Friday, October 5, 2007

the false impression given by "craigslist.org"

Jason,

I don't know if you are doing this knowingly or not but "dot-org" is a misleading characterization of craigslist. Just it case you need some clarification, I think Ryan Blitstein gave the best one around in his article Craig$list.com in the SFWeekly:

"...gives the false impression that the site is a nonprofit, by using ".org," an extension almost exclusively used by nonprofit companies and foundations. Craigslist's marketing materials call this "a symbol of our service mission and non-corporate culture." (Craigslist.com, which the company also owns, draws far less traffic.) It permits Newmark to use the word "non-commercial" twice on Craigslist's "Mission and History" page, and to bury the phrase "No charges, except for job postings" in the third line from the bottom. It means establishing a separate nonprofit, the Craigslist Foundation, which trains other nonprofits in marketing, technology, and fundraising skills, but makes no grants, has no endowment, and charges for many of its training events. This year, Craigslist will provide less than half of the foundation's $240,000 budget."

Delia

P.S. take care! D.

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