Kate: Craiglist is a community based service, not a business. The whole thing is run out of San Francisco. Well out of the reach of our dear dear friends, the Thought Police.. er.. I mean the OLF… ;)
You sure? A friend in San Fran once told me that the way craigslist keeps going is that it does bill recruiters for posting job offers. Admittedly after looking at our craigslist for a few minutes I find no mechanism for payment, but if they ever take so much as a “sou noir” they may find themselves in trouble. (At the moment, montreal.com is in trouble with the OLF because it has a deal with a hotel affiliate program which is in the U.S. and only provides material in English. I don’t know how this is going to pan out.)
Quite frankly, I fail to see what the OLF has to do with any of this, I know where you’re coming from and I agree they’ll probably stick their nose in but they shouldn’t.
We’re not talking a business on the street here, it has nothing to do with people interacting with a business that is in their physical space or with their own work environment in which the law does have it’s say because in a way the individual “doesn’t have a say” and so should be given a certain level of “compatibility”.
This is much more like a magazine; Maisonneuve, Urbania, P45 and Strut are all produced in Montréal and all have a certain level of local content yet they choose which language they use, with (of course) no interference from the OLF.
A website is the same, it’s not a place you walk by or somewhere you work, it’s an adress you type in to access content that the producer decides on. There is no reason why a Montréal Craig’s list needs to be in french any more than a San Francisco one, even if they charge for anything.
I’m astonished that montreal.com is having problems!! Unless they are somehow governement supported?
I’m sort of relieved to hear you say that. I think it’s kind of like punishing the Gazette because it only runs ads in English, but I think their case is that we’re offering services by proxy. The fact that the vast majority of the people who use the service are in the U.S. themselves seems not to be considered.
Kate, the Mirror had similar problems back in 1996-1997. The OLF dropped it because, I guess, like your page, you’re journalistic. The law doesn’t apply. Granted, it might not be the same in your case because you link to stories, but I really don’t think the OLF has a case.
Besides, as has been proven in the past, the OLF, if they continue with their little witch-hunt, will back off if you raise a public stink.
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Won’t they get trouble from the OLF for being English only?
Kate: Craiglist is a community based service, not a business. The whole thing is run out of San Francisco. Well out of the reach of our dear dear friends, the Thought Police.. er.. I mean the OLF… ;)
Well, knowing the OLF I’m sure a complaint will be filed regardless if it’s valid or not. ;)
You sure? A friend in San Fran once told me that the way craigslist keeps going is that it does bill recruiters for posting job offers. Admittedly after looking at our craigslist for a few minutes I find no mechanism for payment, but if they ever take so much as a “sou noir” they may find themselves in trouble. (At the moment, montreal.com is in trouble with the OLF because it has a deal with a hotel affiliate program which is in the U.S. and only provides material in English. I don’t know how this is going to pan out.)
Quite frankly, I fail to see what the OLF has to do with any of this, I know where you’re coming from and I agree they’ll probably stick their nose in but they shouldn’t.
We’re not talking a business on the street here, it has nothing to do with people interacting with a business that is in their physical space or with their own work environment in which the law does have it’s say because in a way the individual “doesn’t have a say” and so should be given a certain level of “compatibility”.
This is much more like a magazine; Maisonneuve, Urbania, P45 and Strut are all produced in Montréal and all have a certain level of local content yet they choose which language they use, with (of course) no interference from the OLF.
A website is the same, it’s not a place you walk by or somewhere you work, it’s an adress you type in to access content that the producer decides on. There is no reason why a Montréal Craig’s list needs to be in french any more than a San Francisco one, even if they charge for anything.
I’m astonished that montreal.com is having problems!! Unless they are somehow governement supported?
Not at all. Totally, entirely privately owned and funded.
Well then, consider me floored. That is such a load of cr*p.
I’m sort of relieved to hear you say that. I think it’s kind of like punishing the Gazette because it only runs ads in English, but I think their case is that we’re offering services by proxy. The fact that the vast majority of the people who use the service are in the U.S. themselves seems not to be considered.
Kate, the Mirror had similar problems back in 1996-1997. The OLF dropped it because, I guess, like your page, you’re journalistic. The law doesn’t apply. Granted, it might not be the same in your case because you link to stories, but I really don’t think the OLF has a case.
Besides, as has been proven in the past, the OLF, if they continue with their little witch-hunt, will back off if you raise a public stink.
I seem to recall the OLF trying to enforce the more-french-than-english statute on Montreal-based business websites – this was maybe five years ago?