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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

#41

Post by neilv »

nerdponx wrote: post #9
xahrepap wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Any idea about Boston? Boston Craigslist has seemed a bit stale, but I'm not on Facebook to see how that compares.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#43

Post by Spooky23 »

soperj wrote: post #23
yamtaddle wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook Marketplace seems to have all but killed it, here. You have to check Facebook anyway because schools, HOAs, businesses, even local governments often treat it as their primary outlet for information, as in, stuff gets posted there first, and sometimes only there. Though IG is taking over some of that (but of course that's still Facebook) Luckily my wife does that, so I can get away without having an account,…

I don't know why anyone would want to attach their name and everything to stuff they are selling.

It’s more that you’re more likely to have some context as a buyer that you aren’t meeting a scammer or criminal.

Craigslist attracted drug dealers, hookers and fences for a long time. People like that figure out that it’s easier to scam a buyer than do the honest work of stealing shit to sell.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#44

Post by brokenodo »

sojournerc wrote: post #8

Rock Auto is another such site. Looks old but is so much more effective than modern sites for finding the right car parts. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I love Rock Auto. The way they make it easy to see which warehouse your items are shipping from and choose other items from the same warehouse is super cool too.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#45

Post by mikestew »

defterGoose wrote: post #31
nerdponx wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

As I noted above, not as much of a problem here in LA, but I totally believe you that it's true elsewhere. And honestly, I'm probably missing some great stuff not perusing FB and OfferUp. But there's one simple, guiding principle that I'm always following. And that's refusing to reactivate my FB account.

Much like 25 years ago when I said to myself, "there's nothing on the internet that I need to see so badly that I'll install RealNetworks", I'll put stuff on the curb with a "free" sign before I'll reactivate my long-deactivated FB account (or buy new, depending on the direction of the transaction).

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#46

Post by sleepybrett »

TheRealPomax wrote: post #38
NikolaNovak wrote: post #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 de…

Although unfortunately, it doesn't understand the fairly typical non-urban "yes, you found something that's less than 10 miles from me as the crow flies, but is about 80 miles away if I need to actually drive there because of the fact that my car can't cross a river/strait/lake on its own". Even after 25 years, that part can still do with improvement.

They wouldn't have to update the interface to do that, but they could give you 'crow-flies' and 'driving' distances for sure.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#47

Post by HWR_14 »

aresant wrote: post #6

An aged but still relevant article - "Increase your conversion rate by making your site ugly" is a good parallel read particularly with regard to accessibility https://www.conversionvoodoo.com/blog/2010/04/increase-your-...

I feel like that article misses the biggest differentiator. "Be early enough that this looked reasonable at the time - win - rely on network effects to never need to upgrade your site."

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#50

Post by pmelendez »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #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 de…

> Until about... 5-6 years ago

That kinda correlates to when they moved away from the personals business

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