aleksl - 5:05 pm on May 12, 2008 (gmt 0)

agree with people above.

Craigslist is not about "internet community". It is about real community. The newspaper publisher missed it big time.

Also, read what AjiNIMC said. It is HARD to build a real community.

webwork, can I append? "we stop looking for virtual connections, we begin to disconnect" from technology and try to connect with real people.

Technology is a fad. Monetizing social networks is a fad. You can't fool people on the internet like you do in TV commercials - they catch on fast and STOP BUYING FROM YOU. So you better be real, and that is HARD. Or people will leave for other social networks, where there's less ads and more truth. That is the nature of it IMHO.

Good luck building a virtual community around widgets.

Or do you buy software from the company with no community, closed API, and in-house developed extensions?

Software companies have no communities. Maybe Open source, year, but it is a REAL community i.e. people who want to help build something real, not "a space for virtual software friends". We've been buying software from companies with no communities for years - Microsoft for one. Did it make you feel lonely? Or did downloading Open Source soft made you feel warm and fuzzy? Why? It is a soft, it is a tool, it is a darn hammer. Community around hammers? I don't think so.