• 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.
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    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.

Thousands of Live Insects Stolen from Philadelphia Museum

bcr229

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I guess the former employees didn't plan on needing good references. :rolleyes:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/05/us/insects-theft-philadelphia-trnd/index.html

Someone stole thousands of live spiders, scorpions and other exotic insects from a Philadelphia museum

The long list of stolen items sounds like an arachnophobe's nightmare.

Rhinocerous roaches. Six-eyed sand spiders. Red spot assassin bugs. Zebra tarantulas. Desert hairy scorpions.

These rare insects are among 80 species of live crawly critters stolen from the Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion last month in a bizarre and brazen crime that has produced plenty of suspects but no arrests.

The thieves cleaned out more than 80% of the museum's collection -- some 7,000 individual creatures, including whole colonies of roaches and other bugs -- a haul valued at $40,000.

"I'm not sure there's ever been a larger live-insect heist," said John Cambridge, the museum's owner, in an interview Wednesday. "Our insurance doesn't cover this. Why would they? This is unprecedented."

Among the stolen creatures are rare mantises, millepedes, lizards, frogs and snakes. One, the six-eyed sand spider, has a venomous bite that can be life-threatening. Some are endangered species, Cambridge said.

To make matters worse, the theft appears to have been an inside job. Cambridge told CNN that security cameras show a handful of employees carrying boxes of insects from the building over several days beginning on August 21.

"We know exactly who did this. They snuck out the back with all these boxes. We caught them on camera," he said. "They took all the stuff and then they didn't show up for their shifts."

Several of the thieves left a calling card, however: Their blue staff uniforms, stuck to a wall with a pair of knives.

About a dozen of the insects were recovered from the home of a suspect, but the others remain missing, Cambridge said.

Philadelphia police are investigating, but no arrests have been made. A police spokesman told CNN their investigation is ongoing.

So why would someone steal thousands of rare insects?

"They are very easy to sell. The enthusiast market is quite strong -- exotic pet shows and that kind of thing," Cambridge said. "There's no way they took these to be part of their personal collection."

The thefts have forced the Insectarium, which just opened last year, to close its second and third floors as it attempts to rebuild its collection. Cambridge has launched a GoFundMe to help fund acquisitions of new animals.

But there's a silver lining: Since news of the heist spread, the museum has been getting donations of live insects from collectors and institutions around the country.

It plans to reopen fully by November 3, when the museum hosts an Oddities Expo.
 
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