tomcampbell

A few years ago I blew my life savings, retirement fund, and the kids' diaper money on a self-funded Craigslist competitor. (Kidding about the diaper money. Mostly.) Over a million dollars down the drain.

Part of its USP was that you bought and sold only with registered users, and there was to be a feedback system so both buyer and seller could feel a bit safer. That feedback system would appear roughly similar to eBay's, though far richer.

It had global ambitions and would cover more than eBay's does. For example, it would have name verification like Amazon and would even obtain credit rating information from anyone willing to give it up (this would make more information for sellers, obviously). At least one elegant algorithm was involved, but we were dealing with old media as our distribution mechanism and they didn't get new media.

<p>The idea of developing and maintaining a solid online identity with different views of trustworthiness makes sense to me. I don't know if it's a good idea for a startup, because the field may already be crowded for this very idea. Has this been done a thousand times before, by people Michael Arrington actually likes, or does it actually stand out a little?