Task 1. Reading: Read the interview with Craig Newmark.Write out phrases next to the verbs below to illustrate the way people use them. See solutions in Comments.
VERBS
1. charge (charge for job postings; Craigslist charges $75 to post a job opening)
2. connect
3. evangelize
4. flag
5. grow
6. explain
7. post
8. is made up of
9. moderate
10. spread
11. thrive
12. turn over
13. work
Interview with Craig Newmark
August 15, 2004
Back in 1994, Craig Newmark was working a computer security job at Charles Schwab and looking for ways to improve his social life. He started an e-mail list among his friends and sent out messages about events and happenings in and around San Francisco. His friends loved it, word spread and Newmark's little list grew by leaps and bounds. People started calling it Craigslist, and a phenomenon was born. Craigslist sites, found at www.craigslist.org, serve 45 cities across the United States, Canada and even England, attracting 5 million unique visitors every month. In this interview Craig talks about the start, the business model, the staff and the community.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about how this thing started?
A: In 1994, I was at Charles Schwab basically evangelizing the Internet, doing security work also. I saw a lot of people helping each other out on the Well (an early online community now owned by Salon.com) and in so-called news groups. I figured I should do some of that, too, and that it would help me connect with people better.
I started a little CC (e-mail) list of cool events. It grew by word of mouth, and more people wanted to be on the thing. Over time people started to say, "Hey, can we put this job on there?" or "Can you post this thing I want to sell?" This is the first half of 1995. In the middle of 1995, I had about 240 names on the CC list, and the e-mail tool I was using started breaking. So I had to use a list server and give the thing a name. By now, people were already calling it Craigslist.
Q: Everybody knows Craigslist is a community, but could you briefly explain to us how it works as a business?
A: As a business, basically, we charge for job postings. (Craigslist charges $75 to post a job opening in San Francisco and $25 in New York and Los Angeles. It doesn't charge in other cities.)
Q: How many employees do you have?
A: There's 15 of us right now.
Q: Your staff is all in San Francisco, and you have only 15 for the whole world. All night long?
A: The staff is made up of few people deliberately. It’s because we observed that people are trustworthy, so we've turned over a lot of control to people who use the site.
Q: What does that mean in practice?
A: There are no regional administrators. Instead, if anyone sees an ad they feel is wrong, they can flag it for removal. If enough people agree with them, it's removed.
When you have a common resource like that you have to tend it (=take care of it), or else it's going to be destroyed. That's happened in a number of cases on the Internet. One great example is the Usenet news groups. The only ones that seem to thrive are the ones that are moderated.
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A hozzászólások a vonatkozó jogszabályok értelmében felhasználói tartalomnak minősülnek, értük a szolgáltatás technikai üzemeltetője semmilyen felelősséget nem vállal, azokat nem ellenőrzi. Kifogás esetén forduljon a blog szerkesztőjéhez. Részletek a Felhasználási feltételekben és az adatvédelmi tájékoztatóban.
kisdobos 2008.03.06. 10:36:08
CLASS 8.3. Solutions to Task 1.
Verbs
1. charge: charge for job postings; Craigslist charges $75 to post a job opening
2. connect: connect with people better
3. evangelize: Craig was evangelizing the internet
4. flag: inappropriate content is flagged by users
5. grow: Craigslist grew by word of mouth; grew by leaps and bounds
6. explain: Could you briefly explain to us …?
7. post: it costs money to post a job opening
8. is made up of: The staff is made up of few people
9. moderate: a community has to be moderated in order to thrive
10. spread: word spread
11. thrive: communities that thrive
12. turn over: Craigslist have turned over a lot of control to users
13. work: Craig was working a computer security job