PadMapper currently uses 3Taps to access Craigslist data, which piggybacks on search engine results. Craigslist can't prevent this but by a) setting the whole site to Disallow in robots.txt, removing the whole site from search results on Google & other search engines, or b) legal force.
There's a difference between what is legal, and what is technically capable. It is illegal for me to go into someone's house without an invitation, but I'm technically capable of breaking a window and letting myself in. Now, a lot of people will make the argument that this is very different than breaking a window, because there is no physical damages. But all damages don't to be out of destroyed property. What Padmapper is doing, is effectively trying to sell hamburgers inside of a McDonald's: They are leveraging someone else's hardwork in developing a user base and repeat customers, to further their own goals.
This isn't anti-competitive. This is Craigslist saying, "go across the street and build your company on your own merits, not our captive audience". If Padmapper is that great, and I believe they are, then they will have no problem building up their own user base. They just happened to lose their shortcut.
> hardwork in developing a user base and repeat customers
The ratio of revenue/visits/whatever metric craigslist has made in the last decade relative to their work is astronomical. They initially may have done hard work, but for most of their existence they have been reaping the continued benefits of winning a lottery 15 years ago. They have engaged in near zero innovation since securing a near-monopoly on online classifieds.
> If Padmapper is that great, and I believe they are, then they will have no problem building up their own user base.
Not necessary true. Craigslist is in a two-sided market, which favors the emergence of a monopoly. Padmapper currently makes the process of finding an apartment easier. The sister site Padlister is working on making offering easier, but the benefits are very small compared to what Padmapper offers renters.
Eventually, Padmapper could displace craigslist, but its going to be a very long process. In the meantime apartment hunters suffer by having to utilize a significantly less efficient UI.
Scaling is not the issue. Keeping it relatively clean is the issue. Dealing with criminals and law enforcement. Keeping the community satisfied. Classifieds ads sites are a magnet for spam and all sorts of nastiness, and Craigslist is the biggest one.
> "What Padmapper is doing, is effectively trying to sell hamburgers inside of a McDonald's: They are leveraging someone else's hardwork in developing a user base and repeat customers, to further their own goals."
The analogy fails in two respects:
1) Padmapper doesn't make money off of Craigslist listings.
2) Padmapper shows facts about the listing, not the CL listing itself, and it links back to the original listing. If that's considered 'selling burgers inside of McD', then Google is also 'selling burgers inside of McD'.
The difference between the two situations are that in one case, there's only one place content is posted (padmapper/CL case). In the other case, content is posted to a lot of different places (google/web).
If history were different, and most content were hosted on AOL/Geocities, and Google was doing the same thing it's doing now, would you make the same argument for AOL/Geocities that you would for CL?
