Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist, gave a speech about his site and why he thinks it works as a virtual community. I have very little experience with his site, which he describes as a collection of classified ads, but forums have allowed an interesting community to form around them. Since the ads are organized by city, the site has become a user supported collection of city guides.
I found his talk personal, humorous, and engaging. You can access his Powerpoint slides here. Craig’s an affable fellow who’s dedicated to his work, and as of late, various social/political causes.
Does this Craig fellow have a personal email or suggestion box? I spend hours in searching or what i see is an impersonal computer with an impersonal comments.I reccomend that craig to maik more money by limited ads, to pay for couple of keeegs to give geeky replies ,but at least, personal replies
I’m unaware of Craig’s email address, but his name above links to his personal weblog, you might get a better feel for him there.
A recent New York Times article stated that craigslist pulls in close to $10M/year from employment ads in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and New York City. Employment ads are still free in other cities. Still, fighting the spammers and other ne’er-do-wells costs Craig and his staff a lot of time and effort.