Just to keep some perspective......
 

Some people get uptight about what people may do on their website, I guess. And some people try to hoard their visitors, trying to block from view any chance they may see a competing website. I guess I just think this is all foolishness.

We are big fish in such a LITTLE pond!

My site has 3,200 registered members now. I guess to some people that seems like a lot, but I did some searching into some bigger pools of water for a comparison:

The point of this? Those people whom feel they have to make up a TOS to try to lock competition out, to straightjacket their clientele into believing they have nowhere else to go, or by banning even the mention of the competition, are being penny wise and dollar foolish. If you want to make REAL money on the internet and that money is based on traffic, you are in the wrong business to begin with, with what we are doing here.

Could you repeat that?



You are right that this business doesn't pull the numbers, but in this business, it pretty much is the case that there are only a select few places online that are both well traveled and informative. Jeff should be afraid of others usurping his traffic. I think some amount of people must visit Kingsnake because they don't know of any other sties that are anywhere close to being as big. When a site's numbers start getting to the mid level, Jeff sees it as a threat, and it is. He runs Kingsnake like a monopoly, which essentially, it is, and is terrified of any other site becoming real competition because Jeff's way of business would not stand up to a rival site that is professional and by the book. He even sees a site like this one as competition for two reasons. First, this is faunaCLASSIFIEDS, an alternative to the KS classifieds. Second, if someone comes here, having only know about KS previously, and sees the crap that Jeff does, they can ask where else they can go for the same info, and I'm sure plenty of people will give plenty of suggestions.

Of course, this is all just my moronic assumptions. :)

3,200 members for a site that deals with outcast weirdo stuff like herp business is pretty darned good I would think. It is especially good when you consider that you are not running a business like Intel (IGN.com) or Disney (DisBoards.com) nor are you dealing with something that virtually everyone in the USA and much of the world uses like cars (automotiveforums.com).

If I got this right, you started this website as a hobby kind of thing, and maybe it pays for itself by now, maybe not. I don't think you are in it to get rich (anyway you are "Rich" already). To have developed this site from scratch with no large prior existing commercial venture such as Disney Corp. was a tuly great feat. As for not making money in this type of thing, I think you are right there. As for others being foolish when they toss around their TOS like a battering ram hitting their own site's users, yes that is foolish. You do need to have some TOS but not ones like some sites have that basically censure intelligent conservation from ever even taking place, or others that basically prevent someone from posting a link to another website so that people could find alternate or additional interesting sites on the same subject (those would be the competition - I guess). That is what makes this site such a good place, there are plenty of open discussions and plenty of varying opinions. As to those opinions, like em or not, you are pretty much free to speak your mind here. You are also able to post links to other sites such a to kingsnake.com, or to your own web site, or to your homepage or whatever. These are truly wonderful things about this site. It says a lot about your being confident in yourself, your site, and your ability to attract and keep users.

Keep up the great work PLEASE.

Best regards,
the faunaclassifieds plant (or should that be flora classifieds 'plant')
Glenn Bartley

I just wonder if he secretly has plans to get other sites shut down?
or
If he has played an active but secret roll into getting other sites shut down
or
at least getting dirty secrets on them and trying to spread aforementioned secrets so as to sway the public from visiting said site.



Enquiring minds wanna know.

and just to let you know....
I test my password every several days on kingsnake adds.

Guess what I got today when I tested my password?

Error: Sorry, username not found in Database

Does this mean I was banned?
How can that be since I have not posted anything in 2-3 months. So there is no way I can violate any TOS. Plus I was not even informed that I wa banned.


Can someone tell me if this message means my account was cancelled? It is important....because trouble is about to ensue.....maybe

I have not lost any posting abilities for voicing my opinion, yet. I bet someone at KS can tell you. Maybe one of their wonderful moderators?

If my account was deleted becasue I like to voice my opinion.....problems will start happening.
If my account was deleted even though I did not violate any TOS.....problems will start happening.

I have submitted their little form to two different people.
We shall see from their answer whether I am REALLY REALLY gonna get involved with this. Or if I am just gonna sit on the sidelines screaming my opinions.

Kingsnake Forum Posting
 

When I tried to reccomend this site on the chameleon forum on kingsnake, look what page poped up.

We Are Sorry...
We are sorry but we do not allow the URL (faunaclassifieds.com) to be posted to our message boards.
Please post your message again without the above website address.

Thank you


Is Kingsnake EVIL????????????????

I think 3,200 members is awesome and remember, it's quality not quantity. When the number of members rises so does the percentage of Yahoos too. I honestly don't see the big problem with these other competitors sites. I mean as long as they state what's what in the TOS, just follow it and there will be no worries. If you don't feel the TOS are fair and worthy, don't sign up. As for mentioning this website and other websites on competing sites, I honestly believe no big deal as well, If you want to let someone know of another site you like, just email that person directly instead of posting publicly if it happens to be against that particular sites TOS. I think the best way this particular site Fauna, is spread mostly by word of mouth. I have directed dozens of people here as I think this site is like no other and completely unique. I have a public forum for Gecko Enthusiasts on my site and in my TOS it states to go to www.faunaclassifieds.com for classifieds and dealer inquirys as I feel this site is a useful tool, and I welcome anyone mentioning it in my forums. I also feel that Rich has some class for allowing myself and others place banners on his site advertising our own forums and what not. I use this site on a regular basis when considering purchasing, selling, and entertainment, as well as I use other sites for some of the same reasons. This site will continue to grow and grow as it is a quality site and as for competitors who cares what they do. Keep up the good work. Mike

Personally, I believe that trying to slam the door shut behind someone when they wander onto your site is rather short sighted. Boarding up the outside view and trying to blind people to the fact that there is a world outside of your site will eventually bear bitter fruit. Heck, I have gone to sites myself simply because I knew I could find a link I needed to somewhere else there. It's the TOTAL usefullness of a site that will prove to be what people will keep coming back for.

People will NEVER be satisfied with a single source of information. The initial attraction of the World Wide Web on the Internet was because people had the whole world at their fingertips. For ANY site to believe that they can block out the rest of the world simply by banning the mention of their name will eventually have this come around and bite them. People will see it for what it really is.

For instance, suppose some people begin to ask the question of why a major site with a huge advertising base would ban the mention of a site that specializes in helping people to determine if the customer's trust in those advertisers is warranted? Would such a thing appear to be in the people in general's best interests, or only in the interests of the paying advertisers? When people get to thinking about this, what sort of image is it going to portray about a site that would do such a thing?

If it becomes common knowledge that the owner of a site banned the mention of another site simply because the other site's owner REFUSED to be strong armed into deleting one of his user's messages, what sort of image is that going to present?

Would someone really be smart to place a large chunk of their financial future in the hands of someone that would do something so petty?

Make your own decisions.