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

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#271

Post by mmsimanga » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 3:40 AM UTC

elcritch wrote: post #266

762236 wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't Home Depot licensing Amazon's store logic? I don't remember why I have that impression, as I haven't been to Home Depot in ages, but for some reason it made me feel that Amazon was running their store.

I never heard anything like that. The Home Depot site doesn't feel much like Amazon's, but maybe they do and they just don't use it well. I have a friend who did some contract work for Home Depot and it sounded like they followed VP-empire-building-driven development.

That read like vampire building driven development.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#272

Post by adrianmonk » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 3:43 AM UTC

kepler1 wrote: post #194

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…

What does the expression "not to be that guy" mean?

"That guy" is a person who stands out among other people because they do something annoying or inconvenient. They may have reasons to do whatever it is, but most people would choose not to do whatever it is.

For example, someone who always takes the last piece of pizza without asking if anybody else wants it is "that guy who always takes the last piece of pizza".

The phrase "not to be that guy" is a way to acknowledge that you look like "that guy" (you realize you're doing something that some may find inconvenient or annoying in some way), but for whatever reason, you feel something is necessary anyway in a situation, and you don't take the annoyance or inconvenience lightly.

Continuing the example, if you don't typically take the last piece of pizza, but you you can't ask properly because you're starving and late for a very important meeting, you might say, "Not to be that guy, but I've got to have some food, so I'm taking the last piece of pizza."

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#273

Post by cookie_monsta » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 3:45 AM UTC

retcore wrote: post #263

NikolaNovak wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it depends how specific your buying is. If I'm searching for Scooter, it may be good that it returns also mopeds and motorcycles. But if I'm searching for Nikon d850, and get first 10 entries for Nikon d750, Nikon d610, canon 5dMkii, Sony rx100, and then finally a d850, then its really really annoying; and that's 80 percent of my experience. For the other 20 percent, When I do want to search for something gen…

What absolutely confounds my comprehension of marketplace sites and any online business driven by user directed discovery, is the unbroken and never deviated from practice in every industry and field of making the method and techniques used for search as unique inviolable individual apotheoses of a imaginary USP. why on earth doesn't occur to anyone that heterogeneous search methods producing a range of results with…

This sounds interesting but maybe a little abstract. Could you provide an example of search term/ results you would like to see?

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#274

Post by dash2 » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 3:46 AM UTC

retcore wrote: post #263

NikolaNovak wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it depends how specific your buying is. If I'm searching for Scooter, it may be good that it returns also mopeds and motorcycles. But if I'm searching for Nikon d850, and get first 10 entries for Nikon d750, Nikon d610, canon 5dMkii, Sony rx100, and then finally a d850, then its really really annoying; and that's 80 percent of my experience. For the other 20 percent, When I do want to search for something gen…

What absolutely confounds my comprehension of marketplace sites and any online business driven by user directed discovery, is the unbroken and never deviated from practice in every industry and field of making the method and techniques used for search as unique inviolable individual apotheoses of a imaginary USP. why on earth doesn't occur to anyone that heterogeneous search methods producing a range of results with…

I’d politely suggest that you have interesting points here, and you could get them across much better if you wrote shorter sentences with shorter words.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#275

Post by AussieWog93 » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 3:53 AM UTC

IIAOPSW wrote: post #262

AussieWog93 wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe that's a personal difference. I tend not to get my heart set on a specific product, and will generally go with whatever happens to be well-priced on the market at the time. Especially so on Marketplace. If I search for Nikon D850, and some of the search results are (for example), Nikon D750s at a significantly lower price[1], then at least for me personally I'm happy to be shown that result. This isn't a hypoth…

Ok, what happens when a small mechanical component on your Nikon D850 breaks and the camera has been out of production for like a decade and what you actually need isn't a camera in general but a specific replacement part that will fit your specific model number? Or do you just throw out the camera entirely and buy that Nikon D750 that fuzzy search dug up?

Generally I'd look on eBay or AliExpress if I were after a specific component.

But even then, Marketplace will heavily bias you towards D850 parts if you type in "D850". It's not like it autocorrects your search term to "camera" - it instead just inserts a few generic listinga into your results.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#276

Post by scaredginger » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 3:55 AM UTC

I really respect this philosophy. I know the HN crowd hates when Reddit is brought up, but its redesign is a great example here. I find the old interface's technical simplicity serves me far better since it loads fast and can be extended with RES. Similarly, I love that HN still looks like a site from 2007, it functions beautifully

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#277

Post by victor22 » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 4:01 AM UTC

scaredginger wrote: post #276

I really respect this philosophy. I know the HN crowd hates when Reddit is brought up, but its redesign is a great example here. I find the old interface's technical simplicity serves me far better since it loads fast and can be extended with RES. Similarly, I love that HN still looks like a site from 2007, it functions beautifully

Wow that's so true. You're right on the money. They fucked and prostituted reddit.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#278

Post by Melatonic » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 4:06 AM UTC

Maursault wrote: post #195

acchow wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try to find a used computer or phone or really any other electronic. FB Marketplace has 5x the inventory.

Facebook's interface is heavily burdened with ugly templates, is needlessly complex and clunky. Page crashes! Facebook is also draconian about logging in, can't see much if you're not logged in, thus FB is elitist. You're required to you hand over your identity and submit to forced content and advertising. I personally fully retreated from Facebook permanently by 2009. Good for you, if you don't mind giving up privac…

Agreed. That being said for some more hard to find used items I have definitely used a friends Facebooks account to contact people because there are some real deals on FB marketplace comparatively.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#279

Post by smegger001 » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 4:18 AM UTC

jaredhallen wrote: post #187

sleepybrett wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Well since Facebook seems to update the user interface about every 15 seconds anyway, that shouldn't be a major roadblock. I swear if I'm on marketplace and I take a sip of coffee, the UX has changed somehow. Seems like they just have a pool of different interface designs and they just serve them up at random.

ah facebook the AB testing hell.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#280

Post by AlexandrB » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 4:20 AM UTC

dahfizz wrote: post #256

> Because that serves people better. I've learned that people want stuff that is simple and fast and gets the job done. People don't need fancy stuff. Sometimes you just want to get through the day. Web developers have this twisted idea that if code wasn't written in the past 6 months, it's legacy and un-modern and bad and needs to be refreshed. Stop. Just because something was fun for you to build doesn't mean it's…

There's a joke that the Oscar for best editing usually goes to the movie with the most editing. Design seems the same way, where simplicity is underrated and things have change constantly or it's "dated".