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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

#311

Post by kepler1 »

adrianmonk wrote: post #272
kepler1 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 acknowledg…

So basically, you do want to be "that guy", but you want people to think that you don't enjoy doing it so you can beg some social excusal to do it, rather then just outright do it with no apology and clearly be "that guy"...

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#312

Post by dumpsterlid »

porknubbins wrote: post #264
defterGoose wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CL is still alive and well here in LA. It's possible it's just in the markets I'm looking in (tools, machinery, cars, etc), but I've always preferred it over things like FB, OfferUp etc. I feel like the people I meet from CL are generally much more knowledgeable about what they have and its value. Other platforms often feel like a relative selling grandpa's stuff and have done the bare minimum of research to find a p…

My theory about CL is that between the minimalist UI and bad press it discouraged “normies” (for lack of a better word) who were afraid to get scammed so it was mostly serious sellers, plus occasional scammers who were not hard to spot. I met many delightful people over the years dealing with vintage audio, motorcycles, midcentury furniture. Facebook marketplce sellers are much flakier in my experience.

I love craigslist, people who make craigslists ads are generally no bullshit serious about selling and every experience I have had was... fun, it honestly has been great fun meeting the people of craigslist lol.

I think the fact that craigslist hasnt changed look in 25 years or whatever attracts a certain kind of seller/buyer and that certain kind of seller/buyer is overall a really decent person who isn't trying to rip anyone off.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#313

Post by _hcuq »

ouid wrote: post #284
retcore wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Echoing my thoughts down the page, the problems that you mention, from a "normies" perspective, make a interesting thought exercise in wondering how you could attach suitable features to satisfy these needs. It's easy to mumble "open the API", but first one may have to consider how a API can handle the continuation of crucial revenue generation native site features such as advertising and data analysis reuse. Somethi…

the suitable features are customers that aren't normies.

Exactly. CL works perfectly. No improvement needed.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#314

Post by TheRealPomax »

kd0amg wrote: post #287
TheRealPomax wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then, of course, you go back to CL and flag their post, right? ...You do report abuse on this free platform so that everyone's experience can be improved, right?

Does that button... do anything?

If you have to ask: not until you actually use it, no.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#315

Post by adrianmonk »

kepler1 wrote: post #311
adrianmonk wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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 acknowledg…

So basically, you do want to be "that guy", but you want people to think that you don't enjoy doing it so you can beg some social excusal to do it, rather then just outright do it with no apology and clearly be "that guy"...

Yes, you're choosing to do what "that guy" would do, hopefully only in exceptional circumstances. Like with any apology, people who say "not to be that guy" can be sincere or just making an excuse to make their own lives easier.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#316

Post by kumarsw »

Like most people here, I love the minimalist 90s UI and the lack of need to create an account. Unfortunately it's a ghost town of scammers now in my area. Craigslist really dropped the ball on policing their site and let competitors take over. Facebook is terrible, but the closed yard-sale groups really cut down the number of scammer responses.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#317

Post by Eisenstein »

dash2 wrote: post #274
retcore wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Can you explain what the poster above you was writing? I have trouble parsing it, since it seems they are from some academic discipline I am unfamiliar in.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#319

Post by Tiktaalik »

8jef wrote: post #76
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…

CL lost Canada to Kijiji a few years ago. Now FB is taking over. I'll probably eventually stop looking for classified ads because of that.

Excepting Vancouver for some odd reason.

Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

#320

Post by cookie_monsta »

Eisenstein wrote: post #317
dash2 wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Can you explain what the poster above you was writing? I have trouble parsing it, since it seems they are from some academic discipline I am unfamiliar in.

I have a sinking feeling they were trying to say "fuzzy search is good"
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