Backfence, the community journo site where every writer's a "neighbor" — I think that translates as "comrade" — broke out of its Maryland and Virginia circuit to buy the Bay Area's news-by-the-people site, Bayosphere.

Defamer is committed to bringing together dateless, self-described up-and-coming professionals in the legal field with one of the ten or so people in this town still impressed by the idea of attending the same social function as Tom Cruise. Trolls a Craigslister:

We at Defamer realize that even if one of our "Connections" or "Employment" features results in either a love match or job for one of our readers, no relationship (whether personal or professional) can last forever. Last summer, we spotlighted the Craigslist plea of the bicoastal TV executive whose personal assistant requirements included the willingness to give rubdowns and escort him to various job-related events. It seems that he's already lost one special helper to either carpal tunnel syndrome, a sudden swelling of self-esteem, or a better-paying job within the sex trade entertainment industry, because he's back with virtually the same pitch:

Defamer is committed to bringing together ambitious, morally flexible, struggling talent and the allegedly well-connected, anonymous Craigslist fetishists looking to help them along on their path to eventual stardom:

Last week, we pointed out a Craigslist item regarding Jennifer Posey, a Grubman PR intern who was looking for work by posting her resume online, complete with the glaring header "Lizzie Grubman PR Girl Seeks NEW Career." It would seem that she's been forced to get that new career more quickly than she may have preferred: Shortly after the Craigslist posting got around, Posey was sent packing. Oh, how those fleeting unpaid internships.

If there's one way to get some attention on Craigslist, it's by loudly announcing that you work for Lizzie Grubman and thus want a complete change of career. Subtle and professional:

I look out at this valley and its people, and I say, "Damn, these people need to get laid." Which is projection, sure. But as a public service, Valleywag picks the cream of the crop from the Valley's tech-industry Craigslist personals. And remember, if it doesn't work out, you can always give us the gossip.

"How geeky are you," asks Newsweek, ruining a perfectly good cover story with an awkward quiz. Bad enough that half of it is desert-island questions; even worse that the "desert-island book" options don't include the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

• For their weepy reality show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC casting execs are hunting for families with multiple children born with Down's Syndrome — or, even better, kids suffering from Progeria, aka "little old man's disease." Sad, but we always knew Ty Pennington was bad news. Never trust a dude in a hemp necklace. [TSG]
• Through the power of lemonade, one girl will try to save Lil' Kim from the harsh realities of prison life — now in pre-production for Lifetime. [Philadelphia Will Do]
• How to be a really questionable curator, courtesy of those daffy dilletantes at the Whitney. [Art Fag City]
• We're not sure if the author of the following post is really named Jen, but could she actually be the mythical Evelyn the Food Whore? [Craigslist]
• Wearing Prada loafers for your Condé Nast job interview means nothing if your family isn't sitting on piles of money. [Almost Girl]
• Who uses Meetup these days? Rat people, that's who. [Meetup]
• You're not going to believe this, but: Celebrity publicists use gossip columns as PR tools. We know, we know — is nothing sacred? [OPRN]
• Last but certainly not least, the kings and queens of Manhattan now know how to shit like royalty. [NYM]

We're sure it's just a coincidence that we came across two notices for potential E! shows on today's Craigslist job listings, and that the network, no matter how frugal it may be, hasn't fired its entire casting department in favor of these more cost-effective online solicitations:

Blogger's Fuel says, "What do bloggers need? Great coffee!" Sure, if by "great coffee" they mean "a Jack and Coke." [BloggersFuel.com]
The normally mild-mannered tech blogger Michael Arrington, benefit-of-the-doubt giver to all startups, lays the TechCrunch smackdown on Jigsaw. The startup pays you to rat out your friends to its contact list — a dollar for every pal you betray to marketers. Privacy violation make HulkCrunch mad! HulkCrunch smash! [Jigsaw is a really bad idea]
Why is MySpace so successful? Social network expert danah boyd credits social-life integration, a massive user base, friendly governance, activities, convenient brokenness, and possible faddishness. (I credit the hot chicks on it.) [Friendster lost steam. Is MySpace just a fad?]
AjaxWrite — it's Word online. Microsoft doesn't need one, Google already has one, and Yahoo's just not into that — if a dot-com launches and no one's there to buy it, does it make a flip? [AjaxWrite, the Newest Ajax Office Entrant]
San-Fran-based MyNewPlace just got $8 million in funding. The site will offer apartment listings online. Because no one else is doing that. [MyNewPlace Gets Funding For Spring Launch]
Look, if you want to run a dot-com, pitch your TVRank idea to John Battelle — he wants realtime online TV ratings. And I hear he knows a few VCs. [TVRank: Tell Me What People Are Watching]

• Early this morning, Melania Knauss crapped out Donald Trump's baby. A reader earlier told us the baby boy will be named Barron William Trump, though we've no confirmation on that. What we do know, however, is that if Barron weren't Donald Trump's son, the Donald would probably be dating him. [Gothamist]
• Any man who calls himself a "cougar" deserves to be shot. [NYP]
• There seems to be a blog for everything, so why not one dedicated to the ugly couches for sale on Craigslist? [Revolting Sofas]
• All those people waiting in line for Trader Joe's, and they're not even selling booze yet. Fools. [Consumerist]
• Whether you feel it or not, spring has sprung. Or so sayeth Shake Shack, which reopened today. [Eater]
• David Brooks, revisionist of his own history. [Radosh]
• It's a particularly choice day for Drudge: At the time of this writing, he's got Buddha Boy, freak weather, baby monkeys, and a deformed lamb up on his site. It's like he's revealing his soul. [Drudge]

Truth is, for all the talk of instant news and reader-generated news and blogs and podcast and streaking video and all of that, the thing on the internet that's really doing the most to kill newspapers is Craigslist. Sure, readership might be disappearing at the same slow trickle it's been disappearing for years — and sure that's a problem — but the bigger problem is the much faster disappearance of classifieds revenue as people selling used cars and people selling real estate and, especially, people who need to fill jobs, move their listings online. As an article in the business section of today's Times notes, The San Jose Mercury News, for example, in 2000 saw $118 million job-listings revenue; last year that number was $18 million.

Here's a Craigslist ad we noticed Monday night:

A six-man panel redesigned Craigslist for SXSW. The new design is gorgeous, slick, and almost as small as the original. Until the panel posts it at Design Eye, you can see it at panel-member site Just Watch the Sky. Right now, they're taking questions about the design at their panel. And of course Craigslist founder Craig Newmark was invited onstage to share his reaction.

We feel your pain: Sure, you're completely comfortable with your body, but maybe you haven't quite been staying in shape lately, depressed that all the good vagina-focused roles are going to younger, hungrier women. Take heart; the anonymous virtual casting office of Craigslist proves that Hollywood still has a place for you:

Once Jack Nicholson cracked the Seventh Seal and read the words that ushered in Armageddon (we can't even bring ourselves to retype them), things seemed pretty bleak. But while we merely sat and waited for the Four Horsemen of the Hacky Apocalypse to gallop through our party and slaughter us like stuck pigs while we waited in the bathroom line, others were less passive about their post-Crash victory fate (warning: link very NSFW):

Strapped for an Oscar date with the ceremony less than two days away? Craigslist, provider of creative solutions to virtually any kind of Hollywood problem, is more than happy to play matchmaker. Why pay hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars to hire an escort—who'll probably just drug you and steal your wallet while you muse aloud about saving him/her from "the life"—when companionship like this is only a click away?

Damon Wayans has been very busy lately, what with trying to get his catchily named clothing line off the ground while readying his new Showtime comedy sketch show, Damon Wayans' The Underground. We thought we'd pass along one of their recent Craigslist casting notices:

• We have no idea if these pictures are from a sex tape involving Nicole Lenz and Paris Hilton or not, but we imagine some of you pervs out there will spend the rest of the evening doing your best determine their authenticity. [Yeeeah (NSFW)]
• Video Link #1: We so fucking hate it when those high and might Other Music clerks look at us like we're ape-people just because we don't know what Boogbytes are. [Stereogum]
• Video Link #2: What if Access Hollywood and other similar celebrity crap shows were about regular people? [Post Show]
• Has Showtime made a home for Arrested Development? If so, color us pissed: we pride ourselves on only subscribing to HBO. [Better Than Fudge]
• There's odds on the name of baby TomKat — win our hearts and place all of your beer money on Goose. [The Reeler]
• Meanwhile, Katie Holmes' father, perhaps angry at what his little girl has become, asks Columbia to refund his nonrefundable $500 deposit that he made for his daughter eight years ago. [TMZ]
• On Craigslist, honesty is just about the worst policy. [Craigslist]