Craigslist did start as an email. From wikipedia: "Craig Newmark began the service in 1995 as an email distribution list of friends, featuring local events in

Craigslist did start as an email. From wikipedia: "Craig Newmark began the service in 1995 as an email distribution list of friends, featuring local events in the San Francisco Bay Area, before becoming a web-based service in 1996 and expanding into other classified categories. It started expanding to other U.S. cities in 2000, and currently covers 50 countries."