I could see having to sign up and register with menkle to sell something -- CL does that. But if I have to sign up to contact a seller, I wouldn't use it.

Its little things like that that make CL such a winner. CL tells users that it cares more about them than profiting or collecting data from them.

Also, there's no listings in central Texas.

It does look a little bit (like someone suggested) like a parked domain. I think its the overabundance of whitespace and soft pastel colors. Do something different and unique. I suppose it can even be ugly, just make it a different kind of ugly than Craigslist and domain squatter pages.

There are a lot of things people would like to do on Craigslist but can't (your question above). Many of them are unfortunately viewed as illegal or immoral by various cultural groups, municipalities and governments. Perhaps you should host your site offshore and tap into new markets, offer new features like anonymous cash, etc.? I wouldn't do it, but it'd be interesting.