• 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.

Writing a herp article

TrpnBils

TrpnBils

Jeff Hankey
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Although I'm not sure I can say which one, but I'm sending a letter of inquiry to a widely-published magazine to get an article and (more importantly to me) some photos published. I've already talked to the editor and he said it sounds like a good idea but I have to go through the ropes for his boss by writing this letter.

Here's what I want to do. I want to write the article about local herps, and I think it would be a good opportunity to get some of my local herp shots in print. The one thing I have to do is convince this guy's boss that people would actually want to read about this sort of thing. Any ideas on how to do that?
 
Sounds like a lot of fun. Really work on selling the idea to him. Tell him why people are interested in such herps, explain their importance to wildlife. Explain the wide amount of money and work that goes into herps, why they are so much fun. Little personality quirks, life expectancy, myths and such. Make sure your article is all together so he will enjoy it. make it fun and informative. People are always fascinated by herps, through fear and curiosity. Herp new is always read. Good luck.
 
Junkyard said:
Really work on selling the idea to him.
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That's what I'm hoping to get ideas on how to do :) I have a few but I really want to make sure I nail this because it's a great opportunity for me. I sorta want to come at this from the perspective of getting people out into the woods to look for them rather than just telling about natural history (although I'll include some of that too). Like you said, herps get a bad rap most of the time, and I want to do my part to change that, regardless of how many people do or do not read this.


Junkyard said:
Make sure your article is all together so he will enjoy it. make it fun and informative.
Click to expand...
Actually the way it works is that I send the letter of inquiry (selling myself, basically) and then it'll take them 2-3 months to consider it and get back to me with a go-ahead (hopefully that's the response anyway!). So I don't have to actually have the article written for awhile. I'm going to try to push for this to be in an early/mid spring issue because that's when a lot of people are coming into contact with herps again.

Photography is a huge hobby of mine and I decided last year to start a project and try to get all the local herps on film just to see how long it would take to do it. I came up with the project idea late enough in the year that I didn't get many of the tree frogs and that sort of thing (we had a dry summer), so I want to wait til spring for those.

Junkyard said:
Herp news is always read. Good luck.
Click to expand...
It'd be nice to see some herp news in a positive light for a change, wouldn't it? lol

If this goes, I'll only get a few photos in the article, but here are some of the ones I'll push for. A few of these have been posted already, so they may be repeats for some people.


Black rat hatchling
Northern Dusky Salamander
Wood Frog
Red Spotted Newt (Eft) Photo 1, Photo 2
Longtail Salamander
Northern Slimy Salamander

There's a bunch more, but those are some of my favorites from the past year.
 
You really have some eye catching pictures. They are a big seller there, you may even want to add one in the letter to the boss. Though ask the editor first if it may help.

Do you have a start on the letter? Maybe we can help if you give us a little of what you have. Reference a lot to the bright newts and salamanders that are out there. Add a reference to snakes in the letter, along with a strong need for everyone to meet the wild. Having the opportunity to see these incredible animals up close in person does more than pictures ever will, but it is pictures like yours that really stand out. Seeing these pictures and learning about the animals just open the minds of readers to desire to gain more knowledge about them. Talk about the strength involved in these little guys, their defensive abilities, and the quirks that will just make anyone laugh.
 
Thanks, and you're right about including one in the letter to the editor('s boss...whatever his title is). It's actually a requirement that if they've never published something of yours before, you have to include a sample of your writing and photos (if applicable) to give them an idea of what they're committing to.

The only way I've started the letter so far is in my head. I'm finally going to have some time off from both jobs after Friday and I'll be visiting my parents for a week or so, so that should give me time to work on it. I like your idea about focusing on the more "people-friendly" herps first (salamanders/newts). I mean, after all, what 9 year old kid hasn't gone out into the woods and looked for salamanders? They're obviously not that scary. Same with the frogs.

I think my biggest challenge is going to be selling the idea of harmless snakes to people. Everybody's got a story of a snake trying to "chase them"...at least all of my friends do anyway, and they're dead set on hating them until the end of time because of what they *think* happened.

You mentioned using the brightly colored animals, and I think that's the way to go. When I got my first snake, a corn, I wanted to go with something that was bright because I knew my parents (who were/are afraid of snakes) would be less likely to associate it with the "bad ones" that are found around here. Having said that though, I could probably find some native snakes that are equally as bright and harmless (we don't have corns around here, but we do have milks and green snakes, although the latter can be next to impossible to find).

Good ideas so far. Feel free to give more input if you think of anything and I'll post the letter when I get some of it on paper.

Thanks,
Jeff
 
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