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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

#321

Post by rayiner »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #305
rayiner wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leave money aside—why wouldn’t you want to start a company and build something yourself?

While I do love the idea of building something new and useful, starting a new tech company these days isn't really about building, it's mostly about your ability to sell your story to investors, or your product if you can get that far. And I really really don't like doing sales. I've seen the fundraising process close up and it is most definitely not for me. Half (or more) of what people fundraising for their company…

So you “hate” the work that actually goes into building a successful company: pitching investors, doing sales, etc. Do you think that’s why you can’t imagine why other people would want to build companies except to make more money?

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

#322

Post by russelldjimmy »

parl_match wrote: post #247
timr wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A small 1 bedroom apartment in Manhattan, today, costs a bit under $1 million, on average.

I would argue that a $1mil manhattan 1br isn't modest. You know, you can start to split hairs what modest means. Is that a modest living space? Sure. Is the privilege of living in manhattan immodest? I also think so. But at least that's within the realm of "modesty". At least there's at least one element of modesty to it. It's not a multi story 6 million dollar home with a floor to ceiling double floor library.

Ironically you’re the one splitting hairs here. It seems clear that your definition of “modest” differs from a few others’. That’s about it, there’s no deeper meaning here. It seems like you’re trying to find disagreement where there is none, and trying to convince others to use the word the way you are familiar with.

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

#324

Post by bigstrat2003 »

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.

That just means that there does not exist any "modest" property in Manhattan. It doesn't make a $6m purchase modest. There is no frame of reference whatsoever which can justify calling $6m "modest".

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

#325

Post by bigstrat2003 »

yubblegum wrote: post #248
parl_match wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still not modest. There's no way in which a $6 million dollar house is "modest". Don't try to launder it through lying with percentages. It's not modest.

You need to prove to us that modesty is an absolute quality. Reasonable people would agree that that is a bit extreme ("immodest") and that modesty is relative. (Try cheap instead of modest to see how this works.) > There's no way in which a $6 million dollar house is "modest". Relative to his wealth bracket he is being modest but not cheap.

No reasonable person would call a $6m purchase "modest".

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

#326

Post by jedberg »

everforward wrote: post #303
wyre wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why not charge for rental listings? i'm sure the number of scams would go down, while posting would still be of good value for someone looking to rent out a $3000/mo apartment.

It’s not what they do, and it’s a crowded market where they don’t really have an edge. If you want well-vetted products, don’t go to Craigslist. They’re just digital classifieds, the tradition is basically “anyone can list them, no one checks them, caveat emptor”. It’s weird to me they even carry real estate listings, because I’m surprised anyone would trust them with that kind of money on a good you can’t easily sel…

The people who get scammed are the ones that rent sight-unseen. But most people visit the apartment they are going to rent, and the smart ones don't pay any money until they've done so. If you're really paranoid, you verify that that the person you are talking to is actually the owner, or a valid representative of the owner.

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

#327

Post by downrightmike »

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.

That's because half of the apartments aren't being rented to force up prices

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

#328

Post by zzrrt »

WalterBright wrote: post #317
zzrrt wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Epstein died in jail. He was awaiting trial, so death by his choice wasn't necessarily the justice he deserved. His co-conspirator is in a cushy prison as a favor from the administration. Trump promised to release files but has been avoiding it in every possible legal way. It appears there are still things missing. What do you call that other than protection? I might buy that there is not great evidence for any mor…

Epstein died in jail. Ghislane is in prison. Trump shows no inclination to pardon her. Rosie shows no sign of ever going back to Ireland. Biden could have released the Epstein files. Trump called the police on Epstein.

Why is he lenient to her at all? It's either guilt or corruption, or at the very least out of character, given his many tirades against rapists.

Trump reportedly called the police in 2006, after their investigation became public, saying "everyone has known he's been doing this." Why didn't he call sooner then? And if he was working with the police, why did he say in 2019 he had no idea of the crimes? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/10/trump-epstei... That article also quotes the DOJ: "We are not aware of any corroborating evidence that the president contacted law enforcement 20 years ago." So the claim is just something in the files, right alongside the worst imaginable allegations against Trump. Do you believe those too?

I believe Biden had legal and procedural reasons not to release them (ongoing cases and keeping DOJ independent), but even without those, the argument cuts both ways: Trump could have released them in 2017. He could have released them before 99.8% of Congress voted to force it. If Biden or Obama were covering for Dems or something, why wasn't Trump glad to release the files as soon as possible? Even if you say "both sides are bad" on this issue, that would be a reason people are disenchanted and want to leave the country.

I'll admit after googling Rosie, it's murkier than I thought. I don't really care to sift gossip rags and try to predict what she'll do, though I'd lean toward you're wrong if you mean she will never set foot in Ireland again nor live there for any significant time. But what is your argument really? Famous liberals who say they are leaving don't actually leave for long, because USA is actually great because of conservative policies? Maybe for most of them, but I feel like them leaving for any significant fraction of the year kind of undercuts your "nobody sneaked into East Berlin" idea though. I don't think many people would performatively leave if there was literally nothing better about their destination. They leave because the value has diminished, and maybe they come back because it's not zero.

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

#329

Post by yubblegum »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #325
yubblegum wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need to prove to us that modesty is an absolute quality. Reasonable people would agree that that is a bit extreme ("immodest") and that modesty is relative. (Try cheap instead of modest to see how this works.) > There's no way in which a $6 million dollar house is "modest". Relative to his wealth bracket he is being modest but not cheap.

No reasonable person would call a $6m purchase "modest".

I'm reasonable and I say it is. You are looking at a number, I'm looking at possessions. For example, he could have bought the entire building but he is sharing it with two other owners. A modest man.

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

#330

Post by adrianwaj »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #81

That is beautiful! I hope to be able to be well off enough some day to give to causes I believe in (to start I would fund a ton of open-source engineers on projects that I use). Love news like this, happy tears!

Yeah, if there's a commercial site running on FOSS, it seems a disservice not to give back to support those efforts if the option comes up. Closes the loop. Every web page should really have a crypto address attached to it, or at least the ones that are open to receiving something back.

Maybe a DNS-like system for crypto addresses would be a good thing for Craig to setup? One probably already exists. Maybe something like [existing domain].coin - and people can claim their .coin domain by verifying their [existing domain] first.

What happens if 100 billionaires start wanting to offload cash? How can that be efficiently and effectively managed?

Speaking or CL - lots of dormant cities. Shouldn't there be a https://cityname.craigslist.org/feed link to get RSS updates if/when something actually gets posted? Good way to help "starting up" cities.

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