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The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

independent.co.uk

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Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#211

Post by WalterBright »

overfeed wrote: post #113
WalterBright wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The top 1% of America pays 40% of the federal income taxes. Getting rid of the rich is probably a pretty bad idea for the rest of us.

The 1% hold more than 40% of the wealth, and therefore should be paying much more than 40% of income taxes, based on proportion alone - nevermind historic precedence before trickle-down Reaganomics. When the top 1% are not in the top tax bracket, something is horribly wrong.

They are in the top tax bracket.

The federal income tax is based on income, not wealth.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#212

Post by senordevnyc »

bluedino wrote: post #8
helterskelter wrote: post #6

I don't know much about this guy, but I remember reading an interview with him maybe 15 years ago where he was asked if his lifestyle had changed since he came into money and if he bought a new house or anything, and his answer was basically something like: "Not really, and I've already got good water pressure where I'm at, what else do I need?" I can't help but like his attitude.

He apparently bought this place in 2016: https://streeteasy.com/blog/craigslist-property/

That style of library is my dream

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#213

Post by specialist »

I appreciate any and all support for (independent) journalism. Craig Newmark Philanthropies has been very generous in that regard.

Were I king, I'd (also):

  - Create endowments for journalistic orgs. Sufficient that they can maintain financial, and therefore editorial, independence.

  - Award lots of grants to independent journalists, to simply do their thing, no strings attached. This ensures plenty of content for those independent orgs.
A keen observer may notice my proposal mirrors the right-wing ecosystem built up over the last 50 years.

Currently, investments by non-right-wing donors to non-right-wing orgs are contingent. Metrics, strategy, ideology, blah blah blah. Whereas the right-wing ecosystem doesn't get bogged down by the money chase, endless self-justification, navel gazing, consensus building, etc.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#214

Post by ChoGGi »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #197
vrinsd wrote: post #147

Sadly, I think Craig might have done MORE for society by simply improving Craig's List and removing/reducing the amount of spam and junk posts it allows. I can't claim the changes would be easy to implement, but if they made a FEW small changes the result would be 1000x better. For example if you want to sell something on Craig's List they do some "you can't make this post because it looks too similar to a previous p…

If you're going to talk about societal impact then you need to also look at how much they enabled sexual exploitation and human trafficking, worldwide, by serving as an ad site for pimps. Craig and James knew damn well where most of their revenue was coming from, and pimps were able to get increasingly bold with their slang, moving from "model" to "escort" to just outright saying "prostitute" because Craigslist didn'…

That's more something to blame on prostitution being illegal with no safeguards or legal help for those being trafficked.

Edit: how many times are you going to post that? You have something against sex workers? Or just Craigslist?

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#215

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

ForHackernews wrote: post #159
roksprok wrote: post #27

Craigslist is often held up as an example of a company "doing it right", but what is never mentioned in these posts is that a large portion of their revenue comes from facilitating scams. Around 25% of rooms/apartments I contact are scams, and Craigslist has so far done nothing to prevent these. A common scam is to take pictures from a real estate site of a house that recently sold and advertise it as for rent, but t…

If only 25% of one section of CL is scams, that puts it well ahead of the cryptocurrency industry, the social media industry, the adtech industry and the AI industry.

2026, where "We're scammy, but not as scammy as the rest of tech" is a genuine USP.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#216

Post by giancarlostoro »

helterskelter wrote: post #6

I don't know much about this guy, but I remember reading an interview with him maybe 15 years ago where he was asked if his lifestyle had changed since he came into money and if he bought a new house or anything, and his answer was basically something like: "Not really, and I've already got good water pressure where I'm at, what else do I need?" I can't help but like his attitude.

Probably lives like craigslist looks in terms of simplicity. Love it.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#217

Post by giancarlostoro »

SXX wrote: post #193
xandrius wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6 million house is not "modest", cmon.

Have you checked real estate prices in Manhattan? Today for these prices you can likely buy an appartment. Its just area itself is expensive. Not like owns mansion with a zoo and 100 servants.

I mean he owns craigslist I am sure he can summon many people to do his bidding.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#218

Post by Quarrelsome »

socalgal2 wrote: post #151
Quarrelsome wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it was an intentional choice to not go big. I can seriously respect that. I feel like all these "big tech leaders" like Zuck or Musk have some pretty blatant mental health issues, its a path with significant drawbacks because that level of absurd wealth causes issues.

If your goals require trillions then millions are not enough. Craig’s goal = have a modest comfortable life. Musk’s goal = Make humanity a multi-planet species Yes, now there will be arguments about if that’s really Musk’s goal. that’s beside the point. The point is some goals require money than others

> Musk’s goal = Make humanity a multi-planet species

I totally see how the acquisition of twitter and funding of probably the worst US government in recent decades is in keeping with that aim. OR perhaps he just wants people to think he's cool, so he invests in "cool" stuff. This is because he has some of those mental health issues lots of absurdly wealthy people do, that results in him feeling like he constantly has to prove himself.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#219

Post by mattkrause »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #217
SXX wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you checked real estate prices in Manhattan? Today for these prices you can likely buy an appartment. Its just area itself is expensive. Not like owns mansion with a zoo and 100 servants.

I mean he owns craigslist I am sure he can summon many people to do his bidding.

True—-but half of them forget to actually show up and many of the ones that do try to renegotiate the deal.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#220

Post by nickjj »

bluedino wrote: post #8
helterskelter wrote: post #6

I don't know much about this guy, but I remember reading an interview with him maybe 15 years ago where he was asked if his lifestyle had changed since he came into money and if he bought a new house or anything, and his answer was basically something like: "Not really, and I've already got good water pressure where I'm at, what else do I need?" I can't help but like his attitude.

He apparently bought this place in 2016: https://streeteasy.com/blog/craigslist-property/

Makes me wonder what a property like that would go for today, 10 years later.
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