Great, then CL is ready for disruption. I'm not saying that CL is awesome, I'm saying this is why you don't take your company public. You can do whatever you want. And if the CL audience is as sick of CL as you and others claim, then it's time for someone to start typing.

I'm always amused when I see people, mostly web professionals, bitch about CraigsList.

The VC and bizdev types hate CL because "CL is just leaving money on the table. They need to understand how to make a profit."

Webdevs hate them because CL doesn't adopt whatever new design trend comes along, therefore CL "doesn't get UX", or webdevs hate them because of situations like this, where some webdev can't build his business off of someone else's platform.

This, compadres, is why you don't take your business public. CL has a staff of less then 20 people, they make plenty of bank while at the same time staying true to their own ethos, whether you agree or not. And the consumers seem to be coming back over and over. And yes, I have heard many people say that this is because CL has been around so long, that they are the 500 lb Gorilla that will never be moved. Uhh, are we on the same Internet? Tell that to Yahoo, MySpace, etc etc.

Here's a Wired article from 2009 that covers the exact topic of CL and site scraping. Maybe PadMapper should have read it first.

Wired Interview with Craig Newmark

He only published a few books, but "Bridge of Birds" (and its follow ups) is a wonderful mixture of Chinese folklore, Indiana Jones, and Sherlock Holmes.

"I don't think it took a genius to know that this was coming, "

No, but it took huge balls at the time to say "we're not supporting this anymore. " Apple did the same thing with the 3.5" floppy disk and adopting the USB port on iMacs back in the day and got roundly mocked for it, until the PC makers started following suit a few years later. Whatever Jobs was, he was certainly a visionary. Apple was never afraid of break convention when they felt it was the right thing to do. What other companies can we say that about (seriously, what other PC manufacturers have down this? I'm genuinely curious.)

I didn't subscribe to Netflix because I wanted the latest content. I wanted something decent to watch, when I wanted to watch something, and I wanted it cheap. The $18 a month I pay for Netflix is still way cheaper then the $60 I was paying to Comcast for shows I didn't want to see and that were loaded down with commercials I didn't want to watch. When I did the math and realized I was paying $720 a year for that privilege, it was time for a change. It's not that I can't afford it, it's just not worth that amount of money to me.

As a guy who ran email servers for a small organization, let me say enjoy it while you can, because email admin is a never-ending pain in the butt. The spam management, the 24x7x365 server monitoring for security issues, the blacklisting and DNS issues, and that people get really bitchy when their email service is disturbed in any way.

That being said, I hear nice things about Zimbra.

"Chalk up!"

Extra cool points for knowing the first pinball machine with flippers -- Humpty Dumpty

"Is it a requirement for a tech reporter to be completely clueless? Is not doing basic research part of the job requirement?"

There is a strong sentiment in the US that a person doesn't necessarily have to understand an industry to work in it. Reporters frequently report on issues that they barely understand and so they end up missing important details and nuances. Executives frequently get high paying jobs in other industries because "business is business." And yet these same executives are destroying their industries (looking at you banking and automotive industries). As we speak, Carly Fiorina is running for Governor of California based on the idea that because she was the head of HP (a job she was forced to resign from), she's qualified to run a state. These skill sets are not always transferable, but the status quo will be maintained by this layer of executive management because if the rationale behind this logic ever truly got scrutinized, I think we'd all be more outraged at how little value we've been getting for our dollar.

My wife and I were trying to figure out Michael Caine's character -- when we meet him, isn't he in a classroom in Paris? And yet, it appears he lives in America since he picks up LDC's character at an American airport. So maybe thats all a dream as well. or, this movie has really crappy continuity problems! :-) (it doesn't... I think)

I have to admit, I'm a little saddened by this latest proclamation from Redmond. It's just no fun to kick MCSFT anymore. Sure, they still make billions, most used OS, etc, etc. But does anybody really believe they can release a killer device? It seems for all of MCSFT's bluster and posturing, they repeatedly get kicked in the face by more agile, hipper, and forward thinking companies. How soon until MCSFT marketing goons start telling us that "Windows X.x is not your father's Windows?"

It's like watching an old guy trying to pickup 20-somethings on the dance floor. It's just awkward and everyone feels uncomfortable.

Sigh... Okay MCSFT, here's an insult for old times sake: "Hey Ballmer, how about you get one model right *before* you build a product line?"

nah man... the thrill is gone.... Maybe I'll go piss off the android fanboys...

George was a huge fan of Joseph Campbell, specifically "Hero with a Thousand faces." The Bill Moyers interviews with Campbell ("The Power of Myth") was taped at Skywalker Ranch.

Lucas sold THX years ago.

Complaining that he's running Star Wars as a business is just lame, because thats what Star Wars is... a business. Lucas employs hundreds of people (not all of them in the film business) that work on a range of projects, some of which are Star Wars. They make contributions that go way beyond Star Wars. And chances are you'll never hear about most of them, because strangely enough, Lucas isn't concerned about keeping you in the loop.

Years ago someone asked Charles Schultz if he minded the fact that Snoopy was being used in commercials and he was shocked. Basically, he felt that of course Snoopy was in commercials. Schutlz was running a business, not an art gallery.

This is not about Apple's behavior. Gizmodo editors knowingly bought stolen property, refused to turn it over immediately, dissected it for their own commercial gain (and causing unknown damage), and tried to bater its return (ransom). I don't care who you are or what your motivations are, this is clearly unethical behavior. I've never seen Ars Technica do anything this greasy, so I'll continue to go there for tech reviews and avoid gizmodo.

Maybe that would explain the growing use of "tl:dr", which is short for "too long, didn't read", which I'm seeing more and more on articles. The sad thing is that most of the time the people that add the line haven't written anything especially complicated or long.People are either getting stupider or lazier.

tl:dr; author thinks the use of tl:dr is a symptom of people getting dumber.