81–88 of 88 posts
You guys. Get a grip. It's his company, he built it, you didn't. He makes the rules, you don't. If you don't like that, then go build your own site that has the same level of success and define your own rules. And deal with all the people who tell you you are doing it wrong, that's a lot of fun. For the record, I have no connection to craigslist other than admiring it. I'm flaming because I've got my own company and…
You guys. Get a grip. It's his company, he built it, you didn't. He makes the rules, you don't. If you don't like that, then go build your own site that has the same level of success and define your own rules. And deal with all the people who tell you you are doing it wrong, that's a lot of fun. For the record, I have no connection to craigslist other than admiring it. I'm flaming because I've got my own company and…
But you wouldn't say the same to defend Apple, right?
Craiglist is different, much less corporate in the traditional sense. From the very beginning they were trying to provide a service that is largely free (and hugely useful, I've bought and sold stuff there and never paid a tax like Ebay extracts). It's a pretty sweet setup, end users get a valuable service for free, craigslist gets money from entities that can afford to pay, why screw it up?
I tend to agree with some of the people here who want to make it better but if you really want to do that then go talk to them about a joint project or go work there. Personally, I'd love a way to search all of the craigslist sites at once (I shopped for months to get a 2006 Sprinter, wanted the smaller motor that gets better mpg, finally found one in portland. It was painful doing all those searches). So I agree that there are things that could be made better for the users of the site. I think the way you get those things done is to work with them from the beginning.
You guys. Get a grip. It's his company, he built it, you didn't. He makes the rules, you don't. If you don't like that, then go build your own site that has the same level of success and define your own rules. And deal with all the people who tell you you are doing it wrong, that's a lot of fun. For the record, I have no connection to craigslist other than admiring it. I'm flaming because I've got my own company and…
They're a monopolist with a bad product, like Microsoft, but they have a crunchy image so bay area hackers love them, despite the fact that they are freezing a whole sector of business in the dark ages (again, like Microsoft). Everything you wrote could have been used as a defense of Windows 98, or IE 6. You may be defending a shitty user experience with a monopolist position, but we love you Craig because at least y…
But rather than asserting that it is a fine product (which it is, though I agree it could be made better), how about spelling out what it is that you think would make it better? I wouldn't be surprised if Jim and/or Craig reads this thread at some point.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're a monopolist with a bad product, like Microsoft, but they have a crunchy image so bay area hackers love them, despite the fact that they are freezing a whole sector of business in the dark ages (again, like Microsoft). Everything you wrote could have been used as a defense of Windows 98, or IE 6. You may be defending a shitty user experience with a monopolist position, but we love you Craig because at least y…
As a long time user of craigslist I disagree with the "bad product" characterization. I find their website extremely pleasant to use, much like google. When will people learn that content is king and all that flash/image/whatever crud may look great but rarely does anything but distract from the actual content. But rather than asserting that it is a fine product (which it is, though I agree it could be made better),…
This isn't simplicity. This isn't minimalism. This is Ludditism, backed by a monopoly position. How many millions of hours are wasted every day because of Newmark's anti-market fetish?
And Jim and Craig have made it abundantly clear in interviews that they don't care about user feedback, so I don't expect anything to change.
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Brokenness: Show me all apartments or rooms-for-rent in mountain view with dish washers, clothes washers, and covered parking. There's no way to (legitimately) outwardly index, categorize, or aggregate craigslist content. (Related gripe: apartment searching in google is useless too: http://www.google.com/search?q=mountain+view+apartments It gets slightly better with searching on maps, but not by much.)
Many apartment/house finding sites have these features: search pages with dozens of checkboxes and dropdowns, and equally complex data entry pages for the people listing the apartments/houses. Yet Craigslist dominates. Simplicity wins.
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"Everything you wrote could have been used as a defense of IE6." Well ... that's how we have Firefox now isn't it ? I mean people went ahead and built something better.
Hence the first sentence of his post about Craigslist's crunchy image. "Let's get rid of IE6" is a great way to rally people. "Let's get rid of that bastard Craig Newmark," not so much.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hence the first sentence of his post about Craigslist's crunchy image. "Let's get rid of IE6" is a great way to rally people. "Let's get rid of that bastard Craig Newmark," not so much.
People like Craigslist. People like Craig. Hard to hate on something useful, free, and fronted by likable people.
Hold on here, let's call a spade a spade. Your project has its own doofy .com name, calls itself "alpha", and was rolled out on a web site whose primary function is to connect people who are trying to launch online business ventures. So to wave the bloody shirt after Craig stated that RSS feeds for noncommercial purposes are golden, is a little disingenuous. As others have pointed out, Craig's whole m.o. appears to b…
It would only be disingenuous if there was any kind of commercial aspect to the site as it stands. There was none, and "rolling it out" on HN is merely asking for feedback, not trying to sign up paid users. In the email exchange I've had with Craig, not all of which I've posted, I've asked him to clarify on this point: "Oh, and about being noncommercial. A bunch of the RSS mashup sites I've seen, like Craiglook, thro…
Just don't post any advertising from your site. I think that worked fine for Craiglook.
Futhermore, Yahoo pipes seem to be working fine with craigslist. Are you sure it's not your site being blocked ?