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Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

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Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#3
* I far, far, far prefer Craigslist interface to anything else in that space. It's clear and focused

Its search engine too - I get things I search for in the area I search for.

For me, Kijiji and Facebook marketplace are awful UI, awful distractions, and give me 10,000 "suggested" or "fuzzy searched" things in random order, suppressing things I'm actually looking for. And I've completely given up on eBay over last decade.

However.

* Nothing is on Craigslist anymore in my area (Greater Toronto Area). Until about... 5-6 years ago, I could find comparable number of photography, computer, music & kids stuff on Craigslist and Kijiji. Today, Craigslist is a desert, a void, an oasis of empty search results.

So network effect wins, as always :-/

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#4

I wish more sites maintained that sort of minimalism and stayed away from selling out as much as possible. Great job CL!

Man, just 10 people working there, couldn't have done that with vc backed funding. Have to grow, then have to add people to grow, then have to add features to try to pay for the people.

But man, if you think about every $25 car/apartment/job post, it's plenty of money for 10 people. Pretty insane.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#5

* I far, far, far prefer Craigslist interface to anything else in that space. It's clear and focused Its search engine too - I get things I search for in the area I search for. For me, Kijiji and Facebook marketplace are awful UI, awful distractions, and give me 10,000 "suggested" or "fuzzy searched" things in random order, suppressing things I'm actually looking for. And I've completely given up on eBay over last de…

A local media company runs a "classifieds" on their online site. It dominates locally. Craigslist has been worthless for ages here because of it.

However, Facebook Marketplace seems to be slowly gaining traction. Which I hate for all the reasons you mention. I dread the day it takes over :(

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#7
My problem with Craigslist isn't that it looks old, the problem is that they seemingly refuse to modernize anything else about the site. Craigslist is chock full of spam and people abusing the search feature. I'm no anti-spam guru, but surely there is a way to cut down on people submitting the same thumbnail dozens of times using as many keywords as they can so their cellphone screen repair service shows up when looking for just about anything.

Craig is no saint, and actively goes after any competition to his site. That, coupled with the complacency or refusal to go after spammers leaves me with a very sour opinion of the platform and Craig himself.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#9
post #5

* I far, far, far prefer Craigslist interface to anything else in that space. It's clear and focused Its search engine too - I get things I search for in the area I search for. For me, Kijiji and Facebook marketplace are awful UI, awful distractions, and give me 10,000 "suggested" or "fuzzy searched" things in random order, suppressing things I'm actually looking for. And I've completely given up on eBay over last de…

A local media company runs a "classifieds" on their online site. It dominates locally. Craigslist has been worthless for ages here because of it. However, Facebook Marketplace seems to be slowly gaining traction. Which I hate for all the reasons you mention. I dread the day it takes over :(

Facebook Marketplace has completely taken over in most parts of the US. It sucks.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#10

I wish more sites maintained that sort of minimalism and stayed away from selling out as much as possible. Great job CL!

Man, just 10 people working there, couldn't have done that with vc backed funding. Have to grow, then have to add people to grow, then have to add features to try to pay for the people. But man, if you think about every $25 car/apartment/job post, it's plenty of money for 10 people. Pretty insane.

>plenty of money for 10 people

I'm guessing a lot of people here wouldn't consider it plenty of money.

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