

Craig Newmark did one simple thing: He thought about what his users truly wanted - hga
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703808904575025032326755678.html

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joeyh
One way to look at this is that the original design of HTML 1.1 and its
presentation in early web browsers gave users what they really wanted. Text,
one color, that goes all the way across the screen, is readable on any screen,
and scrolls all the way down to the end of the document. Links. Maybe some
images.

No foofaraw of sidebars and mastheads; no bother with zooming to make the
content part of the page readable, no need to search the cluttered page to
find the print button so you can read the whole article without clicking next
10 times.

That was a subtle part of the early appeal of the web circa 1994. The
minimalism sucked you in, it made the web feel like one coherent, unified
thing, unlike the constellation of corporate edifices occupying much of it
today.

In Craigslist, early Google, even Hacker News, I see echos of that minimalism,
filtered through all the ways that have emerged to enhance, and pollute the
original vision of the web.

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hga
The top item from this search will get you access to the full article:
[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Bill+Wyman+Last+sum...](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Bill+Wyman+Last+summer+Wired+magazine+ran+a+cover+story+on+Craigslist%2C+the+classified-
advertising&aq=f&aqi=&oq=)

" _What Newspapers Can Learn From Craigslist

"Craig Newmark did one simple thing: He thought about what his users truly
wanted.

"BY BILL WYMAN_"

Good essay on site design philosophy.

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ttam
I hit the paywall..

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hga
Hmmm; what exactly did you see? The beginning of the article with it truncated
after a handful or so lines?

~~~
ttam
ye

~~~
hga
And this happened when you clicked on the above Google link at the start of
this thread, and then clicked on the first item in the search results page?

If so, are you coming from outside the US?

~~~
alextp
I'm outside the US (São Paulo, Brazil) and could skip the paywall by clicking
via the google search link (although by now the article is way down in the
list).

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GHFigs
Absolutely hilarious in context.

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physcab
This article was disappointing. I was expecting slightly more in-depth
analysis into the workings of Craigslist and instead I got a rant about
Newspaper websites.

~~~
GHFigs
There _is_ no depth. There is nothing to analyse. " _He thought about what his
users wanted, and put very little on his site that wasn't useful to them._ "
That's it.

~~~
tptacek
This article is a capsule summary of what Wyman's been writing for about a
year now. Here's a much more detailed piece:

[http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/five-key-
reaso...](http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/five-key-reasons-why-
newspapers-are-failing)

The piece you're critiquing is a WSJ editorial, written for a generalist
audience. Wyman may be the only media critic out there pushing the argument
that it's not just the business model but the technical design of newspaper
sites that's holding them back. It's hard to say there's nothing to his
argument.

~~~
Dbug
Yes, his more detailed piece (in two parts) tells far more. And it isn't only
insightful about the blunders of the newspaper industry, much of it applies to
the mess that is commercial t.v. broadcasting and the broadcaster websites as
well. (at least for the U.S.)

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sriram_sun
I think Fox news did the same.

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dnsworks
Because what Craigslist's users really want is a completely broken spam
flagging system, a mass of data that's impossible to categorize, and a lazy
search system that doesn't have any useful boolean search option, and a
monopoly that owns all of the search listings for certain regions but has
failed to innovate in 13 years.

~~~
brandnewlow
I use Craigslist. I don't give a crap about any of those things.

I don't care about them because the only thing I need it to do is to help me
find a roommate, sell my stuff, or maybe find a date.

When I post a roommate opening to CL, I get responses immediately. If I write
it up well, I might get 10-15 responses with 4-5 being good ones. That's all I
need to do. I don't give a rip about search or flagging or monopolies. When I
post something there, do I get e-mails in my inbox? Yes. Mission accomplished.

