Have you ever posted to Craigslist with a legit ad only to have some ass-clown “flag” your ad for some unknown reason? I don’t blame Craigslist for this, they have developed a system to let the community police itself. Unfortunately this has a Stanford prison experiment effect that makes some users think they are somehow in a position of authority. Josh Lefkowitz is one of those types of people.
I posted an ad to Craigslist Gigs looking to purchase content for a website. The ad clearly states what I’m looking for and the price I would like to pay. I ask for a 2 paragraph sample and a summary of the article. Most people reply with this info and we work out a deal. But that doesn’t work for Josh Lefkowitz.
Josh Lefkowitz sends me an email through Craigslist demanding to know what the URL will be for the post, and tells me that I’m not offering enough money. I hate these types of responses. Why bother to email me and tell me you don’t want to accept the gig? And to be clear, he thought I should be paying 300x the amount. It’s fine that he thinks that, but he doesn’t respond with any info, just demands and complaints.
I replied to his email with just one sentence, “Then don’t reply to the ad”. I know what you’re thinking, why reply at all to this moron? Nothing good can come of an interaction with someone this stupid. Well the email I get back is priceless.
“at lest tell me the URL and a physical address or I will, unfortunately,
have to flag the ad.”
That is the entire email. I should give him my physical address or he will “flag the ad”. Now I don’t really care that much about him flagging my ad. I got a lot of submissions already. But the idea of this is infuriating. I somehow owe this dip-shit personal information about my life or he will flag my ad, regardless of whether or not the ad is in any sort of violation. At this point I’m no longer communicating with Josh Lefkowitz. I figured I can use the time better in writing a nice blog post about what an absolute dick Josh Lefkowitz is to people.
I was going to write a quick post today on the many reasons to arrest Karl Rove, but right now Josh Lefkowitz annoys me more than Karl Rove. I’m sure in a few hours I’ll go back to hating Rove, but for right now….
Hello – my name is Josh Lefkowitz but I am most definitely not THIS Josh Lefkowitz that you have posted about above. I am sitting here in Brooklyn, passing the time by, oh, you know, googling my name (!), and I have stumbled upon your website. I am certain that this is not me you are talking about, as I know absolutely nothing about URLs, the content of websites, or the world wide web in general (besides, of course, how to google my own name). Anyways, I am nonetheless embarassed that someone who shares my same name has given you such a hard time. I have connected with several Josh Lefkowitzes in the past – one is a tennis player, one is a banker/finanical person, one writes in San Francisco, and one lives in Jersey with his boyfriend. I don’t know if any of these Josh Lefkowitzes are the Josh Lefkowitzes of whom you speak above, but nevertheless, I apologize, on behalf of all Josh Lefkowitzes. We are normally a very kind people, and I regret that one of us stepped outside this mold.
Sincerely,
Josh Lefkowitz, actor/writer, Brooklyn, NY
Josh – Thanks for your apology. As chance would have it, it came in the nick of time. After not getting an apology from at least A Josh Lefkowitz, I was planning to step things up in 2009. I have built a very aggressive robot that I was going to send back in time to track down Josh Lefkowitz, before he offended me. It did occur to me that there would likely be more than 1 Josh Lefkowitz, but I figured he could just start with the Yellow Pages and work his way down, and hopefully the Josh Lefkowitz would be listed.
But this is much better. I’m certain that you have saved the lives of many of your people. Thank you! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to reprogram my robot for Karl Rove, for whom it was originally built.
We are all shaking in our boots at the thought of your aggressive robot. Paranoid sonofabitch.
Love,
Clay
I know a Josh Lefkowitz. He is a huge asshole.