Quote:
Originally Posted by WebSlave
Well, let's look at some details concerning that Hognose, Garter, Water & Ribbon Snakes classifieds section.
I counted 18 ads there that were NOT hognose related over 5 pages dating back to 08-03-2019. If the hognose snake ads were removed, that would leave those 18 ads remaining which would not even fill the first page of ads from over the past 17 days.
Seriously? Would that be a logical and reasonable move on my part to gut that forum of the ads that are primarily responsible for nearly all of the traffic there? And then leave another forum that would be, for all intents and purposes, pretty much dead?
In my opinion, the "Garter, Water & Ribbon Snakes" component of that section just does not warrant having their own separate forum based on the quantity (or lack thereof) of ads for those groups of animals. Matter of fact, quite likely they did have their own separate section years ago, but were combined with the hognose section simply for the fact that the quantity of ads just did not support the notion of their having their own separate section. In the past I have often combined slower traffic classified sections into a combination grouping for this very same reason.
The goal (at least from my perspective) is to have the separate forums active enough such that potential advertisers will see the traffic as being active enough such that they feel paying for their own sponsorship there, which helps to support this site financially, would be a reasonable plan for them. Sure, I could have a separate section for every species, if I were so inclined, but personally I don't think that would be a very smart nor reasonable move on my part. All it would do would be to increase the complexity of the site in general without any return on the effort of maintaining a much more complex arrangement. Would 500 classified forums with nearly no traffic to them individually be a better arrangement than having 29 classified forums with even some modest traffic associated with them? Honestly, some of those classified forums could be reduced even further, based on the lack of traffic they attract. That is just the nature of the beast these days.
So as it now stands, obviously the "Hognose, Garter, Water & Ribbon Snakes" classifieds section doesn't have the traffic there that warrants more than one person having the inclination of being a sponsor there. So why in the world would I want to break that up into two sections that would have even less traffic, one of which would be pretty much dead right from the start?
Sure, I understand that someone LOOKING for something like an amelanistic garter snake would like nothing better than to just have a separate section dedicated to nothing more than what THEY are looking for. But there is a bigger picture here, I am afraid. One which I really have to keep in mind at all times.
So, if you look at the BIG picture here, is my logic faulty?
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As a general user I dont have the power to look into logistics and the data of traffic to each individual thread. That being said, this wasnt an attack against the site by any means. It was a suggestion based off of a frustration, I, as the user have. It does make some sense but my reasoning is more based on the rising popularity of hognose snakes. Would you put a category listing Ball pythons and Woma pythons? Sure it's not as big as ball pythons but it is seemingly flooded with a high ratio of hognose posts.
My further suggestion would be that garter, ribbon and water snakes be merged with Gopher and Bull snakes.
Sadly all above categories are not as popular as they should be since they are arguably some of the coolest colubrid species let alone herps.
I have also noticed that among enthusiasts there is a common denominator with bull, gopher, garter, ribbon and water snakes.
Only trying to give feedback to potentially optimize the flow of the forum. Remember us little guys with the off species enthusiasts still matter and I wanted to be a voice for said community. I would absolutely love to see the number of garter snake keepers grow and hopefully other herp enthusiasts see how awesome they are.
I'm definitely not expecting a change over night, but perhaps something to consider.
Thanks for your prompt reply and hope everyone has a swell day.
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