Kristin Horner, an anthropology graduate student, placed an ad on www.craigslist.org to find a roommate for next year, after a previously successfully attempt.

Craigslist, the free online forum, is a listing of classified ads — a place to find a job, housing, buy a boat or find a date for Saturday night. Already in most U.S. metropolitan areas, craigslist is separated into different sites by city. And now, it's in Lansing.

"I'm actually excited about it being in Lansing because I tried listing (my roommate ad) in August on the Ann Arbor and Detroit (sites), and I didn't get any responses at all," Horner said.

She used the service before to find a roommate when she lived in Arizona.

The site started in 1994 while founder Craig Newmark was working at Charles Schwab & Co., a brokerage firm.

Newmark said he started it because he wanted to help other people.

"I started a simple mailing list telling people about arts and technology events," Newmark said. "How it started is that people asked for more stuff, and I did that.

"We are going to be in more cities, and we're going to help more people out."

The site allows users to make their e-mail addresses anonymous to prevent spam as well as post photos. About 10 million different people use craigslist each month.

Lansing is one of 200-plus cities nationwide listed on the site. The list includes Grand Rapids, Detroit and Ann Arbor.

Though classified ads aren't expensive, the fact that craigslist is free and convenient will probably draw money away from newspapers, said advertising Professor Bruce VandenBergh.

"Most consumers don't understand this, but a lot of newspapers get a lot of their money from their classifieds," VandenBergh said. "Classifieds are really important — they're part of our culture and I think that's what Craig was picking up on."

VandenBergh said newspaper classifieds can be trusted more than the Internet, but most people are "probably willing to exchange convenience with trust."

"The pure convenience of this really kind of overrides any kind of risk," VandenBergh said.

Stephanie Massi, 25, of East Lansing, posted an ad earlier this month to find a subleaser for the summer.

"Maybe this is being stereotypical, but I think most people who use craigslist are younger and more free spirited," Massi said in an e-mail. "I like craigslist because it is free, and it seems to be all private sellers, instead of what you get in your local newspaper.

"For instance, when you look in a newspaper ad for furniture or cars you typically see dealers and stores posting their ads trying to disguise themselves as everyday people. That gets annoying."

Some say there are downsides.

Horner said she's interested in a year long lease with a roommate, yet some of the people who've responded want to rent for only a month.

"Or you get the 45-year-old man who wants to come live with you," Horner said.

But Horner said she will not rely solely on the site.

She is using another site, and plans to put up fliers around campus.

"I feel like once more people know about it, it will make it more likely to find a roommate on this site," she said.

Commercial advertisements like pop-up and banner ads are not on the site, a decision made by Newmark when companies began approaching him about it in late 1997.

"I was already an overpaid contract programmer, and I didn't need the money," Newmark said. "Banner ads (are) also kind of dumb and slow the site down.

"I'm not anti-commercial, but I figured some things should be about money and some things shouldn't."