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The idea that he's "being a dick to Craigslist" is the weirdest part of this whole thing. The PadMapper service consists of advertising that certain content is
by JackC 14y ago
The idea that he's "being a dick to Craigslist" is the weirdest part of this whole thing. The PadMapper service consists of advertising that certain content is available on Craigslist. I mean, it literally consists of saying, "oh, you're looking for a 3-bedroom house under $3,000 in this neighborhood? Here's a page on Craigslist you might want to check out." That's the extent of the appropriation.
I mean, imagine I was reading the Craigslist apartment listings for my own housing search, and I knew you were looking for 3-bedroom Craigslist listings in a given neighborhood, so every time I saw one I sent you the link. Heck, imagine I even charged money for that service. In what universe am I being a dick to Craigslist? How on earth does that follow?
I understand that it's a little different here because Craigslist has asked PadMapper not to help people out that way. But the information PadMapper is passing on, it's not getting from Craigslist anymore. It's getting it from a third party. So it's the equivalent of me saying, "hey, you know you were looking for a 3-bedroom in that neighborhood? I'm not allowed to visit Craigslist myself, but a dude told me about these pages on Craigslist you might want to check out." There is purely no way that this constitutes dickish behavior toward Craigslist, and Craigslist has no moral right to forbid it.
- ericd 14y agoYeah, I agree, it's just that advertising them when they don't want to be is dickish. It's not super dickish, but it is somewhat, and I feel a little bad about that.
- MattSayar 14y ago"...I knew you were looking for 3-bedroom Craigslist listings in a given neighborhood, so every time I saw one I sent you the link. Heck, imagine I even charged money for that service." You mean like a realtor? Maybe craigslist should go after realtors.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- intended 14y agoAs has been said by jessedhillon above http://news.ycombinator.org/item?id=4220812 http://news.ycombinator.org/item?id=4220812 > "Disintermediation -- getting your users used to coming to my site to look at your data is the first step to making you irrelevant and forgettable. PM knows who the renters and the listers are; it's a small step to convince some listers to list with PM first. Maybe PM will agree to repost on CL as well, but as long as listers come to PM first, the relationship between PM and CL is flipped."
- ericd 14y agoExcept it's really not a small step, listers and renters are a completely disjoint set of people.
- intended 14y agoI think you are being disingenuous here - because you are implying that the relation is static. If renters go to pad mapper to find houses, and not CL, you are saying that will not impact customer and user behavior. If renters move, then listers will too. Your statement/line of thought does not address this aspect. Do you consider it an unlikelihood ?
- ericd 14y agoOops, I think I misunderstood what was being said. Sure, if PadMapper became the main place renters go, then it could pose a risk for Craigslist. I don't see that as likely, though - it's well structured for the technically literate, but my impression is that it's somewhat confusing for many of those who aren't. To add to that, it's extremely hard to build a brand strong enough to reach the landlords of the world, who are on average older and less likely to be early adopters of hip web technologies. Anecdotally, most PadMapper users tell landlords that they found the place on Craigslist, because it would confuse them to say "PadMapper". So, in my opinion, it's unlikely to be a real threat. Hope that makes sense.
- intended 14y ago