They depended on craigslist too much. It worked really well when craigslist wasn't stopping them from using craigslist. craigslist is international. Does craigslist have listings for Cologne, DE, Berlin, or Tel Aviv, IL? If it does, they would have appeared on PadMapper. I've used PadMapper before. I didn't even know they had any other sources; I thought it was strictly a mapping of craigslist listings.
Depends on the app. I personally developed a dozen native mobile apps, and I wouldn't have done it any other way -- but that's because of the nature of the apps I created.
An organization that had goals similar to the BBB's would be very valuable for many consumers. What are some of the BBB's competitors? What's currently the best alternative?
pg is concerned with startups, and I am too. But I think a lot of the rest of the world is concerned about what's going on between, say, Apple and HTC.
"Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God."
I'm an independent iOS developer. My paid apps have sold over 100,000 copies at 99¢ or higher. In total, my iOS apps (including free apps) have been downloaded over 7 million times.
I took a look at your app in the App Store.
Here's your problem: your icon.
The icon is the most prominent thing the user sees when first looking at your app in the App Store.
Change your icon, and you'll get more downloads. Trust me :-)
Feel free to contact me if you'd like to discuss good icon design, or other under-appreciated aspects of selling an app.
You're right that it can't be strictly enforced, but I think the added inconvenience would be enough to subtly change the behavior of the majority group. Most people won't bother to create multiple accounts or install a browser extension.
In a similar fashion, nothing prevents someone from writing a browser extension to add comment scores back today, e.g. http://hnpoints.com/ ; The scores aren't official, but they serve the same purpose. Most people aren't going to install a browser extension. Of course, some will. But most people will just use the site as-is, out of convenience.