• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Info Chris Davis aka calebroad

Nick and I have agreed that although we may do business with mutual people, we will not conduct business directly between the two of us. This is best, and it was accepted between him and I. So to the best of my knowledge, neither him nor myself have any further grievances, I look forward to seeing and learning what I can from this exciting hobby.
Thanks, Chris
 
The initial responsive post was a positive step for sure in my eyes and I am appreciative.

I have some concerns over some claims made to Rich (WebSlave).

Things like...

I have a complaint about a moderator abusing his position for better deals, and using his moderator position for priviledge and the ability to grab good tortoise deals.

...well, like that.

I would like to know where I am supposed to be getting these better deals, as my accounting of purchases indicates somebody must owe me something or my collection inventory system (arithmetic in my noggin) is on the fritz. I have bought wholesale three times in my life. All before being a moderator. For me, it ended up ultimately costing me (much) more than I paid, so I abandoned that particular approach. Maybe there is something else?

I am also curious about the exact process by which one uses moderator ability to grab good tortoise deals. I have been paying asking this whole time and I feel like I might somehow be missing out on the sweet deals moderator ability afffords.

Seriously, though, no such thing for me, but I would be interested in some concrete examples if possible.
 
Was this sent after his initial apology or after? If it was after then it shows some continued issues with acceptance since he was just taking out of public view ...
Either way not a good thing but one is far worse than the other.

some comments

Ed
 
I am not going to re-hatch this. This will be a valuable learning experience. And I will use this to improve my hobby.

With my being new, and having resolved this. I ask that you move on. Don't use this forum of which I am new, and have your you and your colleagues attack. Do you know what that is called? It's called bullying. So let's please put this to rest. I wish you the best

Chris Davis
 
I believe it was sent to the site owner on the evening of the 16th. I know for a fact that it was/is baseless (or else I am getting unwittingly robbed pretty consistently), but it remains a point of curiosity for me since I take special care to prevent what is being asserted.

Maybe mods get free ice cream with their tortoises and they run out before they get to me each and every time. :(
 
Ed, that was during the problematic timeframe. Prior to my acceptance and apologizing for my role.
 
Ed, this has gone on for a while. I am up because my 4 year old can't sleep. I can't help wonder why you are here at 2:00am trying to agg on something that is in the past.

What does "some comments" mean? Is that like the attack word? I took responsibility for my role, nothing new has occurred. Thank You, Chris
 
Nick, I asked you for concrete examples, and what did you say? So don't bully. I have taken responsibility for my part. Let it go.

Thank You,
Chris
 
Nick, I asked you for concrete examples, and what did you say? So don't bully. I have taken responsibility for my part. Let it go.

Thank You,
Chris

Go ahead and say what you asked for concrete examples of if you like.

Chris, I think you do not understand bullying.

Some comments.
 
Was this sent after his initial apology or after? If it was after then it shows some continued issues with acceptance since he was just taking out of public view ...
Either way not a good thing but one is far worse than the other.

some comments

Ed

I received several emails from Chris Davis between the evening of 02/16 and the afternoon of 02/17. I was out most of the early part of the day on 02/17.

I was asked to evaluate some claims made by Mr. Davis about one of my moderators, and I requested evidence from him to support those claims. I viewed the evidence he provided me, checked records on this site that would support or refute his claims, and then sent him my opinions of the situation he brought to my attention. From what I can see from his replies in this thread, he has apparently accepted my evaluation of his claims being unwarranted and unsupported by any facts I can find. In one of my last emails I offered my suggestion to drop the escalating conflict and move on with his life.
 
I'm gonna take Theresa's advice and just walk away. I'm going to take the hi road. After progress, you are trying to restart the whole thing. That's not good. I won't do that. And you are the moderator? If you find satisfaction beating on someone who has taken responsibility for there actions, than I will leave that to you and your colleagues.

So I wish you the best, Thanks Chris Davis
signing off
 
Chris Davis <[email protected]>
Feb 16 at 6:53 PM

To

Nickolas Anastasiou

Message body
You are not, and never will be on my level.

You do not have a great rep yourself as it turns out.

Take your subadult half inbred turtle and shove it.

You will never be on my level. You were lucky just be speaking with me.

Have fun living in your mommas basement and don't contact me again.

And just pray I don't come across you in person one day

Chris
I have taken responsibility for my part.

Apologizing and taking responsibility does not mean that what you have done gets sealed out of sight. You said some nasty stuff and made nasty accusations, and others might well keep in mind that this is how you reacted to something as benign as a proposed turtle sale.
Hopefully, you will never repeat this kind of behavior, but taking responsibility does not mean that you point and call bully whenever your poor behavior is discussed.
Apologizing was a good first step, but it is a fake apology if you are using it to put the hush on this incident.
If you want to be taken seriously, improve your behavior. If you don't, you can continue to try to sell to people that because you said 'sorry', they are no longer permitted to talk about how they feel about what was said.
'Moving on' means YOU drop trying to exert control. It does not mean that others cannot weigh in.




just walk away.

Excellent. Hopefully, the future will bring reports of transactions where your communication style has improved.
 
Move on, please. Both of you. Chris, you are not "new". You have been a member here since 2012. You have posted here and have had plenty of time to familiarize yourself the site. Don't play the "I am new" card.

That said, kudos to you for accepting some responsibility for whatever part you played in that failed transaction. Learn from it. Do not repeat it. Seriously, it's not good if you want to establish yourself.

Nick, it happens. You are a pro. Gotta move on :)
 
Laura, I decided to bring the direct he-and-I communication exchange matter to light after the threats and the lack of discontinuation of odd and increasingly aggressive messages despite having made the attempt to move on and clarify our (and the deal's) status (in case there was some kind of residual ambiguity in the same way that people who say they are "interested" sometimes feel like that means the same thing as having bought an animal).

However, since a conditional statement about me having something else to add was mentioned by Melissa, I felt it would be of value to share that, behind the scenes, I had also been baselessly accused of various things in the form of abuse of role (in four ways, two of which I addressed here and at least two of which were evaluated by Rich beforehand). This was not in the email messages from Chris addressing me directly, so I consider it a pertinent addition. I have attended to the bits on moderator impropriety in a jocular way so as to highlight the absurdity of the claims. It is the type of charge that is taken seriously all the same, but dismissal has been achieved.

Moving on from the matter of the contents of the emails and the moderator impropriety accusations had already taken place as of earlier, but I can still point out in the nearer-present point that the continued "bullying" assertions are hollow. Everything is getting labeled with "bullying", it seems, like the out-of-sorts overreaction to "some comments" as though it was some reptile cabal strategic signal (Illuminati, assemble!). The use of "bullying" here is a mislabeling of "not one particular party's way" as I am seeing it. Saying one is taking responsibility is a positive step that I endorse. Following it up with a persistent "bullying" type of attempted defense in response to criticism or comment (literally including the words "some comments"...) that is not bullying runs counter to that positive step and the claim comprising that positive step.

I do not anticipate the need for me to go on about these points, as I do believe they have been covered well enough on my end. I would only feel the need to continue discussion of the matter if prompted by a question, personal/direct address, or the broach of some unmentioned matter that I either feel the need (or inclination) to weigh in on as a principle actor. I hope to see Chris succeed and progress. Were that not my desire, this would not have been labeled an "Info" thread upon inception. I can readily say that if someone else (as in other than myself) had received any threats of physical harm, my generosity in that regard would much, much curtailed, but for myself an exception to lean more positively is my elective.
 
IMHO it appears that Chris has been caught out and has decided that his best course of action is to make very insincere apologies that appear baseless right now in the hopes that his actions can be buried and forgotten.
His claims to be "new" do not carry any substance either, if you read his emails he claims to have spent a fortune on his farm, did he suddenly win the lottery then to enable him to do this all of a sudden. Being registered in 2012 does not bode well for a "new" member claim either.
His actions call for accountability.

I would not stand for the sorts of email threats he delivered to Nick with impunity myself and feel Nick acted correctly in bringing this type of behaviour into the light for the Fauna community to see and make up their own minds
At this stage I would have no hesitation in entering into any deal with Nick if we had any common ground for a business transaction.
Mr Davis on the other hand? Not a chance!
 
I am new and trying to get a footing with reptiles as a hobby. I have found most everyone to be friendly and happy to help me along. I am thankful for those who have taken the time to help show me the ropes. I went into this negotiations with high hopes and good intentions. But because of a single email snafu with Mr. Anastoasiou email either being lost, in spam, or simply overlooked. Things quickly spiraled way out of control and I felt [COLOR="red
"]bullied[/COLOR]
, but also that my honor was being challenged.

It was never my intention for this to go as far as it has and I certainly could have handled my emotions of feeling bullied better. Let me apologize for the role that I played in this for it would have been a good transaction for the both of us.

This is now over as far as I am concerned and a valuable lesson learned, for a new member to the forum.

Thank You,
Chris Davis

I felt bullied and that my honor was being challenged since it was a single lost or misplaced email drew very sharp and fast criticism. And I went on the defense. As I said, the situation should have been handled differently. Thank You, Chris

Melissa, you seem like your set on having a dispute, however, I do not wish to engage in the activitie. I have recently started working with reptiles. I did not see Nicholas' reply. Causing him to react in a manor that I felt was challenging my honor and bullied.

I feel I have explained this should have been handled differently. Even after explaining the single response may have been overlooked, I only received hostile responses. I went in defense mode, I should have taken a different approach to the circumstances.

I hope you have a great day and perhaps we can close the matter and look forward to children, business, and our daily lives.

Thank You,
Chris

Yes Ed, I cannot read all that, I'm sorry. But I felt bullied, I could have handled it differently, and can use it as a learning experience. Have a good day! Chris

I am not going to re-hatch this. This will be a valuable learning experience. And I will use this to improve my hobby.

With my being new, and having resolved this. I ask that you move on. Don't use this forum of which I am new, and have your you and your colleagues attack. Do you know what that is called? It's called bullying. So let's please put this to rest. I wish you the best

Chris Davis

Nick, I asked you for concrete examples, and what did you say? So don't bully. I have taken responsibility for my part. Let it go.

Thank You,
Chris

I'm gonna take Theresa's advice and just walk away. I'm going to take the hi road. After progress, you are trying to restart the whole thing. That's not good. I won't do that. And you are the moderator? If you find satisfaction beating on someone who has taken responsibility for there actions, than I will leave that to you and your colleagues.

So I wish you the best, Thanks Chris Davis
signing off

You reference bullying in the majority of you comments. I want you to quote directly where bullying has occurred. Asking questions is not bullying.

IMO, your constant assertion that you have been bullied, makes your apology hollow. Claiming members here are bullying you on Nick's behalf is absurd.

We ask questions to seek out the truth or whole story, to decide who is in the right or wrong.

If anyone was bullying, it was you. Making threats of violence ...

Go ahead and say what you asked for concrete examples of if you like.

Chris, I think you do not understand bullying.

Some comments.

:iagree:
 
I received several emails from Chris Davis between the evening of 02/16 and the afternoon of 02/17. I was out most of the early part of the day on 02/17.

I was asked to evaluate some claims made by Mr. Davis about one of my moderators, and I requested evidence from him to support those claims. I viewed the evidence he provided me, checked records on this site that would support or refute his claims, and then sent him my opinions of the situation he brought to my attention. From what I can see from his replies in this thread, he has apparently accepted my evaluation of his claims being unwarranted and unsupported by any facts I can find. In one of my last emails I offered my suggestion to drop the escalating conflict and move on with his life.


Thank you.

Ed
 
Goodness, How old are you Chris? Because if you think that people asking questions and telling you "NO" is bullying, you might want to mature a little bit. That is something my 2 year old does when he is told no; "You're mean mommy."

Just because someone decides that they do not want to do business with you, and tell you no, does not mean that they are bullying you. It means they don't want to deal with you. And bringing the Owner of the site into this mess that YOU created doesn't mean that you were in the right. It means that you very obviously were trying to get Nick in trouble because you didn't get your way. Which is immature!

Nick; great job of explaining yourself; which is something you didn't even have to do to this person. I'd just block him, and any ways of communication that he might have had with you and walk away knowing that you were the mature person in this whole ordeal.
 
Ed, this has gone on for a while. I am up because my 4 year old can't sleep. I can't help wonder why you are here at 2:00am trying to agg on something that is in the past.

What does "some comments" mean? Is that like the attack word? I took responsibility for my role, nothing new has occurred. Thank You, Chris

I just saw you have a 4 year old and yet you're acting like a child!

Just because someone does not agree with you and has a different opinion does NOT mean they are bullying you! It means they disagree with you.

It's not that hard of a concept to understand. You as a BUYER have no entitlement to any explanation from the seller as to why he no longer wants to do business with you, and you trying to Badger (or bully) him into doing business with you is uncalled for. So you can bully the seller, but he can't tell you "NO"... Interesting.

Quit feeling so entitled and learn to interact better in this community. You've been around for a lot longer than you say you have. At this point you should know how to interact with people better. Especially since you have children.
 
In my opinion Rich's advise/post and Laura's is wise. I would take that advise at this point if I was a party in these situation.

However, that doesn't stop others from giving forth their opinions on what they believe has unfolded. When those opinions are shared it isn't mandate for those directly involved to continue but a expression of thought from others.

Sometimes it might be better to let things drop and move on and that might be the case here but I also have a opinion about what transpired and is posted and would like to add to the discussion with keeping my previous point in mind.

Originally Posted by calebroad View Post
I'm gonna take Theresa's advice and just walk away. I'm going to take the hi road. After progress, you are trying to restart the whole thing. That's not good. I won't do that. And you are the moderator? If you find satisfaction beating on someone who has taken responsibility for there actions, than I will leave that to you and your colleagues.

So I wish you the best, Thanks Chris Davis
signing off
It was never my intention for this to go as far as it has and I certainly could have handled my emotions of feeling bullied better. Let me apologize for the role that I played in this for it would have been a good transaction for the both of us.

This is now over as far as I am concerned and a valuable lesson learned, for a new member to the forum.

Thank You,
Chris Davis

Chris, yes there may be progress and you stated you wanted to take the "high road" and move on. I'm not going to dissect your statement here or assign a particular opinion if it is genuine. The readers will take it a face value or not. That's up to them individually. People are still going to have their opinions and may still wish to express them. That isn't starting it up again but people reading the information and freely expressing their thoughts.

I also see something in the conversations that I find curious. I also believe taking another shot "And you are the moderator? " Doesn't seem like you're satisfied with leaving his moderator status on this site out of it.

Nick is responding to you as a individual not a moderator. A individual who had issues with a transaction not in fulling his moderator duties here on this site.

Matter of fact, the email exchange shows that this transaction didn't happen on this site. You responded to a Ad on another site. You then came here and complained to the site owner about a transaction that wasn't even taking place here.

Suggesting
calebroad said:
I have a complaint about a moderator abusing his position for better deals, and using his moderator position for priviledge and the ability to grab good tortoise deals.

And you felt bullied?

Looking back at your posts before you responded to the ad on another site you had a smart ass comment about Nick after he made a moderating comment on a thread that didn't have anything to do with you. Then a couple of weeks later you respond to the ad somewhere else then came back to this site and whined about him abusing "his power" to the owner of this site?

The only other contact I can see is back in October when you received a infraction for off-topic posting. Every Moderator here could have given you the same infraction if they read the post.

I'm not sure what the motivation with all this was. I do personally find it somewhat troubling that Nick as a Moderator fulfilling his duties here issued a legitimate warning to you on this site. Made a statement on a BOI thread as Moderator to someone else and you made a snide comment about him. You then tried to do personal business with him on another site (Which has nothing to do with his Moderator status here) then came back to this site making outrages claims that he is abusing his so-called "power" here.

Now, I'm making these comments as a individual not trying to moderate this thread. You don't have to respond to my opinion and "continue this on" but I'm allowed to express my individual opinion about what I understand what transpired.

Your transaction had nothing to do with him being a Moderator here. I find it very weird that you would state you were the one bullied when you are the only one that took action to try and hurt someone. Making those accusations about "abuse of power" was ridiculous. In my opinion.
 
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