Craig had to deal with a lot of spam and disinformation on his site. Stuff that’s weird – even by Californian standards! [Ha ha] However the majority of users were trustworthy. He refers to the Wisdom of Crowds, saying that it’s happening with Craigslist.

He makes a dig at the real White House by saying how much faith he has in the West Wing. Later, he says he doesn’t talk openly about his political views [yeah … right?]

But he does make a good point - to have a democratic society, you need news. [What would that imply for Singapore? Certainly we aren’t as restricted as in China, but our access isn’t as free as in America. Then again, do we really need access to porn sites or should we be left to our own devices? (Hmm I didn’t intend to pun that way. Batteries not included!)]

An inquirer feels that newspapers today have become less investigative and now people turn to blogs to find out what the Government is doing. She asks Newmark for his opinion on it.

An inquirer asks Newmark what challenges independent, investigative journalists face in terms of financial support (in the sense that big media may not like it). Newmark says first of all the reporting must be accurate. The mainstream media does fact-checking before publishing. However, citizen media tends to be published first, and facts are checked later. A lot of it is rumour and is therefore subject to scepticism.

Wales says just like normal people can tell jokes, we still have professional comedians. [i.e. there’s room for everyone.]

Newmark says he likes GoogleMaps but doesn’t want to screw up anyone else’s plans [Hmm? What’s going on here. ]. Craigslist.org will probably charge for job listings in Washington and Austin, and apartment listings in New York. Basically, he’d charge people who’d normally pay more to get less useful ads. Most of the site is still free.

Newmark recommends the Electronic Frontier Foundation. They’re helping Craigslist defend themselves from a lawsuit.

Closing thoughts – Wales says communities are very important but you must also come from their point of view. Don’t abuse their trust by placing advertisements later on.

Someone asks Wales for his comment on the rise of Google and their role in the China. Newmark loves Google and uses it all the time. However he’s uncomfortable with what they’re doing in China because they allow sites to be censored, including Wikipedia. As far as he’s concerned, Google’s motto is ‘Be Evil’!

Newmark however thinks that such a slow, gradual approach may work better with China, rather than a grand, short-term gesture (i.e. forcing free speech down Chinese throats ). We need to understand the situation before making our own judgments. [Applause]

Wales says that’s plausible but we have to constantly monitor these companies (ie Google) to make sure they stick to this long-term plan. [At this point we should bring Google in]

Rating: 4/5.