24 Hours on Craigslist (2005)

Need to find a support group for your diabetic cat? Searching for limited editions of Dr. Seuss prints? Want to join a "flash mob?" Looking for an apartment, a heavy metal chef, or some football tickets? For all this and much, much more, just go to craigslist.org. What carries this otherwise mediocre documentary film is its fascinating subject matter. The entire film is little more than interviews with people who wax eloquent about how and why they use craigslist. They are not alone. With three billion page views and fifteen million users per month, and fifty million user postings in 100 discussion forums, craigslist is much more than a place to buy and sell; it is a form of entertainment and means for social connections. Many of these people are normal, but many others are just weird, and some of them would appear strange to say the least. The film includes people that should have been omitted, and is needlessly coy about Craig. Nor do you learn much about the basic history of craigslist. For the record, Craig Newmark founded the organization in 1995 in San Francisco. Today craigslist services 450 cities in 50 countries. In 1999 craigslist incorporated as a for-profit (E-Bay owns 25%), but that statement could be very misleading. Their current CEO Jim Buckmaster has been called an anarchist and communist for his steadfast refusal to "monetize" the site. He runs the company with a staff of two dozen people, and their "business model," such that it is, charges $25 for job ads in seven cities, and $10 for brokered apartments in New York City. Otherwise, craigslist revels in its open-source software and philanthropic esprit. For a fascinating article see http://www.forbes.com/technology/2006/12/08/newspaper-classifield-online-tech_cx-lh_1211craigslist.html.