• 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.

Technology

S

Stardust

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As I sit here in front of one of my computers with the cell phone right next to me and in the background the sounds of the TV attached to cable is on while the kids are watching and wonder if this is all worth it. Is it our savior or demise?
Sure we have medical break throughs, satellite roaming around the earth, being in touch with virtually everything at our fingertips. But I have to wonder what price we have paid for this. I admit I am guilty of taking pleasure in this new time but I also miss the simpler times. the times when people couldn't get a hold of me for some non-sense reason at the grocery store but had to wait until I got home and answered the phone. Trying to make time to work out, as it is so important now verses when I was a child and fast food was here but still small enough that foods were home cooked and work/daily chores were done and all that was needed to balance out the body.
I do let my kids play in the dirt, I would rather them develop their own immune system then constantly putting on anti-bacterial cremes. Are we getting paranoid to the point of craziness?
Knowing what we know now, can one go back to a simple time? Should one go back? Is our knowledge more a hindrance then a enlightenment for the greater good?
Just another thought process, lol.
 
OK so I get on my computer today and find that MSN (my normal path for getting online) is not working. I wouldn't say I was in a panicked state but definitely stressed, my main mode of getting on the internet was not there for me.
I go on explorer, there I feel most uncomfortable as my normal favs are on MSN not explorer. I go through the ritual of having to search for my usual sites and put on favs so in the future I can have a back up site to go to.
Change was the key for me there today. I have been through so much change in my life I now want the old and familiar.
Again I go back to technology and wonder. The one thing I could have said for it is that it made my life easier (not necessarily a good thing) and now that is gone. As I think about it, everytime I need a new computer or do something new I have definite work to do.
I could justify this by simply saying I am getting older and perhaps change does not come as easy when one gets older. :ack2:
 
Funny story...well, maybe interesting is a better word than funny, but I'll let you decide.

When we moved from bustling Metro Denver to this little tiny corner of the Ozarks several years ago, I had 3 teenagers. None of them had ever lived more than a few minutes from their friends, a mall, a movie theater, fast food, etc.

The first few days were literal culture shock. The phone hadn't been turned on because the previous owners hadn't ever INSTALLED a phone, so it had to wait until we got there for jacks to be put in. Cell phones got no reception. No cable TV in these parts. The nearest gas station is 8 miles away, and it's one of those one-pump gas stations from the movies. McDonald's: 25 miles.

Anyway, I had called to have satellite installed for TV. Due to our remoteness, the guy told me it would be 3 weeks before they had anyone down our way. I cringed, but what can ya do?

We found other ways to entertain ourselves. Board games and decks of cards were a regular after dinner thing. My daughter learned to bake from scratch, and my son and husband embarked on a project to build a fire pit in the back. We took long walks along the lakeshore and put down bedding plants for the Spring. My son's dog learned lots of new tricks.

The afternoon that the satellite TV guy finally pulled up, I went outside and told him we'd changed our mind. It was an impulsive thing to do, and I kind of kicked myself for it now and again, but I'm glad we decided to be sans television.

3 years later, the kids were pretty much grown and gone, and we finally called the satellite guy back. :reddevil: I was so grateful to my husband for waiting that long for television that I even added the Hockey Package!
 
I don't have a cell phone (gasp), and we cancelled our satellite TV as well a couple of years aog. There's been a few moments where I've thought a cell would have come in handy....and once in awhile I miss the TV (we do get 4 or 5 channels on the antenna, depending on the weather) but for the most part, I think the positive outweighs the negative of each greatly.

My computer, on the other hand...well, that's another story entirely, lol.
 
I can live without the TV...and have. I can live without the Cell phone, although I helped create this mess in a way..... as Cat said the computer is another story.

I have long admired the Amish way of life, the simplicity and pace. Just wish they could do the Internet......
 
Of my three worst evils (in my life) the cell phone, tv and the computer. Last year I took great pains to get stress out of my life (as much as possible anyway) so I took away from myself my greatest joy, the computer. I did not take it away all the way, that would most certainly crashed my brain beyond repair but I thought that it took up a lot of my time so I gave myself limits of when I was going to get on and I changed a lot of places I went.
The cell I can do without (I am with Cat on this one 100%) so I would just turn it off a lot (as many who have tried to call me can attest to :yesnod: ) and the tv is something of a if its on its on if its off its off type of thing for me. So that led me to my third, the computer. This evil has lead me to great stress, always wanting the latest version or new computer, having to have a laptop to take around and one stationed at home. Replying to something then checking to see if any others replied after me and so on....
I just went to pick up one of my daughters from snow boarding. As I waited I thought about what would be on the computer when I got back, the only difference between this time and say two years ago is that I am fully aware of the impact this whole computer world has had on my life where as before it was a common place, one I didn't think of much.
I also thought I have to get back on track and time myself again because it is like a drug and if it were a real drug I would be an abuser for sure :rofl: .
I wonder if there is an CAA out there, hmmm.....
 
Dragondad said:
I can live without the TV...and have. I can live without the Cell phone, although I helped create this mess in a way..... as Cat said the computer is another story.

I have long admired the Amish way of life, the simplicity and pace. Just wish they could do the Internet......
Click to expand...

We've become well acquainted with some Amish folk that live about an hour from us, and their life fascinates me immensely. We had a wonderful man named Enos hand-make our dining room chairs, and I have no doubt that they will outlast me, and are simply beautiful. His 9 year old son broke our miniature horse to pull a cart (his 4 and 5 year olds would ride the horse out to bring in the cattle....keeping in mind that this horse is only 29" at the shoulder, lol), they have a simply amazing way with animals. Another young man made me the most beautiful harness I've ever seen custom-fit to my mini.....and his brother's wife makes the best home made candy on earth! All of this they do with such pride, and with no help from modern conveniences like electricity......they are truly amazing.

One thing that did SHOCK me though......they are being touched by the "modern world"......many of the folks in their community raise bucket calves for a man I know. In order for them to be able to keep in touch with him in case of an emergency, without waiting for the mail to go through, he actually set up one of those old bag-phone type cell phones for them to use, hidden away in an old trailer....they don't like to use it, but will if they feel it is absolutely necessary. Enos called me when my mini injured his leg....and he actually sounded scared to talk to me on it, but thought I should know in case I wanted to take him home. It actually kind of saddened me.....and God forbid any of the elders ever found out.
 
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