Slashdot Mirror
Craig and his List
Schlemphfer writes "The San Francisco Chronicle has published a long interview with Craig Newmark of Craigslist. The interview covers topics like running a business with a moral compass, hiring people while finding leadership to grow a website, and last week's eBay purchase of 25% of the site."
My faith in (as Craig calls us) nerds is restored. We gotta make a living but we don't have to sell out.
Just wait till Craigslist gets really big and Craig Newmark sells out, to make a handsome lump and retire early, while you'll still go to work looking for some other honest nerd to have faith in.
What do you think? that the guy is immune to the lure of money? hell, if I was him, I'd try to pose as an honest nerd until I can sell everything and move to Grand Caiman...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Go to Craigslist and click on the listings for Erotic Services, and you'll find hundreds of listings for "escorts", "massage artists", or plain and simple prostitutes who aren't hiding beyond another title. Around the same time each month, there are a number of posts for women seeking to raise rent money, and not by working at the local supermarket.
Sure, one can say that Craig's List is just the middleman, holding a forum and all, but when they have a section specifically for "Erotic Services", I'm less then sympathetic with that argument.
Craigslist has a "moral compass" when it has categories like "men seeking men", "women seek women", and "casual encounters"? And every other job ad, in some cities, is for a nude model? And Craig himself is thrilled to have the SF mayor pronounce Oct. 10 as Craiglist Day, when the mayor spits at the law? Sounds to me like the "moral compass" is pointing south.
Do people want businesses to be founded by good people? It happens _all the time_. Most businesses are created by good, decent people. They give other people jobs. Even Craig himself says, in the interview, that one of the best things you can do is give someone a job. Businesses do that for people _all the time_.