I think a lot of the work to put a quality UI on craigslist ignores something very important about user psychology - seeing your data that you willingly gave to one organization publicly available in the hands of another one is generally perceived as creepy. Apartment listings may be less sensitive than other kinds of data, but they're still personal, and some users may not want their listing showing up in different venues even if others will take whatever publicity they get.
Most programmers and designers have made peace with the idea that what's public on the internet is public for the whole internet, but I think most people perceive this kind of information leakage as a lack of control. I think that Craigslist, more than most companies, has a real understanding of this, and a lot of their restrictions that may seem arbitrary to entrepreneurs come out of it.
Most programmers and designers have made peace with the idea that what's public on the internet is public for the whole internet, but I think most people perceive this kind of information leakage as a lack of control. I think that Craigslist, more than most companies, has a real understanding of this, and a lot of their restrictions that may seem arbitrary to entrepreneurs come out of it.