Fergie's Tech Blog

Online Classifieds: The Nipicking Nation

Stephanie Rosenbloom writes in The News York Times:

They are single, gay, straight, biracial, conservative, liberal and tattooed — and they have as many preferences for a potential roommate as an online dater has for a potential lover. They are bankers, fetishists, self-declared nerds and drug users. They have old wounds and new hopes, and are willing to barter their cooking and sexual expertise for free or discounted rent.

They are all seeking and selling housing on Craigslist.org, the electronic listing service with sites in all 50 states and more than 200 worldwide. And because users pay nothing (for now) and are able to go on at length about who they are and what they want, their postings provide a sociological window into housing trends and desires across the country, from the neon cityscape of the Las Vegas Strip to the wheat fields of Wichita, Kan.

posted by Fergie @ 5/06/2006 04:32:00 PM