craigblog

Tarts for John (Kerry)

April 04, 2004

Hey, today I went to a really good, rather modest, fundraiser for John Kerry, at the mountaintop fortress of Joyce Maynard, a noted local writer.

Every little bit helps.

The deal is that people come over, pledge some support, and make pie. I certainly endorse pie... not that I made any, I cook with credit cards.

Joyce explains this better at her site which I recommend.

For some reason, she keeps a ceramic Yoda in her kitchen.

Here's Joyce, with pop diva Michelle and David Duncan, another noted local writer.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

April 01, 2004

from today's Wall St Journal, regarding the craigslist documentary:

At the recent South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, director Michael Ferris Gibson showed a rough cut of "24 Hours on Craigslist," which charts the site's far-reaching and offbeat effects on some people in San Francisco, where the site originated. Participants arrange marriages, find jobs and band members, buy and sell weird products (including a prosthetic beer belly) and organize "flash mobs" (one crowd suddenly appeared and took a mock nap in the lobby of a San Francisco hotel). Asked if there is a real person named Craig behind the site, fans in the film seem to regard the question as akin to asking about the existence of God.

Just to be clear, I don't exist.

Never spank a badger

March 31, 2004

check here

Really good conference coming to SF

March 30, 2004

Hey, normally, I don't go to these, even though I really do like getting a glimpse of the futuristic stuff. I'll be there! They've been kind enough to offer a discount for craigslist community people, which is whoever wants to be.

to let the folks speak for themselves:

WIRED's NextFest Festival Pavilion - Fort Mason Center Bay & Buchanan Strs., San Francisco May 15 & 16 9:00AM - 6:00PM

Each day, around the world, the future is born. A mini World's Fair, WIRED NextFest will showcase innovative inventions that offer a sneak peak into the future in communication, design, entertainment, health, security, exploration and transportation.

Featuring flying cars, fuel cell buses, a suit that makes you invisible, robots, and brainfingerprinting, NextFest will showcase the world we will be living in the not-so-distant future, created by R&D; labs from around the world.

Bold, inspiring, entertaining and smart, NextFest is great for all ages. Adults $15/Kids Under 12 are FREE

As a friend of Craig, save 20%
Use Promo Code: CRAIGNF
for more

the other Craig Newmark

March 29, 2004

Well, around twenty-six years ago, I was hanging around my place, recovering from my ballet accident. This was south Florida, and my mom and aunt were visiting.

While they're getting obligatory sun tans, I get a call from a guy, he tells me to look at yesterday's Miami paper, wedding announcements. There's a picture of an attractive woman in bridal veil, captioned "Mrs. Craig Newmark". I can generally tell the difference between me and not-me with very little supervision.

Anyway, I leave the announcement around and hear some rather gratifying shrieking when she gets back from the pool, calling me a bad name ("stinker".)

Turns out, the other Craig Newmark teaches economics in North Carolina, and runs a very well regarded blog which looks really good to me!

Computers, Privacy, and Freedom conference

March 27, 2004

Hey, maybe the best, longstanding conference on technology and freedom is Computers, Freedom and Privacy. I've been to one, probably should go to this.

Here's a little more from them:

For over a decade, the Computers, Freedom & Privacy Conference has played a major role in the public debate on the future of privacy and freedom in the online world. The CFP audience is as diverse as the Net itself, with attendees not only from government, business, education, and non-profits, but also from the community of computer professionals, hackers, crackers and engineers who work the code of cyberspace. The themes have been broad and forward-looking. CFP explores what will be. It is the place where the future is mapped.

CFP2004 will explore the most important issues facing the Internet and freedom, including: the role of technology in providing national security and preserving individual privacy and freedom in the post-9-11 world; the impact of new legal and technical developments on the Internet's utility as a medium for disseminating and archiving information, interacting with individuals, and culture; the role of computer and telecommunications technologies in the political process, and much, much more.

article re NY apartment brokers and craigslist

March 26, 2004

Hey, an article in yesterday's NY Press talks about our measures to ensure that our NY apartments ads are ok.

Despite the unfortunate title, it does a good job of discussing the problem and how we help. Primarily, we really help a lot of people find places to live, and help honest brokers make a living. However, there are a lot of unscrupulous apartment brokers in NY, and they try to get away with stuff. On the positive side, when they see we're leveling the playing field, they start playing fair.

There's the occasional scam, the classic being one where people take deposits for places that don't exist. I feel that the NYPD Computer Crimes Unit (aka High Tech Crimes) and the DA's office get a lot of credit for their work on such scams, and also on online harassment. I've worked with them on the request of victims, and they know what they're doing.

Switching to a Mac Powerbook

March 24, 2004

Well, at sxsw.com, I saw the the cool kids were all using ibooks or powerbooks, and I was having problems getting stuff to work with Linux, so ...

So, I've succumbed to peer pressure, since I want to be one of the popular kids.

I'm now using a Powerbook G4 to do my craiglsist stuff.

So far, so good. I'm very impressed by a lot of the attention to detail, even the superior way they do stuff like the power supplies or handling dual displays.

I'm struggling a little, since it feels like iphoto and isync are not working okay, but I'll figure it out.

Hey, if someone wants to volunteer some help, or knows a better terminal program than terminal or iterm, lemme know.

Thanks!

Dean rally: Democracy for America

March 21, 2004

Thursday, I got to the big Dean rally in SF, where he was announcing the conversion of his movement from presidential campaign to democracy movement.

I feel this is a really big deal, it's what the country, and the world, needs.

There were a lot of excited people there, including me, and normally I don't do enthusiasm... but immediately after, my talk at the San Francisco City Democratic Club focused on this.

The theme: We need to change things and we will.

Maybe this is the big movement I gotta push. Please take a look, and let me know what you think.

another review of the documentary

I don't want to overdo it, but here's another review of the film from Film Threat which is an unusually honest magazine. I'll just leave you with what I think is the really important part.

“24 Hours on Craigslist” is the ultimate people zoo. This isn’t bullshit reality television fodder where the beautiful people go to grab their fifteen minutes and hopefully a whole lot more. No, these are regular people, genuine in their strange habits and they have no problem sharing their eccentricities with the world. So where does one go to find all of these bizarre folks? Filmmaker Michael Ferris Gibson didn’t have to look much further than Criagslist.org.

first review of 24 hours on craigslist

March 19, 2004

from Pop Matters

Such pointlessness, however, seemed to be precisely the idea behind 24 Hours on Craigslist. Documenting the San Francisco based website's influence in the span of a single day, the filmmakers sent out eight crews all over the city to create a montage of the bizarre stories behind the site's thousands of posts.

For the uninitiated, craigslist is a sort of virtual Greensheets. Anyone can post ads for goods or services (to sell or to buy) for free. Since the site's creation in 1995, craigslist has grown from San Francisco to offering the same service to over thirty cities around the world, with plans to provide for dozens more. The posts are also almost entirely uncensored (some drug references are coded to avoid prosecution), which makes for some extraordinarily compelling ads. Consider this post, taken off the Austin craigslist at random (apparently in honor of St. Patrick's Day):

"Looking for some Irish charm, Gaelic sensuality and wit? I'm fit, fun, and very skilled in the Hibernian oral arts. Find out why 69% of the world's women, when given a choice, choose Irish men. Looking for single women and couples for a wee bit of sensual fun. Discreet, honest, and eminently trustworthy."

This, then, is the stuff of 24 Hours on Craigslist. The film documents such rare characters as a male Ethel Merman impersonator looking to start a heavy metal cover band, a couple interested in setting up a support group for owners of diabetic cats, and a gay porn star advertising his services as "porn star massage." The film spends time with a multitude of similarly "unique" people, all of whom are inclined toward their own particular brands of idiosyncrasy.

The movie is careful to make the case, however, that craigslist is more than just a meeting place for freaks. Following the antics of a flash mob (those groups who descend en masse to pre-designated meeting places as instructed by text messages on their cell phones), the film draws a parallel between these groups and craigslist users as members of a community. We are all unique together, the argument goes. In this sense, the documentary is an interesting example of postmodern anthropology, looking at a group whose only affiliation is via the World Wide Web.

For groups or for individuals, both 24 Hours on Craigslist and Young Adam explore the notion of the alternative. Whether it's anonymous encounters with Scottish housewives or a husband and wife Judo team, the films turn a critical eye toward the accepted standards of what passes for "normal" these days. The idea seems an apt one for SXSW. As midnight struck in Austin, revelers turned toward the city's drinking quarter, housed on the (in)famous 6th street. Music blared over the asphalt, drunken buddies careened arm in arm down the sidewalk, and a man wearing a Burger King crown and sunglasses slapped away at a bass guitar, singing into the night. Vive le difference.

on craigslist: Witness to UFOs & Alien Abductions

March 17, 2004

Ever witnessed a UFO or Alien Abduction?
Be at the Powell Street Station at between 12-12:15 noon on Saturday 3/20/2004.
Wear a green shirt.

it's hereuntil it expires

sxsw: Dave Weinberger and Howard Rheingold, the real deal

March 16, 2004

Hey, two great observers of online culture are Dave Weinberger, who I've thanked before and Howard Rheingold.

Dave is one of the authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto, which helped me understand what I was seeing of craigslist community, which led to doing a much better job. He's got a lot going on here.

Howard is one of the great observers of online community, writing the seminal The Virtual Community and now smartmobs about how technology is transforming.

I highly recommend the work of both guys, they really have helped out and influenced me:

24 Hours on craigslist premieres

March 15, 2004

Hey, last night the documentary on the craigslist community in SF was first shown. Michael Gibson and Zealot Pictures did a really good job showing how people use our site, mostly focusing on alternative culture in San Francisco.

We're not sure about screenings, but we'll figure something out with Michael and let you know!

Telepathic tattoos

(running around Austin at sxsw.com)

sxsw: Rob Courdry from The Daily Show

March 14, 2004

A coupla months ago, I blogged how much I enjoy The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the finest source of fake news.

Today I got lucky and met Rob Courdry, one of the finest proponents of such journalism, really nice guy:

(I regard "fake news" like this to be much truer than mainstream news.)

He's at SXSW to promote his new film Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story which looks really good.

sxsw/usual talk

March 13, 2004

Hey, I gave my usual talk at sxsw, and Heath Row was kind enough to do a transcript of it. Maybe not 100% right, in part, he corrected some of my grammar, and I really appreciate it!

I also introduced a talk, the Accidental Populist where I discussed Internet political trends and what I should be doing about 'em.

Tripod envy: the trip to SXSW

Well, at SFO, we have a whole cluster of bloggers and a few film people. I saw the way people could share their Apple Internet connection.

Joi Ito has a lot of gadgets with him, completely emasculating me. Here's him with a portable tripod deal for using one's notebook:

Yes, I should be listing the guys' names and/or URLs here.

We had a lot of trouble with United, a comedy of errors, and guys, I'll let you know what compensation I arrange.

craigslist stuff at the South by Southwest conference

March 11, 2004

Hey, I'll be at south by southwest for several days, starting on Friday.

On Saturday, I'll be talking about craigslist, but also I'll try out a little talk, "out of the echo chamber, or the accidental populist", where I continue to figure out how we can really make a difference in new ways. The details are here.

I'm also on a panel Blocks By Bytes: Technology and City Guides

Also, on Sunday night there'll be the premiere of 24 hours on craigslist, and here are the details.

On Monday, I'll have a coupla minutes on the highly regarded 20x2.

Does anyone care?

Hope to see you there!

Ah, I guess I'm a sucker for this

March 09, 2004

Well, check thisout

I really do think it is a great site and when I first moved to the Bay Area (3+ yrs ago) I lived & died by it and I still rely on it heavily.

I've sold tickets, bought furniture, given & asked for advice, found really great friends, found a place to live, found original & different social activities and been entertained for hours on end.

For those of you unfamilar with it, it's a great website started by Craig (of course) originally in SF, but now all over. He has worked really hard to keep in free for the users and free of advertisements. He's done a really good job.

and a little more:

I love Craigslist! We found our china closet on Craigslist. We drove to SF for the day on a super hot day with our dog, then got the china closet at this fancy apartment right downtown (next to that big cathedral. Now I can't remember what it's called. It's at the top of the cable car line). It was such a fun experience! Hey, glad you did not drown!!

I post this because it reminds me that basic everyday needs come first.

More Cole Valley dogs!

Well, people keep asking, and it's taking me time to write stuff on the Keyboard of Justice and also "Out of the Echo Chamber".

Oscar... terriers always got something going on.

Moll, a new regular

update: the Keyboard of Justice

Well, I've been tracking the IP addresses used by Nigerian scammers, and have been blocking them from our site, and this has been about 50% effective.

I'm tracking more, and also including the scam gangs operating from Ukraine and Romania.

Way down, I blogged the dilemma we're in, being fairly rabid civil libertarians and yet doing the right thing for the victims of crime. In practice, we've been lucky, for our size we don't get much abuse, and it's mostly harassers and scammers.

That's largely due to the culture of trust we have.

I guess this weekend I gotta do more, probably block more ISPs serving Lagos, even though I'll be at sxsw.com, on the road.

New arrival Cole Valley

March 08, 2004

Hey, it's Marivi with new Elena!

Soon I'll be doing the jumping up and down thing soon for Elena.

Buying the affections of dogs; what to feed CEOs

March 06, 2004

I'm still trying to get the affections ofJilly the terrier and Winston the bulldog:

It seems that Jilly is still skittish, and Winston just wants a snack, so I've resorted to buying snacks for them, some kind of beef jerky stuff. Let's see if it works.

If you show it to any particular craigslist CEO, well, I've learned that you better make it explicit that we're talking dog snacks here, particularly if he normally finds jerky to be tasty.

Flashmob supercomputer needs your help!

March 05, 2004

Hey, it looks like a bunch of folks are planning something pretty cool, putting together a supercomputer which consists of a bunch of systems that people will contribute for the day.

Specifically, on April 3, 2004 University of San Francisco will host the first Flash Mob Computing computer, FlashMob I, with the purpose of creating one of the Top 500 Supercomputers on the planet.

They do need your help:

• they need people to bring computers, particularly IT people and CFO people who may be able to bring multiple computers
• they need presenters or lecturers for the day of the event. We are pulling together a diverse program for event day and USF is providing a number of rooms and forums for us to play, and we are creating a science fair type event that will have something for everyone.

contact Avenne McBride, avennemcbride@yahoo.com, for more and also check out www.flashmobcomputing.org

update to Microsoft/Hotmail email policy

March 04, 2004

Hey, earlier I commented and asked for info regarding Microsoft email policies.

Looks like someone, for sure, discussed this and sent me some of that anonymously, check out the last comment in my blog entry

Trying to be constructive, I'll note, without criticizing:

• telling people stuff in a complex terms of understanding or similar document is NOT informed consent
• they say that "dropping email into the bit bucket without letting anyone know" "happens all the time"
• they say that losing email is "true of all the majors"
• sending email to support@hotmail.com, etc., usually doesn't work, for example, I rarely get responses, and often you can see the original note wasn't actually read

I'm available to help with this.

Voter registration is working!

Hey, a while ago, we linked all our index pages to the voter registration form provided by the good folks at Working Assets.

This is really important in the short term, since we needs lots of new voters to do the right thing in November.

This is really important in the long term, if we're to help restore democracy to our country.

It really seems to be working, we've gotten over 5000 new registrations and around 4000 voter updates.

folks, thanks!

More dogs! from Cole Valley

Okay, okay, I really do like dogs!

Baci and Monet at play, Baci is the bigger dog on the bottom, he's leaving soon...!

It's Jilly! I just bought treats that she should like; I figure I'll buy her affections.

Search premimum databases for free (for CA residents)

March 03, 2004

Folks, I just found out from the SF Public Library folks that if you're a card holder, you have free access to a lot of premium databases.

Just visit sfpl.org, and check out "advanced search".... but you will need a library card to do this.

If you're a California resident, try this

If you're not, they tell me that a lot of major libraries have this
service, try it out!

Pretty in Pink

March 01, 2004

Jim Buckmaster, craigslist Chief Executive Officer

More on OneVoice and Jason Alexander

February 28, 2004

Hey, people are taking OneVoice more and more seriously, Jason Alexander is really helping out.

They are having fun with him.

Check out this article from today's SF Chron

craigslist: your best source for necroromancers

From Cable FAX Daily

Shows cast for stars cnline

It's not easy finding a necromancer on short notice, which is why Sci Fi posted an ad online at the Craig's List site (www.craigslist.com). The ad essentially is an open casting call for participants in "Mad Mad House II," the follow-up to the twisted reality series that debuts Thursday. Beyond those who can speak to the dead....

(check link for more)

More on OneVoice for mideast peace

February 27, 2004

Well, OneVoice looks more and more credible as a possible path to mideast peace.

Please check out articles at Al Jazeerah and Ha'aretz, which represent the news from both sides.

... and yes, it looks more and more that Jason Alexander and I were separated at birth.

Major Microsoft/MSN/Hotmail snafu reported

February 26, 2004

Hey, I just found about new Microsoft efforts changes which might cause many emails to not be delivered to their email subscribers.

I'd like to hear from them, but have no clue who to contact.

The following is from the South by Southwest conference site

Most importantly, I don't think they ever clearly and conspicuously tell their users that according to them:

Microsoft does not have an obligation to deliver any particular e-mail message.

Here's more, but check out the whole entry for yourself at the link above.

"Recently, I found myself on the wrong side of Microsoft's white lists. My company is a small web-based service where users must supply a valid email address in order to register. We don't abuse the email addresses and state so in the Privacy Policy. As a result, we get many registrations and we need to send an auto-confirmation to the provided email address. If the user receives the email and clicks on the embedded URL, then the registration is completed. Pretty straight-forward stuff. As you would expect, many users provide Hotmail addresses. This is fine with us. We do the same when we visit other sites! About 5 weeks ago, new users started complaining to us about not receiving the confirmations. After seeing a pattern in the complaints and digging in the logs for a few weeks, we decided to bring our ISP into the loop. This helped our ISP see a pattern emerge out of the complaints from their other customers.

Apparently, Microsoft had started dropping email into the bit bucket without letting anyone know. The hard part was proving this *and* finding a way to communicate our argument to Microsoft. How in the world do you get a hold of someone at Hotmail? There's no email addresses or phone numbers! We gathered our data and through personal connections, we were able to find a human being and work our way through the system. We finally found a Hotmail person who was willing to listen to us. At first she denied that Microsoft would dump email without explanation. After going through a few rounds of tests with her, she changed her story. She said:

Thank you for contacting MSN Hotmail. With the help of the detailed troubleshooting information you have provided, we have determined that the message in question, the Less Network Confirmation, but not your other test emails, has been blocked by an MSN Hotmail filter deployed to stop unsolicited e-mail. Like many other e-mail service providers, MSN Hotmail uses filtering methods to stop unsolicited e-mail. Consumers have told us that stopping unsolicited e-mail is a top priority and because our #1 goal is pleasing our customers, we are employing technology that helps protect them from unsolicited e-mail

Note that they're doing this without the informed consent or notice to their users.

If this is wrong, I'll correct it right away

craigslist apparently down due to DNS snafu

We're running just fine, but we screwed up our DNS entries last night, and the changes are slowly propagating across the Internet.

My apologies!

Hey, sometimes craigslist works!

Hey, from
My Glass House

Oh, and god bless Craigslist. It’s worked for me again. I had a thought, while packing detritus into bags – I knew I wanted to donate my usable crap to a good cause, but I was getting mighty tired of lugging stuff around. I also had about seven (seven!) trash bags full of garbage. Straight up unsalvageable stuff. And that wasn’t even counting the recyclables. So I posted a note on CL saying “You can have my stuff if you take the garbage, too.” I had run out of garbage cans outside, y’see. As soon as I posted, I started getting the calls. Everyone sounded okay, but one stood out – just something about his voice. So I told him to come on over. He took ALL my crap, cheerfully, and will sort it out later. He supports his family this way, selling other people’s leftovers, and he seemed decent and kind and sweet. He reminded me somehow of my dad, excited to dive into bags of unknown junk, sure the treasure is right underneath the next layer.

And listen: My crap filled the back of his utility pick-up truck. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? I live(d) in a 300 sq foot apartment with NO space. I am a wonder, something to behold. Now I have to go over to the new place and pull the same kind of Hide The Shit magic.

Can I tell ya? I just want to knit. Cromarty misses me, is singing to me, even now.....

and more...

I love Craigslist. I want to marry it. I've: Sold a car Met cute girls Bought a loveseat Got an apartment Got rid of the shit in the old apt

Real progress in antispam technology

February 25, 2004

It looks like the big email server guys are working on different schemes which might help with spam. The deal is that your receiving email server might be able to figure out who really sent a particular email. You'd be able to set for yourself how to handle emails for known and unknown senders. For example, you might tell your emailer to only accept email from known domains... and then you can whitelist known senders of emails, and blacklist the rest. There would also be variations where you could let in email from unknown people... you choose.

This really deserves longer treatment... and I'll be doing more research.

I feel very uncomfortable with Microsoft leading or having a major role in this, given their record regarding security and how they treat customer. I fear that they'll implement this in MSN and Hotmail without serious testing.

for more:

Renovating E-Mail With Identity in Mind

Microsoft Proposes Caller ID for E-Mail

Serious mideast peace group launches

February 24, 2004

Hey, I'm considering joining up with a mideast peace group, OneVoice.

Their central idea is the most everyone on both sides of that border are moderates, but it's the very small number of extremists, on both sides, that get media attention.

I don't care these days about what's happened in the past, compared to how much I want both sides to get the best deal they can.

Please help me out with your opinion.

Maybe check out the article in Ha'aretz and let me know. The article gives a good, brief idea of what's going on.

(Yes, if you look at Alexander and me, we're "separated at birth".)

Remember that my focus is to avoid dwelling on past injustice, and to help people make a deal.

thanks!

SF congressional race: Lantos vs Khanna

February 23, 2004

UPDATE: there will be a debate this Friday, set by Lantos, a few days before the election, too late for absentee voters like myself. What does this say about Lantos?

Looks like we have have a good race going on between two Democrats in San Francisco, Tom Lantos and Ro Khanna.

Larry Lessig, who's a lot smarter than I am, says that Ro "has an amazing passion and clarity of purpose for a politician of any age".

It looks like Lantos was for the Iraq war, and for the Patriot Act I and II, which suggests he 's for a weak defense with the illusion of action. He refuses to debate Khanna, which speaks volumes.

On the other hand... I want to hear more from people. What am I missing?

thanks!

Peter Plate on Market Street in San Francisco

Peter Plate is a local writer who does very good, dark novels.

Now and then he writes an essay for the Chron on San Francisco, filled with evocative prose.

Feverish Market Street is a dreamland that reflects the two faces of the city's soul. Like no other avenue, it defines the seesaw gambol of life in San Francisco. Natty businessmen venture here to make and lose fortunes inside modest skyscrapers. Junkies throng to its doorways to score heroin or find a place to sleep off the day.

Proceeding westward, you enter the real estate war zone between Fifth and Eighth streets. It is a territory that straddles the border between memory and amnesia. Derelict and forgotten office buildings gaze hungrily at pedestrians. The boarded-up St. Francis Theater is a lonesome sight. The fate of the St. Francis befell other repertory theaters on the street. The Strand became empty. The Electric became a porno venue. The Embassy is a magnificent hole in the ground.

Recommended... and you can find it here.

John? His name is John?

Maybe I'm taking this too seriously.

Farewell to the girls

February 22, 2004

Well, I'm a relative latecomer to Sex and the City, but I'm a fan.

I really do love seeing NY and also the relationship between them, and the city. The sex I could live without; when I was fifteen it woulda been great, but that was a while ago.

Sometimes, entertainment transcends TV, and even last week two moments were moving.

One, where Samantha tosses her wig, literally.

Two, where Miranda tells Mr Big "go get our girl".

Let's see what happens tonight.

I'll miss the girls.

Biotech and creativity columns by David Duncan at the Chron

Hey, there's a lot of people around here working on a lot of cool biotech stuff.

Me, I'm mostly interested in molecular biology and genomics, for my idea of fun.

The deal is that we're learning how our bodies operate on the molecular level, which can lead to great longevity and disease fighting, or bioterror weapons, or both.

David Duncan has just started a really good series on this at the SF Chronicle, which I highly recommend.

Interestingly, he first profiles Nathaniel David, who I know is doing very cool work. (I just remembered I owe him a call.)