The design is not great, but based on their success I would be much more inclined to believe you don't understand their market.

I think the majority of their current success is through integration into the restaurant websites. They understand how to get to their users, I just think they could be a lot better about giving them a good user experience.

And if they can get this much money with such a terrible customer experience, imagine how much money they could make if they made it easier to use, reputable-looking, and more visually appealing.

You don't get it. They provide terrific cusotmer service - they solved the problem I had and I am very happy about it. Yes, the web site could be better, but the core problem is solved. SOLVED.

There is difference between having a car to go places any time and not having one and dependig on friends or buses and their schedule. The car may rattle and AC may be broken, but is a lot better than not having the car. And theirs is the only car in town.

Have you considered that domain squatter sites look the way they do (alignment of all the data and links on the front page) because it works? Average folks jump on those pages and engage with it in some manner.

I don't think that's the right assumption. Squatter sites look the way they do because they need to be templates for a wide variety of data. They need to be able to plug in advertisements and have it physically work for every conceivable thing.

That's why they look generic; they are the most generic pages you can create while still giving the content structure.

Well I wasn't positing an assumption; the landing pages work best as they appear because that's how folks want to interact.

Only if he had never used craigslist before.

I agree with your first comment though.