Jim Buckmaster


Jim Buckmaster, a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is an American computer programmer who has been the CEO of Craigslist since 2000.

Early life and career

Buckmaster was an undergraduate at Virginia Tech and studied medicine and classics at the University of Michigan in the 1990s.
In late 1999, after posting his resume on craigslist, he was recruited by Craig Newmark, the founder of the website. As lead programmer, he contributed the site's multi-city architecture, search engine, discussion forums, flagging system, self-posting process, homepage design, personals categories, and best-of-craigslist. In November 2000, he was promoted to the post of CEO.

Views

A fan of Noam Chomsky, Buckmaster has been accused of being "anti-capitalistic", which Buckmaster claims is an inaccurate characterization:
"Companies looking to maximize revenue need to throw as many revenue-generating opportunities at users as they will tolerate," Buckmaster says. "We have absolutely no interest in doing that, which I think has been instrumental to the success of craigslist."
Buckmaster has been described by Martin Sorrell as a "socialistic anarchist" and was once denounced on Fox News by Reverend Jerry Falwell.
Buckmaster wrote a series of haiku that appear in lieu of error messages on craigslist:
""The little poems he has written appear on the screen at times when users might expect a helpful message from the staff. They function as a gnomic clue that what you are seeing is intentional, while discouraging further conversation or inquiry. For instance, start too many conversations in the forums and your new threads may fail to show up. Instead, you will see this:
frogs croak and gulls cry
silently a river floods
a red leaf floats by
"
Referring to the purple peace sign he created that serves as craigslist's symbol and favicon:
On the topic of craigslist's company culture:
Buckmaster also manages the Craigslist Charitable Fund and serves as executive producer for craigslist TV