• 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.

Logging On to BOI

L

lanceheads

Code Red Serpents
Resident Demon
Joined
Jan 11, 2004
Messages
1,285
Reaction score
74
Points
0
Location
On the Planet
Is it my computer, or what? When I am at work, I sometimes use the work computer to see what's going on at Fauna, either the BOI or the classifieds.

I have never had to log in to view either of these sites.
In the past 3 days, whether at work or at home, I have had to "login" to view ANYTHING. Never had to in the past. ALWAYS had to login in to respond or post on the BOI (which I did), but never had to "login" to view posts.
Is this a new requirement? I still see where guests are viewing the BOI and having to not login.

Thanks,
Randal Berry
 
I noticed that change recently too. Usually I only log in if I have something to say, but in the last few days, I have to log in to see BOI threads. I can read all of the other threads just find.
 
Guests can currently only see the thread list on the BOI. (subject line, only)
In order to view (open) the threads, members must be logged in. Rich posted this in one of the ongoing threads...and my impression was that he plans to leave it this way until the BOI goes to Contributor Only status.
 
Just Wondering???

Would that not be more of a legal liability?

I mean I have a thread on the BOI about me that is titled "Robert Kelly of Florida is a Scammer," or something like that.

It was started by a scammer that I played a part in outing. He got pissed at myself and Mike Curtain and posted similar threads about the both of us.

Inside the thread it is obvious that it is in fact a bogus thread, and several people that I have actually had transactions with came forward to post positive feedback about me. However, anyone not contributing to Fauna will only be able to see the title.

Having the "Robert Kelly of Florida is a Scammer," thread pop up when my name is googled, and then the inquiring person not be able to read the content of the thread, unless they contribute to the site, seems like it would be a legal liability???

I mean what if when SerpenCo, or Rich Z. was googled, a thread on my web site popped up claiming, "WARNING: RICH Z. is a PEDOPHILE!"
However, in order to read the content of that thread, where it was shown to be a false accusation from some internet freak with a grudge, you had to pony up $25.

I think that may be grounds for a Libel suite, No???
 
That is a bit of a puzzle, but would scammers go to the trouble to pay the $25 bucks just to get back at someone? It might actually cut down on the frivolous threads and scammer or revenge threads. :shrug01:
 
It may cut down on false claims in the future, but what about the existing threads like mine???

I am not suing...(unless my lawyer thinks we'll win...lol,) just asking if that would be an issue for Rich.
 
Well, just to keep the conversation going here, wouldn't your trash thread be so far down that someone would almost have to search? I don't think a user can even search without logging in.

But, your scenario could be a problem if a fairly fresh thread was started on someone.
 
RJK890 said:
Would that not be more of a legal liability?

I mean I have a thread on the BOI about me that is titled "Robert Kelly of Florida is a Scammer," or something like that.

It was started by a scammer that I played a part in outing. He got pissed at myself and Mike Curtain and posted similar threads about the both of us.

Inside the thread it is obvious that it is in fact a bogus thread, and several people that I have actually had transactions with came forward to post positive feedback about me. However, anyone not contributing to Fauna will only be able to see the title.

Having the "Robert Kelly of Florida is a Scammer," thread pop up when my name is googled, and then the inquiring person not be able to read the content of the thread, unless they contribute to the site, seems like it would be a legal liability???

I mean what if when SerpenCo, or Rich Z. was googled, a thread on my web site popped up claiming, "WARNING: RICH Z. is a PEDOPHILE!"
However, in order to read the content of that thread, where it was shown to be a false accusation from some internet freak with a grudge, you had to pony up $25.

I think that may be grounds for a Libel suite, No???
Click to expand...

Well, one could argue that about the whole Internet. Even when threads are deleted they are still cached and can be found. Sites that have bowed to lawsuit threats and removed posts the titles are still there and come up on multiple search engines. Usually, you will see a title and link and when you click on it it states "page not found". Most are cached somewhere and still can be read.
 
Good point Dennis.

Like I said, I was just wondering if that would increase the liability, and risk of a lawsuite being filed. That is the whole issue with the BOI in the first place, right.

It seems that would be the same as editing or deleting certain threads on the board.

I am sure Rich has people more knowledgable about the law helping him in his decisions.
 
I googled Robert Kelly, Robert J Kelly, and Robert Kelly + Florida, and went at least 10 pages deep without finding that thread. It wasn't until I added scammer to the title that I located it that way (and it still wasn't the first one).
Clicking on the link brought up the denied access/log in screen (as expected).
As Dennis indicated, there was a cached file, and I accessed it...I got the first page of the thread (in your case, it was immediately pointed out that it was a retaliatory thread, and the OP stated he did it to prove a point). I wasn't able to progress beyond the first page of the thread, though - don't know if that is typical of cached files, or something I was doing wrong, but the log in requirement prevented me from going further.
 
(I know your case was just an example, but I was curious)
 
Harald, had you logged out before you tried it? I just tried it after I logged out and I didn't even get to the first page.
 
Thanks Harold.

Yeah,
I did just use my case as an example, and I don't have any problem with that thread, or Faunaville.

If it had been locked before, "it was immediately pointed out that it was a retaliatory thread, and the OP stated he did it to prove a point," that would have sucked.

I thought it was handled properly by Rich, the Mods, or whoever makes those decisions. Of course if it were up to me, it would have been deleted. I do understand why that is not an option though.

I was glad that some of the people that I have actually had transactions with were able to post feedback in that thread, and were able to turn it into some what of a "Good Guy" thread, instead of just having it locked and letting it sink. Then anyone running a search in my name, on the BOI would have pulled it up in whatever state it had been locked in.

I really was just looking at this from another angle. I like this site, and wish Rich a great retirement. I am definitely not trying to cause any problems here. With all of the bans getting passed out lately, maybe I should just stick to cruising the classifieds...lol.
 
rosebud945 said:
Harald, had you logged out before you tried it? I just tried it after I logged out and I didn't even get to the first page.
Click to expand...

Yes, I had. As I explained, when I clicked the google link, I got dumped on the access denied/log in page. The cached version gave me access to the first page, but I couldn't get any further.
 
RJK890 said:
Would that not be more of a legal liability?

I mean I have a thread on the BOI about me that is titled "Robert Kelly of Florida is a Scammer," or something like that.

It was started by a scammer that I played a part in outing. He got pissed at myself and Mike Curtain and posted similar threads about the both of us.

Inside the thread it is obvious that it is in fact a bogus thread, and several people that I have actually had transactions with came forward to post positive feedback about me. However, anyone not contributing to Fauna will only be able to see the title.

Having the "Robert Kelly of Florida is a Scammer," thread pop up when my name is googled, and then the inquiring person not be able to read the content of the thread, unless they contribute to the site, seems like it would be a legal liability???

I mean what if when SerpenCo, or Rich Z. was googled, a thread on my web site popped up claiming, "WARNING: RICH Z. is a PEDOPHILE!"
However, in order to read the content of that thread, where it was shown to be a false accusation from some internet freak with a grudge, you had to pony up $25.

I think that may be grounds for a Libel suite, No???
Click to expand...

No, not really. I spoke at length about this with one of my attorneys back when I had the paid requirement for posting on the BOI. He told me that I am not obligated to allow anyone access to this site if I don't want to. Even to respond to a negative thread. Just as I am not obligated to keep nor delete any post or thread in particular, and nor am I obligated to allow access for anyone to be able to read something that has been posted here.

On the other hand, that attorney was quite frank in telling me that although the law may be black and white and I would be 110 percent in the white side, there is no protection against a lame brained judge or a cock-eyed jury that would ignore the law completely or misinterpret it. There are NO guarantees in the courtroom. That is why there is an appeal process. But judges tend to hate having their cases appealed, because it tends to count against them when they get overruled because of an error in their interpretation of the applicable law.

With that being said, if the BOI does go to being available only to paid members, bear in mind that it won't be permanent. That will be a temporary adjustment for one year at the end of which time I will feel that I have fulfilled the implied obligation to all paying members for their one year subscription to help keep the BOI afloat. The fact that I went that route will mean that the paying memberships never reached the level I needed to see in order to be somewhat comfortable keeping the BOI here. So that will just be an interim step prior to the BOI going away completely. Hopefully I will be able to make that clear to all members at that time so they understand that further contributions after January 1, 2010 will not make any difference and the BOI is effectively history if critical mass is not reached at that point.

So yeah, this is LAST CALL on the BOI....... I've got 5 months to clean up the joint to make it somewhat more respectable, and everyone else has 5 months to SHOW me the value of the BOI to them.
 
WebSlave said:
I've got 5 months to clean up the joint to make it somewhat more respectable, and everyone else has 5 months to SHOW me the value of the BOI to them.
Click to expand...

I agree with any move toward making this site one where people are able to talk about what is important to them without fear of invective and derision. The monkey poo flingers just need to go. Even in the BOI, people can voice their opinions clearly without resorting to namecalling and mudslinging.

I never really appreciated the phase here where people on the BOI were permitted to attack others and be as nasty as they chose, because somehow that would alert others to their true propensities. Many people simply stopped posting because they were unwilling to either become targets or to stoop as low at their attacker.

One can say exactly how one feels about a scammer without resorting to four letter words and in fact, an effort to make your case or opinion more businesslike increases the chances that those who read what you write will understand and agree with the points you make.

As far as showing Rich the value of the BOI, if you don't have a membership please consider one now. There is a contribution thread stickied in the BOI forum also for those of you who are able to donate/sell items and then send the funds to Fauna. Even small items are appreciated, not everyone here is a rich tycoon, but everyone here can do a little something to help, and if we can all manage small donations, they will add up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top