I was motivated to write this diary by a comment made by a NLer named Ileke-Idi on 1 November, 2010. In lamenting the quick disappearance of her thread from the first page, she wrote:

Nawa oh, the speed with which this section moves na wa o.
I found my thread on the third page, oga!

From the above statement, a causal observer might think that the Auto Section is filled with varied, vibrant posters. But the truth is that Ileke-Idi’s thread may have been pushed to the third page by the actions of two or three “big” car listers. It is sad that somebody that came to the Auto Section seeking assistance did not get it because her thread was pushed off quickly.

300 years ago, the English Philosopher Thomas Hobbes wrote about “Man in a State of Nature”. According to him, in that state, every person had a right or license to do as they please. This resulted in a “war of all against all”. To bring the situation under control, the people gave up all their rights and licenses and handed them over to the “Leviathan” (which basically means strong, central authority). Remarkably, the Leviathan can still be found everywhere in today’s society in the form of governments, judges, police etc.

It seems the Auto Section has regressed 300 years back in time. We all have a right to advertise our cars on NL but it is clear we have taken that right too far. We now fight amongst ourselves to stay on the front page. Dealer A will update 10 ads, Dealer B will displace Dealer A by updating 20 ads while Dealer C will displace both Dealer A and B by updating 30 ads. Thereafter, Dealer D will…, you get the picture. The result of this is that nobody stays on the front page for long.

We already have a Leviathan in the person of Monitor_1. Unfortunately Monitor_1 cannot do much without the power and authority needed to sanitize the Auto Section.

Ileke-Idi’s thread can be found here: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-541938.0.html