• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    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.

Erik Stoops. Center for Reptile and Amphibian research bad guy so far.

it's still ridiculous that any lawfirm would bother with this with all that I've seen in this thread.
Click to expand...
Who says one actually is...lots of people have friends that are attorneys who will write letters for them.
 
Thanks Michael, I guess word travels fast....

Your right getting a Lawyer to type a letter isn't hard to do and it is usually done to try scaring someone off. Will be interesting to see how far this low life wants to take his lost cause.. Randy
 
What is amazing to me is that often people are willing to spend thousands more on an attorney then they can even remotely hope to recover from that hiring. I think that if people were just honest about their responsibilities with themselves and others they deal with we could all keep a lot more of our money...
 
Again...who has said that he spent thousands on a letter? Erik is very resourceful as we have seen and the letter may have been drafted for almost nothing. If the letter is asking for a retraction of statements made by you Michael and it threatens legal action in the 'liable' sense...it's laughable at best. Any chance on posting what it says in a nutshell?
 
Just wanted to clear up a few things. I know my long post was hard to read... Again I am sorry. I saved it in another format and copied and pasted it here.
In retracting my statements about Erik Stoops and His center in the post earlier. I do actually retract them. It is a bit like name calling.
BUT.
Erik Stoops Does owe me 2750.00 in cash or trade for an animal I sent to him that was in great shape, vet checked, feeding, shedding properly etc. This same animal died in his care several months later Now he is refusing to deal with me. He was refusing to return my phone calls and e-mails until this post. I have received no other new correspondence from him other than A letter from his attorney. has made no attempt currently to reconcile this situation....
P.S.
Just curious where did all the sponsors on the Centers web site go??
P.S. The Hypo Leaftail geckos on the sites projects page Were donated to the center Free of charge last spring... by me. the "Evil minded " one.
 
So Michael...what was the threat of action that was going to be taken if you didn't remove the stuff about him being a thief and so on?
 
Let's face it if he could find a lawyer to take it to court the only ones who would get anything out of it would be the lawyers.
There is a chance that a counter suit would even force him to pay for your defense which would cost far more than what he owes you.
 
John,
Counter suits are usually counter productive. An honest attorney will tell you that a counter suit Just costs you more money. yet still gets nothing solved. Also Judges rarely award "Reasonable attorneys fees" these days at least thats what An attorney I know says.
 
Hey Michael, did the letter from the attorney's office state who they were representing? Are they rep'ing the center itself, Erik?

I only ask cuz I'm wondering if a certain person *coughdonniecough* is the one behind all the lawyer writing a letter shenanigans.
 
I'm not a legal wiz of any kind Michael but how can you be threatened with suit due to lost profits when Don clearly states that, "The Center has a stellar reputation and 'we' do not sell animals but occassional trade surplus for desirable animals. Our program is about conservation only."

If their program is about 'conservation only' why would you be sued over their lost profits when according them they don't sell animals? How can you make a profit off of something you don't even sell?

Can anyone help me out with this one? Don?
 
What Center? Is there an actual center like a Reptile Gardens or something like that? Do donations have to be reported to the government? I'm not up on the whole donation, non-profit thing...
 
Ghi Reptiles said:
What Center? Is there an actual center like a Reptile Gardens or something like that? Do donations have to be reported to the government? I'm not up on the whole donation, non-profit thing...
Click to expand...

Well according to the website its a LLC. and the only kinds of companies that dont make profits are.. wait for it... non for profit organizations. =]

I'm not 100% on this but charitable donations have to be reported whether they're given or received.
 
nora said:
Well according to the website its a LLC. and the only kinds of companies that dont make profits are.. wait for it... non for profit organizations. =]

I'm not 100% on this but charitable donations have to be reported whether they're given or received.
Click to expand...
Actually, most not for profit organizations are corporations organized as 501(c) organizations. Charitable corporations generally are 501(c)(3) organizations.
 
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