To say that craigslist.org is a simple site with a long list of blue links on a white background would be only a mere graphical description. This is because with local classifieds and forums for 450 cities worldwide Craiglists.org is a community. There are lists here that stretch from Goods right up to romance and from advice to jobs onwards to erotica and personals. Few things exist that one does not find in a Craig list and there are five billion page views per month to vouch for the fact. With fifteen million people using the site every month, craigslist.org stands at # 7 spot among other English language sites like Yahoo, Google and eBay.
The site has received awards like:- Best Local Website, by Manhattan Reader's Poll Webby: 2001,
- Best Community Site, by the Academy Webby: 2001,
- Best Community Site, by the People's Voice
It started when in 1994 Craigslist Newmark, a software engineer (a hardcore java programmer) first came to San Francisco, soon he felt isolated as a new comer. Therefore, when he observed the people on the internet, helping each other in a friendly, helping and social trusting community way he decided to start something similar for local events.
To do this he had to first create a mailing list and for this he started soliciting business cards from everyone he knew. He did that and by early 1995 the first posting had started, though Newmark had to suspend the postings for want of a better technology since the one he was using at the time was not good enough. June 1995 saw Craig list resuming operations after the new software Majordomo had been installed. The early postings were submitted by Newmark himself and were aimed at software and internet developers living and working in San Francisco.Back to top
Website Development
Rapid growth was soon to follow the publicity generated by the users, soon people began posting for jobs as they found the site a good way to reach the people who could give them technical jobs for the skills they possessed. This made Newmark add a category for jobs. More user generated categories were added to form lists, and the first of the Craigslists were formed. Increasing number of users prompted the buying of a full time SPARC server for hosting the lists. Then later the demand for a web interface led to the registering of craigslist.org and also craigslist.com to prevent the use of the name. The site has still retained its .org original domain symbolising its service mission and non-corporate culture.
By 1999 Newmark had to devote all his time to the site, as the "hobby" that had initially made him get invited to all the geek and nerd parties, was now growing very rapidly. The site was also declared a non-for-profit. By 2000 he had nine employees working out in his flat on Cole Street in San Francisco.
Craigs list forums aggregate users all over the world, you can log on to the Travel forum and elicit responses worldwide in case you ask a question about how to get to the Pentagon from The Washington monument. Some forums do not require registration. Users must register and choose a "handle" or name in case they want to participate in restricted forums. Users are permitted to "flag" posts that violate Craigs list policy such as the ban on discrimination in housing this is done because after all Craigs staff cannot police the forums 24/7. A user whose handle has been flagged beyond permitted limits is banned and must re register under a different username to continue posting on a restricted forum. Craigslist will ban users who are critical of the owners while claiming publicly not to police the website. Craigslist allows volunteers to police the site who can easily abuse their power for their own gratification or egos since they are allowed that discretion. This is an issue faced by the Craigslist users who feel that more must be done by the company to take action by more intense screening of volunteers or monitoring of their behaviour.Back to top
Craigslist's Controversies
The site has had its share of controversies starting with the San Francisco Chronicle July 2005 story that the site was allegedly encouraging the over breeding of pit bulls in the bay area, this by allowing the ads from dog breeders. Yet another controversy was generated in the same year when the site failed to remove the listings of Live 8 tickets that were for sale. The wrath of the San Francisco Bay Guardian was attracted in January, 2006 for "threatening to eviscerate" local alternative newspapers by moving into local communities. It was also compared to a multinational corporation called wal-mart that sells a wide assortment of goods in small towns at arguably cheaper prices thus crushing the smaller sellers. For allegedly allowing users to post discriminatory housing ads in Chicago that violate the Fair Housing Act Craigslist was sued by the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil rights under Law though the case was subsequently dismissed.
Yet another controversy involved the report that Craigs list's "Casual Encounters" forums in several cities was being compromised by the posting of fraudulent ads by individuals who then gathered personal information about people to send it to a drama website. This information, included email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, photos, etc. and was being publicly posted.
Graigslist have stated many times that they cannot and will not police the site, referring to their policy of allowing users to flag offending posts. This, despite the prostitution crackdowns that have resulted in dozens of arrests, sometimes in massive stings, of Craigslist users suspected of posting dubious ads, including the exchange of sexual favours. Otherwise, the site cooperates with law enforcement agencies.
Today the Corporation has Jim Buckmaster for CEO and President who contributed the site's multi-city architecture, search engine, discussion forums, flagging system, self-posting process, homepage design, personals categories, and "best-of-Craigslist" feature. The site now supports its operations by charging below market fees for job ads in 7 cities and for broker apartment listings in NYC. The huge amount of users has required 450 Craigslist sites in all 50 US states, and over 50 countries. The employee count has gone up to 23 all working from a Victorian house in the Inner Sunset neighbourhood of San Francisco. It receives 14 million self published, new classified adds together with 750,000 new job listings each month besides the 50 million plus user postings in 100 topical forums. Despite its size Craigslist still doesn't care for generating more revenue depending on local communities instead, to suggest ways to make money without compromising Craigs list. In 2004, 25% of the equity was bought by eBay from a former shareholder. The Craigslist Foundation, a non-profit organisation was founded in 2001 to supposedly help budding non-profit organizations get established, gain visibility, attract the attention of potential donors, and develop the skills and knowledge required for long-term success. The foundation produces face-to-face events and offers online resources to help grassroots organizations get off the ground and contribute real value to the community rather than directly funding the organisations. For this it accepts charitable donations.
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Craigslist's US Cities
On Official Craigslist site you can find tons offers from following US cities:| abilene | grand rapids | pensacola / panhandle |
| akron / canton | green bay | peoria |
| alaska | greensboro | philadelphia |
| albany | greenville / upstate | phoenix |
| albuquerque | gulfport / biloxi | pittsburgh |
| altoona-johnstown | hampton roads | plattsburgh-adirondacks |
| amarillo | harrisburg | poconos |
| ames, IA | harrisonburg | portland, OR |
| ann arbor | hartford | prescott |
| appleton-oshkosh-FDL | hattiesburg | provo / orem |
| asheville | hawaii | pueblo |
| athens, GA | hilton head | pullman / moscow |
| athens, OH | houston | quad cities, IA/IL |
| atlanta | hudson valley | raleigh / durham / CH |
| auburn | humboldt county | reading |
| augusta | huntington-ashland | redding |
| austin | huntsville | reno / tahoe |
| bakersfield | indianapolis | rhode island |
| baltimore | inland empire | richmond |
| baton rouge | iowa city | roanoke |
| beaumont / port arthur | ithaca | rochester, MN |
| bellingham | jackson, MI | rochester, NY |
| bend | jackson, MS | rockford |
| binghamton | jacksonville | rocky mountains |
| birmingham, AL | jonesboro | roswell / carlsbad |
| blacksburg | joplin | sacramento |
| bloomington | kalamazoo | saginaw-midland-baycity |
| bloomington-normal | kansas city, MO | salem, OR |
| boise | kennewick-pasco-richland | salt lake city |
| boone | killeen / temple / ft hood | san antonio |
| boston | knoxville | san diego |
| boulder | la crosse | san francisco bay area |
| bowling green | lafayette | san luis obispo |
| brownsville | lake charles | san marcos |
| buffalo | lakeland | santa barbara |
| cape cod / islands | lancaster | santa fe / taos |
| carbondale | lansing | sarasota-bradenton |
| catskills | laredo | savannah |
| cedar rapids | las cruces | scranton / wilkes-barre |
| central NJ | las vegas | seattle-tacoma |
| central michigan | lawrence | shreveport |
| champaign urbana | lawton | sioux city, IA |
| charleston, SC | lehigh valley | south bend / michiana |
| charleston, WV | lexington, KY | south coast |
| charlotte | lima / findlay | south dakota |
| charlottesville | lincoln | south jersey |
| chattanooga | little rock | space coast |
| chautauqua | logan | spokane / coeur d'alene |
| chicago | long island | springfield, IL |
| chico | los angeles | springfield, MO |
| cincinnati, OH | louisville | st cloud |
| cleveland | lubbock | st george |
| college station | lynchburg | st louis, MO |
| colorado springs | macon | state college |
| columbia / jeff city | madison | stillwater |
| columbia, SC | maine | stockton |
| columbus | manhattan, KS | syracuse |
| columbus, GA | mankato | tallahassee |
| corpus christi | mansfield | tampa bay area |
| corvallis/albany | martinsburg | terre haute |
| dallas / fort worth | mcallen / edinburg | texarkana |
| danville | medford-ashland-klamath | tippecanoe |
| dayton | memphis, TN | toledo |
| daytona beach | merced | topeka |
| delaware | miami | treasure coast |
| denver / boulder | milwaukee | tri-cities, TN |
| des moines | minneapolis / st paul | tucson |
| detroit metro | mobile | tulsa |
| dubuque | modesto | tuscaloosa |
| duluth / superior | montana | tyler / east TX |
| east idaho | monterey bay | upper peninsula |
| east oregon | montgomery | utica |
| eastern CT | morgantown | valdosta |
| eastern NC | muncie / anderson | ventura county |
| eastern shore | myrtle beach | vermont |
| eau claire | nashville | visalia-tulare |
| el paso | new hampshire | waco |
| elmira-corning | new haven | washington, DC |
| erie | new orleans | watertown |
| eugene | new york city | wenatchee |
| evansville | north dakota | west palm beach |
| fargo / moorhead | north jersey | west virigina |
| fayetteville | north mississippi | western KY |
| fayetteville, AR | northern michigan | western maryland |
| flagstaff / sedona | northwest CT | western massachusetts |
| flint | ocala | western slope |
| florida keys | odessa / midland | wheeling, WV |
| fort lauderdale | ogden-clearfield | wichita |
| fort smith, AR | oklahoma city | wichita falls |
| fort wayne | omaha / council bluffs | wilmington, NC |
| fresno | orange county | winston-salem |
| ft collins / greeley | oregon coast | worcester / central MA |
| ft myers / SW florida | orlando | wyoming |
| gainesville | outer banks | yakima |
| gold country | palm springs, CA | york |
| grand island | parkersburg-marietta | youngstown |
| yuma |
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