• 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.

Paypal's Policy Update "You Can't Sue Us" lol

Willow

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Got an email today lol....luckily I refuse to use them anymore...but figured we could all chit chat about it lol....anyone else get this email?

~~~

PayPal recently posted a new Policy Update which includes changes to the PayPal User Agreement. The update to the User Agreement is effective November 1, 2012 and contains several changes, including changes that affect how claims you and PayPal have against each other are resolved. You will, with limited exception, be required to submit claims you have against PayPal to binding and final arbitration, unless you opt out of the Agreement to Arbitrate (Section 14.3) by December 1, 2012. Unless you opt out: (1) you will only be permitted to pursue claims against PayPal on an individual basis, not as a plaintiff or class member in any class or representative action or proceeding and (2) you will only be permitted to seek relief (including monetary, injunctive, and declaratory relief) on an individual basis.

You can view this Policy Update by logging in to your PayPal account. To log in to your account, go to https://www.paypal.com and enter your member log in information. Once you are logged in, look at the Notifications section on the top right side of the page for the latest Policy Updates. We encourage you to review the Policy Update to familiarize yourself with all of the changes that have been made.

If you need help logging in, go to our Help Center by clicking the Help link located in the upper right-hand corner of any PayPal page.

Sincerely,

PayPal

~~~
(they made sure to make it a huge pain in the booty to opt out lol)

Opt-Out Procedure.

You can choose to reject this Agreement to Arbitrate ("opt out") by mailing us a written opt-out notice ("Opt-Out Notice"). For new PayPal users, the Opt-Out Notice must be postmarked no later than 30 Days after the date you accept the User Agreement for the first time. If you are already a current PayPal user and previously accepted the User Agreement prior to the introduction of this Agreement to Arbitrate, the Opt-Out Notice must be postmarked no later than December 1, 2012. You must mail the Opt-Out Notice to PayPal, Inc., Attn: Litigation Department, 2211 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95131.

The Opt-Out Notice must state that you do not agree to this Agreement to Arbitrate and must include your name, address, phone number, and the email address(es) used to log in to the PayPal account(s) to which the opt-out applies. You must sign the Opt-Out Notice for it to be effective. This procedure is the only way you can opt out of the Agreement to Arbitrate. If you opt out of the Agreement to Arbitrate, all other parts of the User Agreement, including all other provisions of Section 14 (Disputes with PayPal), will continue to apply. Opting out of this Agreement to Arbitrate has no effect on any previous, other, or future arbitration agreements that you may have with us. "
 
Wow that sucks. :( I use paypal for a ton of things but I'm always convinced something bad might happen and they'll just tell me "sorry can't do anything about it lol". Thanks for posting this, normally I just skim over their emails and delete them.
 
I wasn't aware that any business could exclude themselves from legal proceedings merely by saying they want it to be so.
 
In fact, arbitration clauses are becoming more common, and favored, to resolve disputes in contracts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitration_clause


I can't remember back when I joined Paypal, it has been a number of years, but I'm sure I must have clicked on a 'I accept' screen having to do with their TOS when I signed up.

Here, from Paypal:

By clicking "I Agree", "I Accept"; or by submitting payment information through the Service you agree to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, the PayPal Privacy Policy, and any documents incorporated by reference. You further agree that this User Agreement forms a legally binding contract between you and PayPal, and that this Agreement constitutes "a writing signed by You" under any applicable law or regulation. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved by PayPal, Inc. This Agreement is subject to change by PayPal without prior notice (unless prior notice is required by law), by posting of the revised Agreement on the PayPal website. Descriptions of material amendments to this Agreement will be posted in advance on the PayPal website in the "Policy Updates" section that is displayed to you when you log in to your account. You can also set your Preferences to receive e-mail notification of all policy updates. You may review the current Agreement prior to initiating a transaction at any time at our User Agreement page.
 
I think this only applies to class action lawsuits, since it says you can still arbitrate with them on an individual basis.

For anyone interested: eBay has the same changes going on. If you want to opt out of that too, you have to go through the same process as with PayPal.
 
Does it really matter in today's legal system? I hear constantly about cases with agreements such as this within tos being set aside and lawsuits still going forward.
 
Does it really matter in today's legal system? I hear constantly about cases with agreements such as this within tos being set aside and lawsuits still going forward.

I hear sometimes about agreements set aside because they are 'unconscionable'. Is that what you are hearing?
 
Heck, to me this sounds every bit as legally enforceable as a crook first sliding a note under your door stating that his entering your home and your failing to immediately stop him from doing so signifies your agreement to not press charges against him if he is caught engaging in illegal activities. Your failing to comply with the instructions to opt out of this agreement with a notarized statement that you decline the conditions of that letter makes that letter a legal contact. :rolleyes:

Otherwise, if this is legally acceptable, I think I'm going to go print up a sign and put it on both ends of the public easement through my property stating that anyone using that road agrees by such use to pay me half of their yearly gross income. Their only recourse is to signify that they decline this agreement by NOT driving on that road. :yesnod:

Heck, this has possibilities....
 
Heck, to me this sounds every bit as legally enforceable as a crook first sliding a note under your door stating that his entering your home and your failing to immediately stop him from doing so signifies your agreement to not press charges against him if he is caught engaging in illegal activities. Your failing to comply with the instructions to opt out of this agreement with a notarized statement that you decline the conditions of that letter makes that letter a legal contact. :rolleyes:

Otherwise, if this is legally acceptable, I think I'm going to go print up a sign and put it on both ends of the public easement through my property stating that anyone using that road agrees by such use to pay me half of their yearly gross income. Their only recourse is to signify that they decline this agreement by NOT driving on that road. :yesnod:

Heck, this has possibilities....

While there are other problems with your examples (civil vs criminal, and the law of easements) in neither example did you say anything about a previous written agreement that both sides agree to, allowing future changes by one party, which is what Paypal has and which must be signed by the user prior to use or they cannot become a Paypal member.

You have a similar take-it-or-leave-it deal to some (not future) of your requirements in your privacy agreement (below, right) where if the applying member does not agree, they simply cannot join.

" Some of this information is REQUIRED in order to use this site, and becomes publicly viewable once your account is created. You can choose to not provide this information, but in such a case, your participation in this site will not be accepted and your registration rejected"

Parties are allowed to make civil contractual agreements about future possible disagreements and how they will be resolved (prenuptual agreements, for instance). It has been done for a while now.
 
Parties are allowed to make civil contractual agreements about future possible disagreements and how they will be resolved (prenuptual agreements, for instance). It has been done for a while now.

To use this as an example to the previous question to me, Depending on the judge and the view of the prenuptial agreements, they get thrown out too. Nothing is really set in stone. Heck a judge's personal opinions about how fair a prenup is can actually cause it to be thrown out. It happens more than people might suspect.

Everything seems negotiable in the end no-matter previous agreements.

Prime example of nothing really matters is the GM bailout. Letter of the law was investors would have had a higher stake returned and protection than the union but the letter of the law wasn't followed and the union received preferential treatment over investors.

I'm not stating that was the correct thing to do or not. Just stating legally it wasn't the normal process.
 
30 years ago you signed a prenup it meant something. Today, not so much. It used to be if you had an agreement it was worth the paper it was printed on. Today no-matter, a sympathetic judge to one party can freely decide its value based on feel good personal opinions.

If a judge feels that agreement wasn't fair and one party should be entitled to more, the contract gets voided. That never use to happen to the extent it does now.
 
So if I put some obscure clause in the TOS of this site saying something along the lines of "If you at some later point turn out to be a bonafide "Bad Guy" (as determined by a majority consensus viewing the evidence), then you agree that all interested parties can come to your residence and stone you to death.", then that makes it LEGAL?

Can someone agreeing to something that is not legal (for instance a company deciding at a later point to void your civil and legal rights concerning actions against them and claiming you earlier forfeited all such rights via a blanket policy statement), therefore afterwards make it legal?

Heck, now I'm wondering what my birth certificate might say in the fine print on the back....... :ack2:
 
So if I put some obscure clause in the TOS of this site saying something along the lines of "If you at some later point turn out to be a bonafide "Bad Guy" (as determined by a majority consensus viewing the evidence), then you agree that all interested parties can come to your residence and stone you to death.", then that makes it LEGAL?

Can someone agreeing to something that is not legal (for instance a company deciding at a later point to void your civil and legal rights concerning actions against them and claiming you earlier forfeited all such rights via a blanket policy statement), therefore afterwards make it legal?

Heck, now I'm wondering what my birth certificate might say in the fine print on the back....... :ack2:
Not sure if these are legitimate questions you're asking or if you're trying to make a point, but you're combining two types of law here: criminal and civil law. Criminal law is prosecuted by the State, so you can't enter into an illegal contract like the example in your first paragraph.

Signing away your right to sue somebody is often put into civil contracts, but that doesn't actually mean that you can't sue them if they fail to uphold their end of the bargain. And that is what is determined by the judge, whether the contract was violated by either party.

For the record, I'm not a lawyer but some of my college classes were about law.
 
True, we are talking about civil law here.

The law assumes that adults in their right mind can contract agreements between themselves. There are some basic rules to creating contracts,and a number of requirements and exceptions (many of which you are familiar with, such as the capacity of the parties) but many business matters can be decided via contract by the parties and if the contract was appropriately made, most of the time it will stand.

Sometimes, agreements are voided as unconscionable, but that is a case-by-case deal. There is a phrase 'boilerplate' meaning those hundreds of pages of fine print prewritten which you are supposed to sign. Sometimes if the position of the parties is very unequal. signing a boilerplate contract can be held to be unconscionable.

Signing away your right to sue somebody is often put into civil contracts, but that doesn't actually mean that you can't sue them if they fail to uphold their end of the bargain.

In fact, it can mean exactly that. If you agree not to sue but instead to accept the binding decision of an arbitrator, you may have to accept that decision. Arbitration agreements between companies are often quite detailed, with time frames and language stating which party will pay for the arbitration, but they are agreements and many times that agreement will be honored. Many times in such detailed agreements there are detailed consequences of breach, liquidated damages and other clauses so the arbitrator is not arbitrary.


If a judge feels that agreement wasn't fair and one party should be entitled to more, the contract gets voided. That never use to happen to the extent it does now.

I think you right; it doesn't happen all the time but it does happen more than it used to. That might offer more flexibility, but at the cost of certainty.
 
I wasn't aware that any business could exclude themselves from legal proceedings merely by saying they want it to be so.

In the states they can't. Its more to scare off people.
 
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