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Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable

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Re: Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable

#21

Post by bargh1920 »

fnovd wrote: post #18
smallgovt wrote: post #8

I find it interesting that there's a general undertone that CL is being "honorable" by choosing to not make more profit. I have no doubt Craig's intentions were honorable, but in reality, his refusal to make money to fund the site's innovation is hurting society. His users are screaming "TAKE MY MONEY AND MAKE THE SITE (MY LIFE) BETTER", but he refuses to do so and everyone is worse off because of it! In a way, it's…

Or perhaps Craig simply understands his business better than you do. Are the loudest users the ones providing him with the most profit? If not, then why not ignore them? Would being involved as a true middleman leave them more open to liability when things go south? If so, why open yourself to that risk if you are already making profit? If you really think CL is so under-utilized, why hasn't a larger company bought t…

Take a look at Ebay's acquisition attempt on CL. CL wasn't interested.

Also, it's not about listening to loud users. It's about understanding whether your users (any of them) are willing to pay you to improve the site. And, the answer to that is a resounding yes.

Re: Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable

#23

Post by Arizhel »

grapevines wrote: post #3

Network effect, reliability, free, anonymous, ability to run without JavaScript. If Craigslist decided to modernize today, they could potentially disrupt the state of things on the internet. Facebook is trying to move in on their territory for sure. Unfortunately, I don't think they will. If a new-kid-on-the-block could offer anonymity, reliability, and free regional market based transactions, with preferably integra…

>Facebook is trying to move in on their territory for sure. Unfortunately, I don't think they will.

Why "unfortunately"? This is a good thing. Facebook is horrible, in many different ways, and the last thing we need is to hand even more power over the internet to them. CL is "ugly", but it's fast and works great, and isn't filled with ads and tracking, something I definitely can't say about Facebook.

Re: Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable

#24

Post by VLM »

Somehow this historical wikipedia quote about profits relationship to beauty and trendiness smells appropriate:

"The Roman historian Suetonius reports that when Vespasian's son Titus complained about the disgusting nature of the tax, his father held up a gold coin and asked whether he felt offended by its smell (sciscitans num odore offenderetur). When Titus said "No", Vespasian replied, "Yet it comes from urine" (Atqui ex lotio est)."

Re: Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable

#26

Post by Arizhel »

vonklaus wrote: post #4

I almost always fight the SV meme that largely founders focus on throwaway trivial ideas. I just think this is so stupid. Craigslist is one of the few companies that isnt greedy, is community driven, and if there are examples using there outsize market to kill competitirs or act nefarious-- I havent heard them. I did 3 craigslist deals in the past 2 days. Got coffee with a stranger at 2am who let me flash an os to a…

I've used Craigslist in several different locations in the US over the last 10-15 years, with I don't know how many transactions. I've never had a problem, except for the occasional buyer who tries to offer a lower price after showing up in person when the ad says "firm".

Re: Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable

#27

Post by [deleted] »

VLM wrote: post #24

Somehow this historical wikipedia quote about profits relationship to beauty and trendiness smells appropriate: "The Roman historian Suetonius reports that when Vespasian's son Titus complained about the disgusting nature of the tax, his father held up a gold coin and asked whether he felt offended by its smell (sciscitans num odore offenderetur). When Titus said "No", Vespasian replied, "Yet it comes from urine" (At…

[deleted]

Re: Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable

#28

Post by jamisteven »

codingdave wrote: post #7

It isn't universal, though. One of the things you find if you move to Utah is, "Don't bother with Craigslist." I mean, it exists here. It gets some use. But most people use the online classifieds from ksl.com, the local TV station. At least, I think it is a TV station. I've never watched it, but everyone uses their online classifieds instead of craigslist. Their site also is ugly, and full of difficult buyers and poo…

I just checked salt lake city utah CL and I think your wrong, in comparison to where i live in Nashville there 1k less cars for sale in Utah than in Nashville, still a ton of stuff for sale though. Every state I have lived in there has been a CL with very high use. Florida, California, Washington, and Tennessee, all use CL.

Re: Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable

#29

Post by phil21 »

smallgovt wrote: post #8

I find it interesting that there's a general undertone that CL is being "honorable" by choosing to not make more profit. I have no doubt Craig's intentions were honorable, but in reality, his refusal to make money to fund the site's innovation is hurting society. His users are screaming "TAKE MY MONEY AND MAKE THE SITE (MY LIFE) BETTER", but he refuses to do so and everyone is worse off because of it! In a way, it's…

Now it's lazy and selfish to not take every ounce of surplus you can out of a market?

Some folks just want to lay back and enjoy life. If I were Craig I'd sit on that goldmine for the rest of my life - most likely it will finance a very decent lifestyle until the day he dies.

Why bother with the stress of expanding and doing what everyone else is doing? I'm completely convinced that strategy makes for miserable people. The happiest folks I've met in my life are those who own the "lifestyle businesses" everyone on HN enjoys deriding so much.

Isn't Craig living the hacker's dream? A reasonably useful service that provides value to customer, that once built you don't have to put much effort into maintaining or improving - because it works. Then you spend the rest of your free time on the beach.

You also get the nice side benefit that most guys like this tend to provide relatively low-stress long-term jobs employees can build a balanced life around.

Re: Craigslist Is Ugly, Janky, Old School, and Unbeatable

#30

Post by dalbasal »

Analemma_ wrote: post #13
smallgovt wrote: post #8

I find it interesting that there's a general undertone that CL is being "honorable" by choosing to not make more profit. I have no doubt Craig's intentions were honorable, but in reality, his refusal to make money to fund the site's innovation is hurting society. His users are screaming "TAKE MY MONEY AND MAKE THE SITE (MY LIFE) BETTER", but he refuses to do so and everyone is worse off because of it! In a way, it's…

Put down the Ayn Rand and go outside.

I don't think Ayn Rand would object to craigslist.
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