3 ms·

But isn't that the downside of working in someone else's ecosystem? That company is going to do what's best for that company, as they should, and unless you hav

But isn't that the downside of working in someone else's ecosystem? That company is going to do what's best for that company, as they should, and unless you have a contract with them, they are free to change how they allow access to the data they collected. Padmapper knew they were in a grey area, they rolled the dice and came out ahead more often than not. But at the end of the day, there's no such thing as a free lunch. As far as it being the users data, this is true. But the collecting, organizing, publishing and accessibility of that data is a service that Craigslist provides, to the user, in exchange for an unlimited license of that material. I would love it if Craigslist opened up their data, but it just doesn't make any sense for them as a business.

akavlie 14y ago
PadMapper currently uses 3Taps to access Craigslist data, which piggybacks on search engine results. Craigslist can't prevent this but by a) setting the whole site to Disallow in robots.txt, removing the whole site from search results on Google & other search engines, or b) legal force.
- JoeCortopassi 14y ago
  There's a difference between what is legal, and what is technically capable. It is illegal for me to go into someone's house without an invitation, but I'm technically capable of breaking a window and letting myself in. Now, a lot of people will make the argument that this is very different than breaking a window, because there is no physical damages. But all damages don't to be out of destroyed property. What Padmapper is doing, is effectively trying to sell hamburgers inside of a McDonald's: They are leveraging someone else's hardwork in developing a user base and repeat customers, to further their own goals. This isn't anti-competitive. This is Craigslist saying, "go across the street and build your company on your own merits, not our captive audience". If Padmapper is that great, and I believe they are, then they will have no problem building up their own user base. They just happened to lose their shortcut.
  - usaar333 14y ago
    > hardwork in developing a user base and repeat customers The ratio of revenue/visits/whatever metric craigslist has made in the last decade relative to their work is astronomical. They initially may have done hard work, but for most of their existence they have been reaping the continued benefits of winning a lottery 15 years ago. They have engaged in near zero innovation since securing a near-monopoly on online classifieds. > If Padmapper is that great, and I believe they are, then they will have no problem building up their own user base. Not necessary true. Craigslist is in a two-sided market, which favors the emergence of a monopoly. Padmapper currently makes the process of finding an apartment easier. The sister site Padlister is working on making offering easier, but the benefits are very small compared to what Padmapper offers renters. Eventually, Padmapper could displace craigslist, but its going to be a very long process. In the meantime apartment hunters suffer by having to utilize a significantly less efficient UI.
    - seunosewa 14y ago
      The work they do behind the scenes to keep the site running is massively under-rated because few people run such sites.
      - stickfigure 14y ago
        The work they did behind the scenes was impressive in the 1990s. Today it's only impressive because Craigslist is built with antique technology. Scaling mostly-static content with zero page customization is not rocket science anymore. Just ask anyone in the porn biz.
        seunosewa 14y ago
        Scaling is not the issue. Keeping it relatively clean is the issue. Dealing with criminals and law enforcement. Keeping the community satisfied. Classifieds ads sites are a magnet for spam and all sorts of nastiness, and Craigslist is the biggest one.

akavlie 14y ago

PadMapper currently uses 3Taps to access Craigslist data, which piggybacks on search engine results. Craigslist can't prevent this but by a) setting the whole site to Disallow in robots.txt, removing the whole site from search results on Google & other search engines, or b) legal force.

JoeCortopassi 14y ago
There's a difference between what is legal, and what is technically capable. It is illegal for me to go into someone's house without an invitation, but I'm technically capable of breaking a window and letting myself in. Now, a lot of people will make the argument that this is very different than breaking a window, because there is no physical damages. But all damages don't to be out of destroyed property. What Padmapper is doing, is effectively trying to sell hamburgers inside of a McDonald's: They are leveraging someone else's hardwork in developing a user base and repeat customers, to further their own goals. This isn't anti-competitive. This is Craigslist saying, "go across the street and build your company on your own merits, not our captive audience". If Padmapper is that great, and I believe they are, then they will have no problem building up their own user base. They just happened to lose their shortcut.
- usaar333 14y ago
  > hardwork in developing a user base and repeat customers The ratio of revenue/visits/whatever metric craigslist has made in the last decade relative to their work is astronomical. They initially may have done hard work, but for most of their existence they have been reaping the continued benefits of winning a lottery 15 years ago. They have engaged in near zero innovation since securing a near-monopoly on online classifieds. > If Padmapper is that great, and I believe they are, then they will have no problem building up their own user base. Not necessary true. Craigslist is in a two-sided market, which favors the emergence of a monopoly. Padmapper currently makes the process of finding an apartment easier. The sister site Padlister is working on making offering easier, but the benefits are very small compared to what Padmapper offers renters. Eventually, Padmapper could displace craigslist, but its going to be a very long process. In the meantime apartment hunters suffer by having to utilize a significantly less efficient UI.
  - seunosewa 14y ago
    The work they do behind the scenes to keep the site running is massively under-rated because few people run such sites.
    - stickfigure 14y ago
      The work they did behind the scenes was impressive in the 1990s. Today it's only impressive because Craigslist is built with antique technology. Scaling mostly-static content with zero page customization is not rocket science anymore. Just ask anyone in the porn biz.
      - seunosewa 14y ago
        Scaling is not the issue. Keeping it relatively clean is the issue. Dealing with criminals and law enforcement. Keeping the community satisfied. Classifieds ads sites are a magnet for spam and all sorts of nastiness, and Craigslist is the biggest one.