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View Full Version : anyone know how to contact craigslist?



Deuce Lee
02-03-2008, 7:59 AM
i live in the middle of wi, and within a 40 mile radius, there's about 150,000+ people, but the closes city with a craigslist town is 150 miles away, which is a pain...

if you search the craigslist posts for asking to add your city, our area is asked for 6 pages and no one has responded...

anyone know how to escalate the issue? who to contact?

Mitchell Andrus
02-03-2008, 10:07 AM
Well, I don't know about how to get hooked up, but why would you want to? If there's nobody around.... who you going to advertize to?

Deuce Lee
02-03-2008, 2:09 PM
Well, I don't know about how to get hooked up, but why would you want to? If there's nobody around.... who you going to advertize to?

did u miss the part that i said there's 150,000 people within a 40 mile radius?

Phil Sanders
02-06-2008, 2:06 AM
Excuse me, but did you say 150 miles? Wisconsin? That is like 2 1/2 hours at 60 mph.

Lets see, Craigslist has locations in Wisconsin:

appleton-oshkosh-FDL
duluth / superior
eau claire
green bay
la crosse
madison
Milwaukee
Plus Rockford, IL.

And the entire UP of Michigan has just one site, the State of Montana (which is larger than all of Wisconsin) has just one Craigslist site. There are other examples of large tracks of country without a local Craigslist.

I am not trying to be flippant, or sarcastic. I am just trying to show you that your claim of 40 miles and 150,000 may not meet a threshold of significant population concentration. Sorry.

I hope you do get your site, but I am not going to bet any of my money on it.

Phil

Deuce Lee
02-06-2008, 9:08 AM
ok, you're right, i did exagerated a bit and was a little frustrated when write the post...

but lets see, my town is stevens point, the closes is appleton, which is an hour away, stevens point has 24K, a sister city plover has 10K, Wausau is 30 mins away, 34K, marshfield is 35 mins away, 18K, Wisconsin rapids, 20 mins away, 18K, that's 104K, and that's not including schofield, weston, rothschild, kronenwetter, mosinee, junction city, custer, whiting, biron, port edwards, amherst, which is easily over 50K...

i don't know about you, but i probably wouldn't mind traveling an hour to get something big like $500 or so, but to go there to get something $100, and often isn't worth it...

Mitchell Andrus
02-06-2008, 9:27 AM
A population of 150,000 is not enough going to be enough of a population to interest anybody at Craig's list, sorry.

At any one time how many of those are looking for a used car, used dining room set, used boat, used treadmill....? Don't forget, they also have to PREFER to use a computer/trust the lister/travel 5 to 20 miles/pay cash....

I listed my son's used car on Craig's list... I'm in an area considered to be part of NY City metro area (Northern NJ - Tony Soprano's territory) with 12.5 million people within 17 miles of the city - plenty more than 150,000 in a 40 mile radius. I got two calls in a month from the Craig's List ad. Maybe used dining room sets and used bandsaws will sell better, but how many 'things' do you think 150,000 people will want to list/buy on a pretty darned obscure listing service?

Deuce Lee
02-06-2008, 10:31 AM
Ok, eau claire has 61K, i'm sure with the cities within 30-40 mins, there's probably only around 150K or so, same with La crosse, 52K...so how come they get one? is it because a single city is over 50K? :confused:

i'm sure i can find other cities around the US with population around 50K and a total population of 150K or less within a 40 mile radius that has a craigslist...:(

anyways, doesn't look like anyone knows...good day

Mitchell Andrus
02-06-2008, 10:59 AM
Ok, eau claire has 61K, i'm sure with the cities within 30-40 mins, there's probably only around 150K or so, same with La crosse, 52K...so how come they get one? is it because a single city is over 50K? :confused:

i'm sure i can find other cities around the US with population around 50K and a total population of 150K or less within a 40 mile radius that has a craigslist...:(

anyways, doesn't look like anyone knows...good day

They likely have a local moderator with enough time on his hands to deal with local issues - propably a volunteer as Craig's has yet to turn a profit. You may volunteer if you wish, it's not likely to be too much work.

Phil Sanders
02-06-2008, 11:32 AM
Deuce:

You know, you might be on to something.

A states like Wisconsin, Iowa, and maybe Indiana have large and medium sized cities, but lots more rural areas of low population density sprinkled with small towns and villages. The point is there isn't enough people for a unique Craigslist for each small rural region. But enough straw bunched together is almost as strong as a 2X4.

Let's face it, if you could add your population to say Monroe, Rhinelander, Hurley, and Rice Lake, well then you would have a site.

So the concept would be along the lines of Rural Wisconsin not otherwise listed. And yes visitors would see a used Washer and Dryer for sale at the other side of the state, but so what. People are really smart and can figure out Rhinelander 's should make sure they ID themselves as living in the frozen north tree country and not in the Little Switzerland area.

No, you don't get the 'braggin' rights of your own Craigslist town, but you get the job you want done.

Phil

Deuce Lee
02-06-2008, 1:48 PM
Deuce:

You know, you might be on to something.

A states like Wisconsin, Iowa, and maybe Indiana have large and medium sized cities, but lots more rural areas of low population density sprinkled with small towns and villages. The point is there isn't enough people for a unique Craigslist for each small rural region. But enough straw bunched together is almost as strong as a 2X4.

Let's face it, if you could add your population to say Monroe, Rhinelander, Hurley, and Rice Lake, well then you would have a site.

So the concept would be along the lines of Rural Wisconsin not otherwise listed. And yes visitors would see a used Washer and Dryer for sale at the other side of the state, but so what. People are really smart and can figure out Rhinelander 's should make sure they ID themselves as living in the frozen north tree country and not in the Little Switzerland area.

No, you don't get the 'braggin' rights of your own Craigslist town, but you get the job you want done.

Phil

exactly Phil, a "central WI" will make a couple hundred thousand people very happy...

i see it as how far you're willing to drive on a daily basis, i drive to wausau to work everyday, 35 mins, I know a person who drives from WI rapids to wausau everyday and that's pushing 50 mins, but people don't usually work in appleton and live in Stevens Point.

and if it's something that's as far as somewhere you're willing to drive to work and back everyday, then maybe that distance isn't so bad that you wouldn't mind going there to pick up something that's $100...

Mitchell Andrus
02-27-2008, 9:10 AM
Any progress?

Cliff Rohrabacher
02-27-2008, 9:46 AM
Craig Neumark used to be one of the easiest people around to get a hold of.

At least he used to be. He was so transparent that if you got some one angry at you because you were "sooooo mean" he would personally send you an e-mail from his own account telling you to stop.

I think it's just his name @craigslist.org

Curt Doles
03-05-2008, 7:09 PM
I think their mechanism is pretty archaic. If they just used a mile radius search like most other web based source does, you could accomplish what you need to easily.

In other words, as an example, if I could search all tools within 75 miles of Akron that were greater than $200, I'd probably do it every day.

I live south of Cleveland, west of Pittsburg and when I search, I'll look at Cleveland, Pittsburg, Columbus, Youngstown, Mansfield.....

If it wasn't so cumbersome, I'd search more.

Just one mans opinion.

Curt

Phil Sanders
03-06-2008, 8:27 AM
I think their mechanism is pretty archaic. If they just used a mile radius search like most other web based source does, you could accomplish what you need to easily.

In other words, as an example, if I could search all tools within 75 miles of Akron that were greater than $200, I'd probably do it every day.

I live south of Cleveland, west of Pittsburg and when I search, I'll look at Cleveland, Pittsburg, Columbus, Youngstown, Mansfield.....

If it wasn't so cumbersome, I'd search more.

Just one man's opinion.
Yes, That is a good and valid observation. What you suggested is very constructive and useful.

However, I don't think it will ever happen.

Craigslist is a non-profit organization. Per Wikipedia, they have only 25 employees. To do what you suggest would require a small building full of web code writers and about 2 years of development.

The basic model of Craigslist is for large metropolitan cities as isolated entities. IMHO, it was modelled closely on the concept of the Want-Ads of big city newspapers. Communities far away from the big cities could get and read the Want-Ads of the Big City, but unless there was a local paper or a local addition to the Big City Newspaper, the rural folks did without.

BTW: Per Wikipedia, Google has 16,800 employees. The Craigslist employee count is most likely about just the HR employee count for a company with almost 17 thousand employees.

EBay has over 11,000 employees.

Phil

Matt Meiser
03-06-2008, 8:50 AM
Actually I don't think it would be that difficult. A lot of web sites have a geographic search that do exactly what Curt proposes--restaurant searches, doctor searches, etc. I would assume (but its not my area of expertise) that there are commercial products out there that are easy to integrate. The search would rely on accurate location information by the ad poster though, and based on what I've seen on CL that would be the difficult part. You'd think people could spell their own city's name right????

I agree though that it will never happen. Others have implemented CL search engines that do something similar to what Curt suggested. CL has actively worked to shut them down.