Zen and the Art Of Classified Advertising

Craigslist could be pulling in over $500 million a year if they would just simply put a banner ad on each of their text-dominated pages. Why don't they? Jim Buckmaster (CFO, COO, and spiritual leader) of Craigslist explained that the user has never asked for ads, so they won't see any. What that has to do with making money for the company, I have failed to grasp. He went on to say that while other internet companies were going bankrupt, that craigslist stayed profitable, and has been in the black since '99. Impressive. But, he also mentioned how other mega-web-businesses (specifically Amazon) are continually over their lifetime in the net-negative.
I guess because Buckmaster is so very pure in heart that his company is blessed to continue to operate smoothly and meagerly. But, you know what? Though, Buckmaster and Craigslist claim to be operating in the best interests of their users, a large percentage of their profits come from brokers and slumlords advertising on their site. Pure in heart my ass. If they were so pure in heart they would get rid of the usurious bastards advertising 1-bedroom apartments in "east" Williamsburg for $2500 a month.

"Well, the revenue aspect is really an afterthought," Mr. Buckmaster insists,
with a Zen-like calm.

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