If you value users, don't hurt yourself to show it. Rather, don't shut off sites that save them hours of their limited and precious lifetime.
It seems abundantly clear to me that the assertion that "A competitor to Craigslist who got $x right would easily get all Craigslist's users", for any of the usually mentioned values of $x [web design, UI, UX, customer service, search, API, other services using their API, …] - is nothing more than a head-in-the-sand misapprehension on the part of startup/web design/UI people. Craigslist _users_ have not "jumped ship" en-mass to any technically or graphically "better" alternative - and it's hardly from lack of trying by people who're _sure_ they will.
I think sometimes we need to get out of the HN/startup/bay-area echo chamber - I'm pretty sure Newmarket and his crew have a much different view of what their user base wants than any assumptions made by the HN zeitgeist…
I, personally, save several hours every time I look for an apartment by using padmapper over Craigslist. Aggregated, that's human lifetimes of time saved every year by padmapper.
UI isn't about round corners and fancy color schemes. It's about using computers to automate repetitive behaviors. Newmark's defenders tell me what I really want is to waste my limited lifetime clicking manually through entries on his shitty site. But no, I really don't.
Fuck Craigslist. Seriously.
> Fuck Craigslist. Seriously.
It's a bit disingenuous to say fuck Craigslist when the data you are using above...comes from Craigslist. Shouldn't you have switched to Zillow or another service by now if you hate Craigslist so much?
"Fuck Craigslist. Seriously."
Because they "cost" you "several hours" everytime you choose to use them to look for an apartment? Which is what - twice a year maybe? And this cost to you is somehow greater then the newspaper classifieds market they disrupted? Without some more backstory - I can't help but think you're _seriously_ over-reacting…
I think my point still stands - if there's a better way to do it that's so obvious, why hasn't somebody _done_ it and grabbed all the users? Google did it to Alta Vista. Facebook did it to MySpace (who did it to Friendster who did it to Tribe…)
It seems to me as though Newmark has balanced the often conflicting requirements of "people wanting to advertise stuff" and "people wanting search through advertisements" better than anyone else. Craigslist wouldn't have any data worth publishing in an API if they didn't address the needs of the advertisers. Padmapper doesn't have any data at all - why should Craigslist give them their apartment rental data just so Padmapper can compete with Craigslist without having the constraint of having to satisfy the advertiser well enough for them to provide the data in the first place?
My prejudice is that PadMapper probably wants to flip the company, and even if they don't, they probably have investors who want them to.
I trust Craigslist, and I don't trust PadMapper.
I hope that Craigslist changes their mind and decides to allow websites to license their API. If they don't, however, then Padmapper should just adapt and become mobile-exclusive, or try to generate their own apartment listings instead of depending on Craigslist.
