Oh no, 80% increase! Look out!</sarcasm> This is a pretty good example of how big numbers out of context can be presented as a trend.
In order for this stat to be meaningful at all, we need to know a few more things. First, how many of the posts claim to be from people who arrived in town for the DNC, versus those from people who are already in town looking to hook up with out-of-towners? Secondly, how many are posted by the same person? And thirdly, how many people are in town for the convention?
Let's assume 150 of the 340 posts are from unique DNC visitors. And let's assume 50K people in town. That's a 0.3% post rate. Not quite an orgy.
Beyond that, how does the stat mentioned compare to the increase in postings across all of Craigslist Denver? How does it compare to the increase in postings to Craiglist during DNCs and RNCs in year past? How about whenever there's any large convention in town?
I guess this article wouldn't have generated as many pageviews if Declan's editor at CNet titled it, "More People Get it On When More People are in the Same Locale."
Just because you can do the math in a way that yields a big number doesn't make it a trend or a scandal.
Wouldn't it make sense that when you have more people in the area, demand for almost everything will surge? I didn't see anything in the article that mentioned per capita rates.
It's common knowledge among people who pay attention to this kind of thing that political conventions = lots of casual sex. The same thing happened at the RNC of 2004 and will happen again this year:
"He says neither city saw a noticeable spike in prostitution during the conventions."
-Tom Walsh (Police Spokesman) on prostitution at both national conventions in 2004.
I don't see the evidence that shows it happened, just that a group predicted that it would happen and then the police stating that they hadn't seen any increase in activity.
I don't doubt that it could be true, but this article doesn't prove anything. In fact, it leans the other direction with the police statement regarding previous conventions.
True, but Liberals have always had loose sexual morals, they tend to think if you have a desire or a whim you should satisfy it at once, therefore a causation doesn't sound very unlikely.
Is politics a high-libido profession? Hm... maybe, actually it makes sense. But I think a subculture that holds books like Eros and Civilization from Herbert Marcuse in high regard has probably higher time preferences in it.
Never mind the politicians. (I suspect that if an elected official with a reputation to lose is looking for a little extramarital nookie, he or she has more discreet sources than craigslist.)
Think of all the lower-level political staffers, the volunteers, the politics junkies who came to the convention because they want to hang out with other politics junkies. There are lots of young, enthusiastic people in a city full of strangers who are only going to be there for a week. Like spring break, without the beaches.
Maybe, maybe not. I'd like to see stats for less-political conventions... I wouldn't be surprised to see an increase in promiscuity for any large group of people on a week-long trip away from home.
But it might be the combination of technological skills and go-getter attitude shared by young political staffers that lead them to post their desires on Craiglist...
To be more precise, whores claim that Republicans probably would do it, and journalists print it.
It may be true, but that's not a good source.
It will be very interesting to see how the RNC works out. I suspect more of the same, with a slightly higher ratio on the m4m board (for many gay Republicans, the convention could be the only serious shot they have at finding a partner who shares their political views).
In order for this stat to be meaningful at all, we need to know a few more things. First, how many of the posts claim to be from people who arrived in town for the DNC, versus those from people who are already in town looking to hook up with out-of-towners? Secondly, how many are posted by the same person? And thirdly, how many people are in town for the convention?
Let's assume 150 of the 340 posts are from unique DNC visitors. And let's assume 50K people in town. That's a 0.3% post rate. Not quite an orgy.
Beyond that, how does the stat mentioned compare to the increase in postings across all of Craigslist Denver? How does it compare to the increase in postings to Craiglist during DNCs and RNCs in year past? How about whenever there's any large convention in town?
I guess this article wouldn't have generated as many pageviews if Declan's editor at CNet titled it, "More People Get it On When More People are in the Same Locale."
Just because you can do the math in a way that yields a big number doesn't make it a trend or a scandal.