About the BOI and it's future here...
 

A couple of days ago I shut down all of the BOI forums on this site in order to get a message across that seemed to be lost in all the static here. I have been dropping hints for months now, but I guess most people didn't put two and two together to realize what they really meant.

In effect, there is a very strong chance that the BOI will be going away permanently. I am retiring my reptile breeding business no later than January 1, 2010, and at that time this site needs to be financially self sufficient to cover the legal and financial liabilities that the BOI is exposing me to for YOU benefit. Let's face it, when I have retired from my reptile breeding business, I really won't need the BOI at all, and if it still exposes me to a lot of financial liability afterwards, it just doesn't make sense for me to bear up under that threat just to help out everyone else here. I just am not willing to shoulder that burden alone when my income will be limited to pretty much my retirement savings. I expect I can make enough money from this site via advertising and the like to help a little with making ends meet, but that could all be wiped out (and then some) if I should have to hire an attorney to fight a lawsuit filed by someone who gets incensed enough over something someone else has posted HERE about them. Yes, I am protected by federal law against legal liability for third party posts, but that only helps me WIN a court case, it is not a protection against the expenses that will be incurred FIGHTING that lawsuit. I would still need to hire an attorney and go to court, regardless. Which could be very expensive. Definitely more than I would want to have to draw out of my retirement funds, let me tell you.

Sorry, but I have no intention of mine and Connie's retirement RUINED because I have given you all the ability to post here in this capacity. So if you aren't willing to pick up most of that burden, then quite frankly, the BOI will be gone. I'm still working on the details of how to do that shutdown in an orderly fashion, and much of that conversation takes place in this thread in the FEEDBACK forum -> http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=139468

So the ball is in your court now. Between now and January 1, I will have to come to a decision on whether the BOI stays or goes, and quite frankly, that decision will be based on the number of paying memberships this site has which I consider a DIRECT measure of the members support for this site and the BOI.

Sorry it has to be this way, but I have looked at this from every angle I can think of, and there appears to be no other alternative.

Thank you all for being here over the years, whichever way this goes.

Give us a number to shoot for. It would be disheartening for a bunch of us to bust our butts trying to get members paid up, only to find that our possible successes did not come up to what you had in mind.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but in six months we could at least do what we can to get paid memberships up.

If memberships fall short a bit of the stated goal, we can work on closing the gap. If memberships exceed what you had in mind, then perhaps people who prior to this didn't help out a bit financially might be really starting to see the value of the BOI.

Please consider giving a number just as a general target.

You've run this board for enough years to know what it brings in and what you need to spend on it. Since it obviously doesn't make what you want or need it to then you need to shut it down or sell it to someone that wants to take it over. Otherwise every year you will be playing the same game -- I'm sure it's getting as old for you as it is for the rest of us. :yesnod:

Another way of helping out.. for those of us that use adblockers on our web browsers... is to disable the block on this site, so any ads that give revenue per view will still generate revenue for the site. :)

Yes it is getting old for me that I have to remind people that I don't get my servers for free, don't get free legal representation nor free consultation, my programmer doesn't work for free, and neither does my server admin guy. If I didn't feel it was necessary to bring this sort of topic up, certainly I have better things to do with my time. No one is twisting your arm to read what i have to say about such topics so if you feel a need to read about it, likely knowing what it is about, then perhaps you are just searching for something to complain about here. Quite frankly, I will say what the hell I want to on this site whenever the hell I want to. If that gets "old" to you, or anyone else who resents my pointing FACTS out to them that appear to be overlooked or ignored, then the exit door here is not at all difficult to find.

Trust me, the complaints about my complaints are getting EXTREMELY "old" to me.....

I don't really have a general number to go by. In all levels of paid memberships the number of members who have declined to renew is far greater then the number of current paid members. In one case the number of expired paid subscriptions is nearly 10 times the number of current subscriptions. I guess the impression I get from that is that what this site, and particularly the BOI, has to offer proved to be not worth supporting financially. So of course, that raises the question in my mind about why I should take up that burden myself.

Actually none of the ads displayed on this site are "pay per view". The banner ads I run from my FaunaAds site are paid per day, regardless of the number of views and clicks. The Google ads are the "pay per click" style of advertising.

But thanks for the thought.

I have a question Rich... And PLEASE forgive me if this has already been answered (worked a 12 hour shift, got home, then read thru all of this, so I may have not registered it all in my brain)

When/if the BOI ends up being where only paying members can utilize it. Can it still be READ by non viewing members? And THEN if the person wants to put their 2 cents in they would pay and such??

From what I gathered, this was the case.. I just wanted to double check..

Since the BOI is what brought me, and many others here.. (because of doing a google search for the guy that scammed me.. and what do ya know.. there is a "bad guy" thread on him.. ) I would assume/hope that it would still be viewable by outsiders, for that exact reason.

Sorry for most likely asking an already, over answered question. lol

Actually I'm not sure which way I would go with this, if at all. There are three possibilities for limiting viewers to particular forums.

1. members would not be able to see the BOI forum at all.
2. members would be able to see the BOI forum, but no threads inside.
3. members would be able to see the BOI forum and thread topic lines, but no content within those threads.

I can see pros and cons to each of them.... :shrug01:

Rich... Im not sure if this is doable with all the mods (not moderators) involved in the site. But could you not set up the "registered & guest" permissions to view only in the BOI and then set up the "contributors" so they can post.

I am an Admin on another site that uses Vbulletin and that is why I thought of this. I was setting up permissions couple days ago for a new area of the site.