Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#231

Post by wwweston » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 11:19 PM UTC

pmelendez wrote: post #50

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

CL personals had a seedy rep (maybe with good reason), but I found it to be undervalued as a straight-up friend-making and normal dating tool. It's the only platform I've seen that focused primarily on text instead of photos, which was a unique niche and opportunity.

People seem to gravitate towards photo-focused swipe-to-date apps... but most women and a bigger majority of men will tell you that they all hate them and how shallow they are.

And of course, the seedy stuff and trafficking happens on a whole host of other platforms that appear untouched by the policy push that took down CL.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#232

Post by nocman » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 11:22 PM UTC

If only retail stores had websites like Craigslist! Just last night I was in one trying to do a simple search for a fairly common item (on my phone). After waiting between 20 seconds to a minute for search results to return, then trying to click the "search in store inventory" checkbox 12 times (sometimes because I wasn't sure the tap had registered, sometimes because I thought the page hadn't finished loading before I tapped it, etc), I finally just gave up after 5 or 10 minutes of struggling with it.

I had a decent signal (3 or 4 bars, I believe -- about as good as I ever expect to get in a store), but the web pages on so-called "modern" websites are so bloated and inefficient, sometimes it's a miracle to get anything done on a normal residential home internet service, let alone on a phone.

And before someone suggests it, NO, I am NOT going to install a stinking app from every store I visit (not that they'd be any better, most of the one's I've seen I would describe as "barely functional -- sometimes").

It would be interesting to know how many sales stores have lost because a customer was trying to search for something in their store via their website, but the experience was so miserable they just gave up.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#233

Post by technion » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 11:25 PM UTC

martyvis wrote: post #206

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious where you live. After all, craigslist famously decimated classified advertising in the US, primarily because classified ads in newspapers are hella expensive, and craigslist is usually free.

Interesting. In the late 1960s in Australia a classifieds-only paper called the Trading Post grew and absolutely dominated this space by the 1990s. My Dad would buy it every week to look for bargain junk, cars, etc. I'm sure the main newspapers took a hit because of it. They had local versions for each region. It was eventually bought in 2004 by Sensis (they were part of the main telco Telstra) for $636M which also o…

I will never be able to look marketplace or even Craig's list without wondering whether the great Australian joke about buying jousting sticks from the trading post would work in their place.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#234

Post by egberts1 » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 11:32 PM UTC

chiefalchemist wrote: post #191

egberts1 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just so you know, fourth estate was originally by lawyers, and not printers.

Originally? Good to know. Thanks. But also not relevant in the context of the now. "The term Fourth Estate or fourth power refers to the press and news media both in explicit capacity of advocacy and implicit ability to frame political issues.[1]" My point is, we have "journalists" whining about "the democracy" and those same "journalists" aren't aware how badly their profession has already failed said institution /…

I akshully think that the fourth estates to be more about a viable vehicle whose intent is to feel out the community and put them into actionable words back into the community.

Congress.com isn’t all that helpful if the laws are verbose and often at time seemingly obtuse.

Printing press is one such vehicle whose time may have come, unless digital realm has slips its stranglehold on this fourth estates.

Newspapers can and should recapture their market by allowing citizens, both verified and anonymously) to post their events, may that it be a house fire, stolen car, robbery, or shenanigans by politicians.

Newspapers may be able to recapture further if they provide a running tabulation of such categories.

But what do I know, the fourth estates is probably already hijacked by social media in their own bastardized manners.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#235

Post by hamiltonians » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 11:33 PM UTC

the site is very complicated actuaĺly, especially the backend. it looks simple but anything but. same for wikiedia

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#236

Post by qDnbBcCnsZneEJg » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 11:45 PM UTC

nocman wrote: post #232

If only retail stores had websites like Craigslist! Just last night I was in one trying to do a simple search for a fairly common item (on my phone). After waiting between 20 seconds to a minute for search results to return, then trying to click the "search in store inventory" checkbox 12 times (sometimes because I wasn't sure the tap had registered, sometimes because I thought the page hadn't finished loading before…

There are examples in retail: https://www.mcmaster.com/

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#237

Post by dvzk » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 11:55 PM UTC

inanutshellus wrote: post #106

I hate FB Marketplace. It's actively hostile to buyers. Like, try to find a "kinda nice" bicycle. You can't find the bicycle category (though it does exist as a sub-group of Sporting Goods), you can't just say "show me bikes" unless you hack the URL, you can search for the word "bicycle" but for some reason people selling a "Specialized Rockhopper" think you know it's a bicycle so don't use that word. Oh, and when se…

For bicycles in particular, most of the Facebook activity and impressions come from local buy and sell groups dedicated to cycling and MTB. If you live within a populated region a lot of these groups will exist. It's where much of the enthusiast market is still located, sadly.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#238

Post by wahern » Fri, Sep 16, 2022, 11:59 PM UTC

thelock85 wrote: post #229

chiefalchemist wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Originally? Good to know. Thanks. But also not relevant in the context of the now. "The term Fourth Estate or fourth power refers to the press and news media both in explicit capacity of advocacy and implicit ability to frame political issues.[1]" My point is, we have "journalists" whining about "the democracy" and those same "journalists" aren't aware how badly their profession has already failed said institution /…

Can’t believe I’m defending journalist but this analogy is only partially accurate imho. People consume press and news media on their own volition, and even more less-vetted but newsworthy information through social media. Journalists are gassing what consumers respond to. I believe what’s happened is that in the past, local news consumers were aware of their own “fire” (crime, civics, politics) and now in a connecte…

Many journalists, arguably most journalists, also see themselves as advocates; advocates for something other than journalism or speech. And this has become much more prevalent than in previous generations. Everybody is an underdog, everybody else is an abuser, and abuse can't be tolerated.

Even the concept of being able to report on an issue without becoming entangled in it has become anathema. The concept was, of course, always a fiction, but fictions matter. All morality is fictional, if not all reality. Even self-styled centrists and moderates tend to tacitly accept this new narrative; that dispassion and distance is impossible and undesirable.

Many older journalists who were keeping the flame alive crumbled during the Trump years. It was understandable, but it was sort of a one-way street; they accepted defeat and have largely embraced the new narrative.

I think we've all done this, myself included. It's one thing to recognize a pathology, but quite another to seek to address it, and yet another to actually succeed. Now we're all sort of lost in the wilderness. Even the ones who have clear memories from whence we came don't know how to get back.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#239

Post by mixmastamyk » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 12:05 AM UTC

SL61 wrote: post #94

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…

Craigslist is basically unusable in my area if you're selling something. 90%+ of the people who respond to you will express interest, chat about the item, set up a time to meet, and then no-show and ghost you. I don't know what they're getting out of it. It's not worth the time for me to go through 5-6 of those people for everything I want to sell. Maybe Facebook, etc., have this problem too, but I gave up on selling…

Make a time for the first ~ten responders to meet. First one to show with cash wins.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#240

Post by Psyladine » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 12:06 AM UTC

spoils19 wrote: post #66

snowwrestler wrote: post #59

Not to be “that guy,” but Craigslist has changed a lot over the years. They’ve kept the same coat of paint on it (visual design) but the way it works evolves continuously. For one obvious example, search results come up in cards now by default and you can use hover arrows to go through the photos on each one. It is far more visual experience today than it was when search results were a compact list of text titles. An…

That sounds like a regression to me. A more visual experience isn't necessarily better - I and most people on this site probably prefer the compact list of text titles, since the information is easier to parse. Filtering also limits search, not enhances it, as you are prevented from generically finding things, and now have to sort by filter.

>I and most people on this site probably prefer the compact list of text titles, since the information is easier to parse.

When the topics are as diverse & nuanced as hn feed, sure. When searching for lawnmower or car, 300 text listings of vehicles not so much.