Doesn't surprise me one bit. The "saintly" Craig is really kind of a pompous ass with a superiority complex. JMO.

Ebay has a stake in Craigslist? The way this was written is REALLY hard to figure out what your saying.

@ideagirl, thank god i'm not the only one who thinks that

So....... I bet Ebay is really kicking themselves for removing Seller Feedback.

Craig Newmark is a total SCUMBAG. I hope the sue his ass and win big!!!

Could use a dash of Whitman, and sprinkle of a Bezos and a hint of Ballmer fluid.

@ideagirl: That's funny. In my limited interaction with Craig, he's seemed to be neither a saint nor an ass - just like most of us.

@ideagirl: Glad to hear many others with the same opinion. I've found it really difficult to work with him in the past, and I'm putting that very diplomatically.

So much for the whole "non-profit" thing.

Craigslist sucks big hairy moose balls anyway. I would shed not a single tear if Craigslist went tits-up right now. The entire place is little more than a haven for scammers, thieves, prostitutes, drug dealers and other assorted assholes.

@sgodun, kinda like the comments at vallwag eh?

@sgodun: and of course, this: [newyork.craigslist.org]

@sgodun: I've bought and sold a handful of things on craigslist, and I couldn't disagree more. Ebay long ago ceased being useful to me.

Wow, did all of you commenters got a bad rash after meeting someone off craigslist's casual encounters, or what?

What most people don't realize is that the masses who made Craigslist popular are the masses that will bring it down.

CL is another commodity. They are starting to act as if they weren't. Like sgodun said above, I wouldn't shed a tear if they went under today.

The competition should be in the works somewhere out there.

Craigslist, Inc., prepare to die.

I don't get it. How does one go about diluting someone's stake in a company and why does eBay think that this has happened to them? Has Craigslist responded to the allegations? What happens next?

My comment was from dealing with Craig personally. Anyone I know who has meet him thinks the same thing. I like Craigslist and find it useful but I despise Craig.

@laser - exactly, and yet he's personified as this humble, gentle, opensource giant jus' looking for a little love on the lonely streets of san francisco

I've never seen an ad on Craigslist. How are they a "business"? How exactly do they make money?

Maybe it has something to do with the fake postings that pop up with links that redirect to ebay auctions?

At first I just thought those links were the work of the same douchebag bastards who flood the jobs area with *Work-At-Home!* or *Models Needed!*, but aparently it has something to do with ebay owning stock in Craigslist...wow.

For $16 million, he should be able to make a lot more Apples in Stereo CDs...

Ouch! Will this make Craig "come out of the closet" and fight?

@TonyTriple:

They charge to post ads in some of the more lucrative categories (employment and real estate in certain cities).

@ideagirl: lol - anyone who has 'made it' always changes. you just can't help it.

Who's more of a scam-haven for Nigerian scammers, eBay or CL?
Considering that eBay is the more "adult" of the two, and especially b/c they give out NO service gratis, I'd say eBay is the more evil of the two.

CL has problems, sure. But it's more b/c it's a fairly bohemian style of venture.
EBay wants a cut of everything, then a cut on top of that. Then once more, then once their customers are scammed, they shrug.

@Trai- wth are you buying on ebay??

The real scandal of Craigslist isn't the scams, or the numerous flakes who post non-scam ads, but the site's reluctance to add any decent functionality after all these years. The search feature alone is terrible.

They're resting on their laurels.

@TonyTriple: They charge $75 for every job ad in the bay area. $25 elsewhere.

That ads up. Those margins are just too fat. You know what happens when margins are fat... right?

This is a really inaccurate story.

1 - Craigslist did not seek to sell the shares to eBay. They were sold by a former employee.

2 - Craig Newmark could have sold out for BILLIONS of dollars. Do ya THINK he hatched up a plan to make... $16 million... by selling shares he didn't own so he could have eBay poking into Craigslist's affairs?

3 - Did I mention this is a really inaccurate story?

@SFJoe: That's good to hear, not my experience, but perhaps it was a bad day : )

@Fidel on the Roof: I see that happening in my own CL community on a daily basis. The average person who just wants to sell a few things out of the garage becomes so frustrated with the flagging (for things like using too many words, or not having excellent grammar), that they just give up.

In addition, and this is just IMO, the rude, snooty attitude on the CL forums is just trickle down. i participate in a lot of forums, and CL's is by far the most clichey and mean spirited.

Reading further into this "reporting" on Craigslist...

The reporter sounds incredibly envious of both's Newmark' success (read his previous story) and bewildered by the fact that unlike other folks in the valley, Newmark didn't take the money and run years ago. Therefore, he must be suspect.

But remember, Newmark could have sold Craiglist for billions of dollars.

Instead, the reporter tells an uncorroborated story which refutes hundreds of publications from the Times to the WSJ saying that the sale to eBay was really a ploy to make Newmark cash.

Anyone think Newmark needed a secret ploy to generate $16 million in cash when his shares of Craiglist are worth... again... billions? Does the reporter realize that Mr. Newmark could simply would into any bank and take a loan... easily... for $100 million with the collateral he owns? Yes, that much. And when you're rich, they give you very sweet rates which normal mortals can never hope to receive. So why does he need $16 million in a complicated backroom secret deal?

Answer: He doesn't.

Serves as a good warning to all young startups. Don't sell out early.

@bohemian: The first thing I learned in journalism school was to cut your teeth on business and economics stories. If you can make them clear and concise you can write anything.

@Trai_Dep: Ebay is worse than Craigslist as they charge to post, allow abuse, and double dip through Paypal and screwed their ratings with removing ratings of buyers.

I hate big companies that try to do this.

@Seth_Went_to_the_Bank: "The reporter" -- sorry, you must be confusing this with one of the newspapers craigslist is helping kill?

@Ideagir, you haven't seen anything until you try to post on Wikipedia. They make CL flaggers look like, well, like saint craig himself

Is Craig Newmark gay? Just wondering. He strikes me as gay.

I was unaware of Paul Giamatti's involvement in Craigslist.

All this talk about Craig...Jim Buckmaster is my ex cousin-in law.woot, woot. 'Course once he started with CL, he wouldn't return my emails. Really nice guy, very bright, hard working.

And that's that, hmph.

But... where will I find my scam apartment listings next year?

@sgodun: Yeah, it shares the fame as San Francisco.

@laserjobs: Wow, sorta sums up Wikipedia and Jimmy too. Wiki is useful, but Jimmy thinks he is Jesus Christ and acts like Satan.

@mediawhoremeow: See my post above yours.