craigslist is a network of urban community websites, featuring free classifieds ads (jobs, housing, personals, sale/wanted, services, community, events) and forums.

In early 1995, Craig Newmark observed people on the Net, on The WELL and in Usenet, helping one another, in a friendly, trusted-community way. He decided to create something similar for local San Francisco events. Word of mouth, and user demand led to the addition of new categories, and the list soon became large enough to demand the use of a list server (majordomo), which required a name. Friends suggested calling it "craigslist", and the name stuck.

craigslist has grown to be one of the most heavily used sites in the world, with sections for 32 large "metros" in the US, Canada and UK, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Portland, and Washington, DC.

After first being approached about running banner ads, Newmark decided to make craigslist non-commercial. He was joined by other people with new ideas; having parties to bring people face-to-face, and creating a nonprofit foundation as part of Craigslist.

Craig says that it works because it gives people a voice, and a sense of community trust and even intimacy. Other factors he cites are consistency of down-to-earth values, simplicity, and no charges, except for job postings. In lieu of real banner advertising, Craigslist staff for a short time posted mock-banner ads, as a humourous substitute.

External link