We laugh until it hurts.

Then there are the pictures of, say, bookshelves surrounded by clutter on all sides and in front, literally spilling over with knick-knacks, books and other flotsam and jetsam. It is nearly impossible to see through all the clutter to the item itself. You know it's there, holding up all that junk, but it's difficult to determine what color it is let alone its condition. And what are we to make of those sellers who take multiple pictures of, say, a breakfront or cabinet, and post as many as three or four views, all of them close-ups that fail to show what the overall piece looks like?

It’s all so entertaining...and it's free.

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