April 18th, 2011
Announcement:
On April 13th 2011, NotifyWire received this Cease and Desist letter from Penny Fields of Perkins Coie who represents Craigslist.org. I have thought about this letter for a while now and have come to the unfortunate conclusion that I’m going to run down NotifyWire.com.
While I could consult a lawyer and fight the most egregious of the claims within the C&D, I’ve decided that the upside in conducting a legal battle is just too small. Despite the claims in the C&D letter, I have never really profited. That’s right. While Craigslist attempts to cast me as some kind of evil profiteer, they’re making an estimated $20 million per employee.
I’m glad Craigslist makes money though. I just wish they would reinvest their profits in innovation. Instead of paying lawyers to shut down innovative ideas, they could be searching for ways to make Craigslist better. And there are thousands of people who would say that NotifyWire made Craigslist a lot better.
This year I picked up some great vintage surfboards thanks to NotifyWire. It’s also helped thousands of other people find collectibles, jobs, gigs, cars, and even a lost pet. In fact a few forward thinking police departments were using NotifyWire to find stolen property being sold on Craigslist. To my knowledge Craigslist doesn’t provide any tools for law enforcement officers to monitor their listings for illegal activity.
To visitors looking for a NotifyWire replacement, I suggest trying Craiggers.com. The folks at 3Taps.com own this site and, as I understand it, will be quite capable of defending themselves from any legal action Craigslist might send their way. Good luck to the crew at 3Taps. I hope they can succeed where I have failed.
If you are a current NotifyWire subscriber, this means that when your subscription runs out, you won’t be able to re-subscribe nor will any current free subscribers be able to upgrade. If you feel you’re due a refund, please send requests to support@notifywire.com with your paypal transaction number.
On a personal note, I can’t help but feel that I let down my most fervent supporters, especially my wife who has supported me both emotionally and financially during the thousands of hours I spent developing, refining, and supporting this software.
Finally, if you’d like to hear about my next startup, sign up below.
Sincerely,
Ian Drake - Founder