• 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.

[email protected]/Clipse/Mikell Lurvey, Beware

H

hummi22689

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2002
Messages
80
Reaction score
1
Points
8
Location
Dayton, OH
Just wanted to alert everyone to this kid. All of this happened before I found out he was a minor.

We had worked out a trade for his columbian tegu, and 2 mali uros, for my alligator. First respone was that one of the uros had died, so he would send the other uro, the tegu, some garter snakes, and some ringneck snakes. OK, that is fine because I really needed to move the gator and he said he had been looking for a gator 2 years. We both agreed to ship on the following Monday, and he said he would call me over the weekend to let me know what was going on. I never heard from him, so I did not ship. I get an e-mail the Tuesday after we were supposed to ship and it said he wasn't able to ship because he didn't do something his mom had asked and she shipped all his stuff away. But he still claims he wants the gator. He then tells me he will send me garters, ringnecks, fence lizards, racerunners, and whatever else he can catch. Ok, once again, it is fine. I can set up a nice little community display tank with everything he is sending. He e-mails me prior to scheduled shipping day and says he couldn't get the garters to eat, so he let them go. Then he sends me an IM telling me to go to a couple different sites and pick out what I would take in trade for the gator, and now a baby albino black rat. I tell him what I would take for the two, and he says he is placing the order and I will have them Tuesday and asks me to ship on Monday. I decided with my experience with him so far, I was not shipping until I get his end. Well, guess what, late Monday night, the day I was supposed to ship, he sends me another e-mail saying that his card didn't go through for the order and it would not be shipped. Fine, I am finished dealing with him. Then a couple days later, he e-mails me to ask if I had shipped when I was supposed to because he didn't get anything.

I just wanted to let everyone know my ordeal with him was like before anyone does actually send him anything.



Sydney Alcorn
 
Mikell Lurvey lives in MO. I don't know him well, but did meet him at a local show, and he has a personality that sticks in your mind.

Let me just say that in Missouri, it is illegal to buy, sell, or trade anything for native species. Residents are allowed to keep up to 5 specimens of any species they wish, but they cannot breed, sell, trade, barter, etc. For Mike to send you anything he "caught" in trade would be a huge mistake on his part. I'm not sure when you had these conversations with him, but I do know that recently he was made aware of those restrictions.

Mikell *is* a minor, I believe about 15 years old. From talking with him, it's apparent that he's done alot of reading about different types of reptiles, but I am uncertain what, if anything, he owns.

He has inquired about several animals that we have, and my response is simply that I'd need to speak with his parents before we could discuss it. I've never heard from the parents.

While I certainly don't want to see anyone scammed, I believe that this young man is simply overzealous and a poor communicator. I seriously doubt he intended to scam anyone.
 
Flag

Didn't you think that the fact he was willing to go catch stuff for the trade was a good reason to through a flag up and say forget it? Not so sure someone willing to take animals from the wild, ship them without de-parasitizing them, is really the right person for an alligator.
Just my opinion though.
Jeff
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top