San Francisco, CA (Wednesday, November 1, 2006) -- craigslist.com is the brainchild of Craig Newmark, a former IBM programmer and Charles Schwab & Co. investment researcher.

One of the most endearing aspects of craigslist is its completely non-commercial aesthetic. It looks virtually un-designed. There are no fancy graphics or moving pictures, just plain text and hyper-linked words pertaining to the various categories. We are also amused by the self-deprecating "voice" of craigslist, typified by such categories in the "About" section as "craigslist management: dead-weight fat cats." Note -- like evalu8.org -- they even use a lower-case "c" to begin their name.

Perhaps the only CEO ever accused of being anti-establishment, a communist, and a socialistic anarchist, since 2000 Jim Buckmaster has led craigslist to be the most used classifieds in any medium, and one of world's most popular websites, while maintaining its renowned public service mission, non-corporate vibe, and staff of fewer than 20.

Jim formerly served as craigslist's lead programmer and CTO, contributing the site's multi-city architecture, search engine, discussion forums, flagging system, self-posting process, homepage design, personals categories, and best-of-craigslist.

Before joining craigslist, he directed web development for Creditland (defunct) and Quantum. In 1994-95, Jim built a terabyte-scale database-driven public website for ICPSR at U-Mich.

And -- not to be overlooked as essential internet background are his academic credentials; Jim graduated summa cum laude from Virginia Tech with a bachelors in biochemistry, and studied medicine and classics at the University of Michigan.

Meanwhile, Craig Newmark is currently listed as Founder, Chairman, and Customer Service Representative.

According to the site, "In 1995, he started craigslist which serves as a non-commercial community bulletin board with classifieds and discussion forums. Using a common sense, down-to-earth approach, craigslist strives to make the 'net more personal and authentic, while advocating social responsibility through the promotion of small, non-profit organizations.

"Craig's community activities include being on the advisory boards of Climate Theatre and Haight-Ashbury Food Program as well as supporting local writers through Grotto Nights. Craig has been featured in the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Business Week, Time Magazine, and Esquire Magazine."

We found craigslist Paris to be an essential reference tool (we were looking for a bike we could buy and resell for use during our six-week-long stay, this year). We were impressed that on a revisit, craigslist detected that we were in Paris and defaulted to that site.