Craig Newmark, Nerd

A Q&A with the founder of Craigslist: just another boomer who helped invent the modern internet.

Debbie Galant
Pandemic Diaries

--

Craig Newark is a self-described nerd. That’s the first sentence of his official bio. He founded craigslist as a free online classified ads listing service in 1996, and forever changed the way people advertise guitar lessons.

In 2011, he founded craigconnects, a platform to help support some of his favorite causes, including government transparency, journalism ethics and veterans rights.

When we noticed Craig recommending and retweeting some of our stories, we reached out to do a Q+A. Here’s what we got.

Midcentury Modern: There’s a prevailing sentiment that those of us who are baby boomers are technological Luddites who refuse to learn and adapt to the internet. You, of course, are anything but. Can you talk about your relationship with tech as someone in his 60's?

Craig Newmark: Tech is a part of most of my life, continuously connecting with lots of people, mostly email. Looks like the kids regard email as something the old use, preferring instead texting, WhatsApp, etc, but I’m old school. Even my preferred email tool, Pine (or Alpine) is text focused, not point and click.

(Notes for the youth: 1) Youth is wasted on the young, and 2) Get off my lawn.)

Do you think we have a lot of age peers who need a kick in the pants?

I guess so, viewing the benefits of some tech.

There’s no substitute for a cell phone when coordinating with people, or
getting help when needed.

Social media, particularly Facebook, can bring a family together.

In a way, shared digital photos can help bring families together.

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were both born in 1955, the middle of the baby boom, as was I. You were born just a few years before that. What do you think it was about growing up in the middle of the last century that turned people like you, Jobs and Gates into tech innovators and disrupters?

First, I’m no disrupter, that role’s been wildly exaggerated.

In any case, a few folks were drawn to tech in the Sputnik era and realized that we really could make a difference.

A lot of people made this happen. Arguably Vint Cerf did much more, as a principal in building the software that runs Internet infrastructure.

How did your childhood in Morristown NJ contribute to the man you became?

Well, even early in Sunday School, I got it that:
- I should treat people like I want to be treated.
- Know when enough is enough

Also, during those years my family hovered not far above poverty, having to dig into savings occasionally to put food on the table. I remember going to the neighborhood grocery in such circumstances.

Notes for the youth: 1) Youth is wasted on the young, and 2) Get off my lawn. — Craig Newmark

You’re very active in the world of journalism, supporting the Center for Public Integrity and the Sunlight Foundation. Describe where you think journalism should be in 2015.

I’m no more than a news consumer, and I just want news I can trust.

To that end, I support the Trust Project, from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University. The deal is to find practical ways for news orgs to indicate adherence to a code of ethics and trust, and to be held accountable. There’s the beginning of a possibility that advertisers would pay higher rates in such cases.

I’m also working with Poynter Foundation and Columbia Journalism Review, on both boards, trying to promote news ethics.

Tell us about the work you’re doing at craigconnects and how people can become involved.

Mostly by also supporting people who are effective supporting efforts including:
- veterans and military families
- trustworthy journalism
- women in tech

Maybe further including:
- consumer protection and better service in cell phones, Internet service,
cable TV, etc.
- voting rights

Midcentury Modern is about the people and ideas born in the middle of the last century. It’s about growing older in a youth-obsessed culture. It’s a about teasing out the difference between generation and stage of life. (It’s a question of what happened in the world when you got there). It’s a conversation between people of all ages. Support us by recommending this post, sharing it on Facebook and Twitter, and by going to our homepage and clicking follow.

--

--

Artist and writer. Urban sketcher and diarist. Started Pandemic Diaries to record this bewildering, terrifying, and occasionally funny moment in history.