There have been many discussions on HN about CL.a quick search will be extremely helpful.
Afai recall, CL is being pushed into corners by people who desperately want to eat it alive.
Further - users like CL. As much as people wax on about how features and a UI will make a big difference, fact is that in its geography people don't really care about that.
There's also a chart out there showing that CL is being disrupted, in that several silos its present in have alternate service providers.
I must further point out that the ideological posturing at the end assumes that the next firm who comes in, and adds yet another middleman to the chain, will let the data be free and open.
Should they end up consuming/transitioning most of CLs base, who is to say they won't institute a lock in of some sort.
And a YC firm definitely can't operate on the same budgetary and revenue constraints CL imposes on itself.
I'd hate to see a significant rework of the UI for Craigslist--it's so bloody simple that it exactly solves the problems I have, and the site is so barebones that I can browse it on near anything without issue.
I probably save 95% of my apartment search time with Padmapper instead of Craigslist. What is needed is an API so that fans of Craigslist can keep their torturous interface and the rest of us can get the info we need and go on with our lives.
Afai recall, CL is being pushed into corners by people who desperately want to eat it alive.
Further - users like CL. As much as people wax on about how features and a UI will make a big difference, fact is that in its geography people don't really care about that.
There's also a chart out there showing that CL is being disrupted, in that several silos its present in have alternate service providers.
I must further point out that the ideological posturing at the end assumes that the next firm who comes in, and adds yet another middleman to the chain, will let the data be free and open.
Should they end up consuming/transitioning most of CLs base, who is to say they won't institute a lock in of some sort.
And a YC firm definitely can't operate on the same budgetary and revenue constraints CL imposes on itself.