why are craigslist's "modest fees" in fact hefty?

... because they charge per post (that adds up dramatically), instead of offering a subscription like plenty of other sites do nowadays -- this allows them to claim not to be greedy, while in fact making quite a bit of money and continuing to add to the list of cities that must pay for job listings (as of now...)

Delia

P.S. people keep bringing this up when a new slue of cities are "considered" to be added to the pay list (craigslist has never concluded not to charge in any of the cities it "considered" for charging) D.

the wondrous craigslist "customer service" that people just can't get a hold of...

Now, having said this, these people deserve an entry on this blog. Not because of their main beef -- is their currently non-profit in fact a ripening pyramid scheme? I have no interest in taking up this issue, it is not relevant to this blog -- but because their experience ("all e-mail requests for assistance have had no response"; 3rd paragraph, end of first sentence), among many others, shows just how hollow craigslist's "customer service" really is..

Delia

what does it mean when people send you press releases?

... probably nothing :) -- I just found it interesting...

Delia

P.S. Just so everybody knows, I have no interest in fighting anybody's battles for them; if I find something relevant to this blog I will write about it but not because somebody sent me their press release; please don't go to the trouble...D.

(craigslist "success") unlikely, indeed!

this coming from business *intelligence*? (just ask Craig! and give him plenty of space to ramble on... )

Delia

P.S. I shudder imagining what the not-so-smart business interviews are like... are these people all brain dead? D.

(craigslist traffic) Jim's "selective" statistics...

again, he "forgets" to mention Alexa -- 5th paragraph-- (something they used to do all the time when things were truly going well...) as I've said before, absolute numbers are not the relevant metric (you would expect them to grow as more people go online etc.) How has craigslist been doing relative to other sites gives a much more accurate image of what's really going on: craigslist's Alexa rank has gone down significantly since I started checking it in 2006 (7th at its best, 12th at its worth; it does fluctuate a bit, of course, -- it is 11th at this point -- , for instance, but that does not change the fact that it's been a definite downward spiral... from 7th to 11th, assuming it's not going to go back to 12th and lower... -- I doubt it...).

Delia

(Steve Outing) interesting experiment...

Hi Steve!

I hope that after this little (apparently unintended) experiment, you will walk away with a much less naive notion of what craigslist is all about. I didn't give your letter much importance when I first saw it (although your suggestions were not bad, your characterization of what craigslist is and does sounded way to groupie-like to take seriously). I *am* pleased to see that it has gained some traction (other articles and people, such as Jay Rosen, mention it) and I hope it will be a learning experience for a lot of people.

Delia

P.S. take care! D.

is Craig planning to retire on his own island?

Although this was no at all what he asked people for when he turned for profit (he just asked if he could charge to pay the bills), you'd think at the kind of profits they've been racking in, he's made enough off of craigslist to retire a long time ago if he just wanted a regular retirement (like he implies) and..."a little bit more"... (last sentence)

Delia

P.S. at one point I really thought these guys were great... (Voice of America); now they sound like idiots... (doing little more than repeating the ridiculous PR Craig feeds them) D.