What happened to BOI????

Originally Posted by WebSlave

You know, I've been thinking of this ever since I read it, thinking of the repercussions and unavoidable hate mail I'm going to get at that time. Probably pretty much what I went through when I originally set up that paid member requirement for the BOI years ago. Might have to read up on those old threads to get in that frame of mind again.

**Edited for space! Rich's full post is above!**

I think a paid membership is worth the shot! Anything to save the BOI and the valuable information that it contains! I think it's worth the cost.

Just an idea on what to do about those people who need to defend themselves on the BOI, if they aren't a contributing member. How about a one time, 24-48 hour, free pass, if their name is brought up in a "BAD GUY" thread? After that, they then have to buy in to continue or just be a second hand, spectator.

Just a thought

Wayne

Originally Posted by Mooing Tricycle

Ionno rich..... I just dont know. I hope that what little my contributions to this site have been help, and and really hope that my signature pulls in more people to help contribute as well.


I want to see the BOI succeed.

Alicia,

Thanks for the signature plug, but could you change it a bit for me?

You have it as this:

Get the word out! Help contribute to help keep the Faunaclassifieds BOI alive! Otherwise its doors will officially shut on Jan 1'st 2010! Support the site that outs the scammers!!!

That makes it sound somewhat like the entire SITE will be shutting it's doors on January 1. Perhaps something like this might be a bit more accurate and not scare people into thinking the whole site will be going bye-bye...

Get the word out! Help contribute to help keep the Board of Inquiry alive! Otherwise the BOI's doors will officially shut on Jan 1'st 2010! Please support the site that outs the scammers!!!

Thanks...

Originally Posted by MedusaCoils

I think a paid membership is worth the shot! Anything to save the BOI and the valuable information that it contains! I think it's worth the cost.

Just an idea on what to do about those people who need to defend themselves on the BOI, if they aren't a contributing member. How about a one time, 24-48 hour, free pass, if their name is brought up in a "BAD GUY" thread? After that, they then have to buy in to continue or just be a second hand, spectator.

Just a thought

Wayne

This is a good idea!!!!! It gives them TIME to bring in the information pertinent to the thread, but does not allow them a free ride either. Would Temporary accounts be EASY enough to set up this way??? I really do like this idea!

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Alicia,

Thanks for the signature plug, but could you change it a bit for me?

You have it as this:


That makes it sound somewhat like the entire SITE will be shutting it's doors on January 1. Perhaps something like this might be a bit more accurate and not scare people into thinking the whole site will be going bye-bye...


Thanks...

Absolutely!

I think if someone has to defend themselves, they should be subscribers to the BOI anyway as they are selling items or animals. They would want to check on their buyers as well.
So maybe a 24 hour pass or something along those lines might work, but I think they should have a full subscription regardless.
It would be worth $25.00 for the subscription to defend my name and business!
Just my thoughts....

Originally Posted by TripleMoonsExotic

Not to be nosy, but why?
(don't feel obligated to answer my question, I'm just curious and the following explains why...)

I was thinking...As an incentive for new contributors...

What if a seller on the Classifieds offered a $50 discount to any buyer who signs up as a new contributor at the time of purchase? It would work out to be a $25 discount to the buyer, a $25 payment toward Fauna and a $50 cut into the sellers profit...But if you would do that on say, purchases of $500+ it wouldn't seem like such a huge chunk.

I'm rolling the idea around in my head to do...

It was .....something.....like that~ but the deal to the buyer was more .........lucrative.......(not sure if thats a good word to use~ perhaps substantial) to the buyer. Unless absolutely necessary I'd prefer the buyers (they know who they are) not give details of the exact nature of the transactions so as to not have others expecting the same consideration when I begin advertising for sales again very soon.....but basically the buyers got better than a good deal if they were currently or became at the time a contributing member to faunaclassifieds. It was not stipulated by me at the time that the membership must last a full year but as Rich was not offering prorated memberships it was understood by both myself and the buyers in this particular occasion that a one year membership already in place or the purchase of the one year membership was a stipulation of the transaction.

So~ he's not entitled to any refund for the membership period that includes Nov/Dec of 2008 per the stipulations of the agreement reached with me ~IF he was already a paid member and his membership rolled over after Nov/Dec 2008 then his fuss would be with Rich.

Actually I took down the BOI sponsorship section after I only had one person sign up for it. It wasn't paying for the real estate it took up on the page.

I guess the reason I'm confused is because I didn't think Fauna Classifieds was in jeopardy of closing just the Board of Inquiry. So if I sponsored the Boa Forum, for example, it wouldn't show my support of the BOI but it would help the site. If there was a place to sponsor(support) the BOI specifically I could go there and show my support. I really wouldn't care if my name was going anywhere just as long as it was clear I was attempting to help keep the BOI alive.

Rich, how about a plug on Reptile Radio, or any of the other reptile podcasts, news sites, and such? Do you think something like that would help get subscribers headed this way? There are so many out there that don't know what's going on, or even that the BOI is a wonderful tool for us. I've been missing it since it's been down to research sellers.

I like the idea mentioned earlier of offering discounts on animals and products for paid contributing members.

of a yearly fee as an example $ 10.00 for accessing the BOI to get any information available on either a person or a business that has been brought to the attention by a participating member.... Skip all the nonsense about defending, arguing, etc...

If there is no record of a person or business, and you have had a bad or good experience............it just gets noted, not discussed... If you want to see if any information exists on any particular party, then you pay the yearly fee and use the service... Would that work... JERRY

Originally Posted by KNOBTAIL

of a yearly fee as an example $ 10.00 for accessing the BOI to get any information available on either a person or a business that has been brought to the attention by a participating member.... Skip all the nonsense about defending, arguing, etc...

If there is no record of a person or business, and you have had a bad or good experience............it just gets noted, not discussed... If you want to see if any information exists on any particular party, then you pay the yearly fee and use the service... Would that work... JERRY

Jerry, I actually had something like that in place a while back. Used to be a "Participant" level membership for $10 per year that allowed access to the BOI. Got shot down in flames. At one point I made that membership $10 for 10 years, but didn't garner much interest, so I shut down the entire program.

As for temporary passes to the BOI, it would all have to be done manually. There is no native facility in the vBulletin code to implement something like that that I am aware of. Sure, it could be programmed in, but that would be yet another expense I would have to bear, that could very well be wasted effort.

If I ever find that magic lantern, one of my wishes I will ask of the genie will be to wake up one morning, have an idea to implement here that would be *perfect* and everyone would agree to and feel it is a positive step to take.