Another topic for another day. Thanks to Craig, Jim, and all of you for participating. Q: How do you manage massive classified Web sites with only 24 employees? More specifically, what internal processes and editing are involved? Q: Do you care if something better comes along to replace Craigslist? JIM: If there was a better Craigslist that was genuinely well-intentioned and sustainable, that would certainly make our lives easier.
JIM: A wag once said that Craigslist has all the visual appeal of a pipe wrench, which we took as a compliment. But we are always trying to make the site easier to use, more accessible, and even speedier. Q: How has the international section picked up? Are there international cities that have picked up on the service successfully?
Local language translations duh! Q: Please explain how the flagging process works. I have had several legitimate posts flagged in the past and have never received any response in contacting support to ask why. CRAIG: With over 30 million people per month visiting our site, the most effective way to deal with bad stuff is to enlist the community in self-policing. Almost always, flagged ads that were thought to be legitimate later proved to have violated community-requested guidelines.
Q: Is Craigslist good at self-policing? Or is the policing system really made up of norms and policies established by you two and your 25 minions? We have two core values: treat others like you want to be treated, and live and let live. JIM: Benchmarking Craigslist against the government is setting the bar pretty low, which we appreciate. Seriously though, I am continually impressed by the wisdom and fairness of Craigslist users in setting community guidelines and then enforcing them.
Q: Are you taking any steps to prevent real estate agents from killing the value of your site by incessantly posting the same apartments? Please drop by our feedback forum. Q: Is Craigslist planning on cleaning up the spam? Will there be a paid subscription service eventually? JIM: User generated governance UGG by a networked citizenry to disintermediate ineffective or worse politicians and lobbyists, in an ultimate expression of the democratizing power of the Internet.
