The Chron’s got an interview with man of the moment Craig Newmark, whose loving tended Craig’s List is disrupting lots of serious information and service companies through its strong community, ‘let the users decide’ regional focus.
Some quotes from the piece–which is well worth reading in its entirety:
“…There is nothing pious or anti-commercial about us. The decision to make it a business was based on values I’ve been somewhat facetiously calling nerd values. The disease of my people — the nerds — is that we are very literal, which is a real pain in the butt, frankly.(snip)… feel that one of the best things a person can do for another is to create a job. So you do OK commercially, and then you try to make a difference of some sort.”
And:
“…If one is building a community kind of site, whatever that means, people are really good at telling whether you’re doing so through an honest intent of connecting with the community, of trying to connect with other people, or whether you’re just trying to make a lot of money right away. The real core here is that we’ve kind of lost our sense of neighborhood or community. In our culture, I think we crave that. That’s why a lot of sitcoms have been popular like “Seinfeld,” “Northern Exposure” or “MASH” That’s a big deal. Beyond that, a lot of the people who try that don’t have persistence. I’m not very patient, but I’m pretty darned persistent.”
P.S. According to Craig, San Fran has declared Oct 10th to be Craig’s List day–hope the CL team throws a block party to celebrate their well-deserved successes.
The Chron’s got an interview with man of the moment Craig Newmark, whose loving tended Craig’s List is disrupting lots of serious information and service companies through its strong community, ‘let the users decide’ regional focus.
Some quotes from the piece–which is well worth reading in its entirety:
“…There is nothing pious or anti-commercial about us. The decision to make it a business was based on values I’ve been somewhat facetiously calling nerd values. The disease of my people — the nerds — is that we are very literal, which is a real pain in the butt, frankly.(snip)… feel that one of the best things a person can do for another is to create a job. So you do OK commercially, and then you try to make a difference of some sort.”
And:
“…If one is building a community kind of site, whatever that means, people are really good at telling whether you’re doing so through an honest intent of connecting with the community, of trying to connect with other people, or whether you’re just trying to make a lot of money right away. The real core here is that we’ve kind of lost our sense of neighborhood or community. In our culture, I think we crave that. That’s why a lot of sitcoms have been popular like “Seinfeld,” “Northern Exposure” or “MASH” That’s a big deal. Beyond that, a lot of the people who try that don’t have persistence. I’m not very patient, but I’m pretty darned persistent.”
P.S. According to Craig, San Fran has declared Oct 10th to be Craig’s List day–hope the CL team throws a block party to celebrate their well-deserved successes.