• 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.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
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    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Classifieds snafu

WebSlave

WebSlave

It is what it is, but certainly not what it was.
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AARRRGH!!!

I've been looking into a problem with the classifieds section and talking with the developers about it. Apparently a periodic routine that is supposed to be contacting members who placed ads with renewal notices when they expire is just not working. And never HAS worked from the beginning. I was asked to test out something, which I did, and in the process this removed nearly 12,000 ads! :hot: Not only that, but the current running count of views the classifieds section was showing in the statistics display dropped from over 2 million down to 186,000. And the routine STILL doesn't work properly.

I've spent a good chunk of change on that classifieds script as well as updates, maintenance and having some modifications done to my specs. But I am damned close to just throwing in the towel on that thing and going back to the old way of just doing the classifieds in the forums here. :hot:

The program never really did what it was supposed to with automatically deleting ads after they expired and never contacted the members about renewing at expiration. Then on top of that, there is no way for them to renew their ads at all once they have expired.

Dammit............

So a show of hands, please. Anyone got any feedback about keeping or dumping that piece of .... er .... program?
 
I wondered, I just got an email from the site saying my ad expires in 9 days and do I wish to renew it. It confused me alittle as I have never received one before.
 
Well, I ran a SQL query to recover the deleted ads, but I'm still strongly considering rolling back to using the forums here for the classified ads. Evidently this pp_classifieds script does not really fix some of the shortcomings of the forum method as I had hoped for. And there are other issues that are subtle but rather important that are coming home to roost.

But darn I hate to think about the time, effort and money I just wasted on that program.
 
I for one haven't had any issues with the classifieds setup they way they are now. I just joined in Oct., but I can say they have been a blessing helping me clear out alot of stuff I have no longer needed. I like being able to click on ball pythons and seeing a pic and brief description before going into the ad. I also like the fact that you can see what is already sold at a glance. The renewing the ads for me hasn't really been a issue, most of my items sell right away. Even if the ad expires and I would have to redo another one, it really doesnt take that long. So for me, I like them the way they are!! :)

Another note, thanks for this site. It is a great place to come for info or just show pics. For me this site gets better everyday!! Keep it up!! :hurray:
 
Hmm, well maybe I am just being picky. I guess the perfectionist in me sometimes gets in the way of reality.

But the one issue that I am now trying to address is that the ads placed in the pp_classifieds apparently are not accessible to the search engine spiders that come to this site. What that means is that those ads will not be found if someone in Google is looking for what you are selling. Depending on your perspective, this could be a real concern for some people. And this is the main reason I still keep the archived classified ads on this site rather then deleting them because they are so old. They STILL bring traffic to this site from people getting those ads via hits from the search engines.

I do consider this a significant problem that I need to address. Of course, exactly how significant it is might well be difficult to determine.

But glad to hear that the classifieds are working well for you, Bill.
 
WebSlave said:
But darn I hate to think about the time, effort and money I just wasted on that program.
Click to expand...

I think the old classifieds were fine but then I am not really a vendor.

I think if you spent time and money on something that is not working through no fault of your own, you should get your money back as well as compensation for your time.
 
lucille said:
I think the old classifieds were fine but then I am not really a vendor.

I think if you spent time and money on something that is not working through no fault of your own, you should get your money back as well as compensation for your time.
Click to expand...

Generally, I think that would be an exceedingly rare event when you purchase software. Nearly every package I have seen has always had a disclaimer that it has no particular fitness of use for anything at all. You should read the disclaimers sometime. I stopped long ago because if I did, I would just stop buying the stuff. You could be buying a blank disk and the disclaimer would disqualify you from making a claim against the company. Your opening the package to see would signify that you agree to the disclaimer..... :ack2:
 
jeez!

WebSlave said:
Generally, I think that would be an exceedingly rare event when you purchase software. Nearly every package I have seen has always had a disclaimer that it has no particular fitness of use for anything at all. You should read the disclaimers sometime. I stopped long ago because if I did, I would just stop buying the stuff. You could be buying a blank disk and the disclaimer would disqualify you from making a claim against the company. Your opening the package to see would signify that you agree to the disclaimer..... :ack2:
Click to expand...
that is relaly messed. I haven't noticed anything with the ads disappearing or anything, but i feel bad that the program isn't working. I like the format, but at the same time, i wouldn't cry over switching to the old format if that saves tyou time and effort. Your work is always appreciated, and it's very awesome of you to maintain this site! :) thanks,
~jessi
 
WebSlave said:
Well, I ran a SQL query to recover the deleted ads, but I'm still strongly considering rolling back to using the forums here for the classified ads.
Click to expand...
I liked the old classifieds better. It was easier having the ads and forums be in a consistent format. While both are probably equally effective in getting the job done, it seemed like the old format invited more participation. I don't see many people using the inquiry feature in the new classified format. With the old format, if the customers had a question about the ad, they could discuss it just like posting in any forum thread. Then other people might not feel the need to ask the same question because it had already been answered in the thread. I know this made me more vigilant about keeping my ads updated since I would use the same ones over again instead of starting a new ad each time.
 
The old system worked fine and so does the new one. Don't have any real preference for either, other than the new system having some "required" info.

For example, under the old system there were many times you would click on the thread only to find "Snake for sale" or something very similar and absolutely no other info. At least with the new system it tries to steer people into adding relevant information.
 
First off, I don't have any real preference between the old and the new other then that the old were a little easier to use. Of course this is most likely due to familiarity from posting in the forums.

WebSlave said:
But the one issue that I am now trying to address is that the ads placed in the pp_classifieds apparently are not accessible to the search engine spiders that come to this site. What that means is that those ads will not be found if someone in Google is looking for what you are selling. Depending on your perspective, this could be a real concern for some people.
Click to expand...

I had never considered this before, but I feel that this is a major point.
Think about how many extra views our ads would probably receive if these search engines could access them. Additionally, because of the archived ads, how many people get frustrated and leave because a search engine directed them to an ad that is two years old.

I think this one issue is a strong argument for returning to the forum based ads.
 
Yeah........ The problem with much of this stuff is that you don't really know what the ramifications of it all are until you have dug the hole pretty deeply and jumped in. The people selling the products paint a glowing picture and then act stupid on points that could be considered as negatives. "Well gee, we don't know, but think it will do that.......No one else has ever complained about it......"

This issues are:
  • if I go back to the original forum method, none of the pp_classifieds can be converted back to the forum thread method. :ack2:
  • I REALLY hate to look like I am flip-flopping on directions... :ack2:
  • There will at a period where BOTH classifieds sections will need to be running concurrently, which will be very confusing... :ack2:
  • Time, effort, and money (especially TIME) is going to be wasted no matter which way I go.. :ack2:
  • I need to get a softer desk... :bandhead0
 
WebSlave said:
I REALLY hate to look like I am flip-flopping on directions... :ack2:
Click to expand...

Flip-floppin? It is called trial and error, Rich. It is the only way to truly find out what works and what dont. I thought all herpers lived by that credo. :)
 
I just did a quick glance at the archived forum based classified ads forums here to see what sort of activity they are getting, and was rather surprised at what I saw. Screen shots are attached.

I don't know, I'm getting the feeling I am doing the advertisers a disservice by having all that traffic going to defunct ads. :>poke2<: All of those viewers are most certainly coming from google and other search engine links.
 

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That makes a strong argument for returning to the forum-based ads.
Not to mention that it will alleviate the confusion of two separate sets of classifieds.

My vote goes to going back to the tried and true forum-based ads.
 
Mike Greathouse said:
That makes a strong argument for returning to the forum-based ads.
Not to mention that it will alleviate the confusion of two separate sets of classifieds.

My vote goes to going back to the tried and true forum-based ads.
Click to expand...

Both classifieds areas will need to be run concurrently, at the very least during another transition period. There is no way around doing it that way.
 
I have just opened up the forum based classifieds so members can post ads there. I am still pondering on how best to rearrange the furniture for the two concurrent classifieds sections to make it as less confusing as possible. Basically trying to emphasize the forum based classifieds and de-emphasizing the pp_classifieds. So please excuse the dust as I move things around over the next couple of days.

I guess now I have to ask my programmer to reinstall the code for highlighting and bumping (as well as the classifieds control panel) that we used to have here.. :ack2:
 
Ok, maybe it's just me being lost......but right now, I can't even see the newer pp ads. All I can find is the old forum ads, most recent ad I see is July of last year....?
 
Cat_72 said:
Ok, maybe it's just me being lost......but right now, I can't even see the newer pp ads. All I can find is the old forum ads, most recent ad I see is July of last year....?
Click to expand...

They are still there. As I mentioned, I had to make some changes to push the forum based classified ads sections into the forefront, and the photopost based classified ads into the background. I'm certain I will get tons of emails from people getting confused about the change, but there really is no way to go this very gently.
 
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