For those of you who might have missed the thread detailing the reasons the BOI was closed down, I suggest that you give it a read ->
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=680507
Nothing has changed here that will bring back the BOI you all used to know. The peer pressure and financial support that the BOI needed evaporated and as best I can tell, is certainly not coming back. So I am sorry, but you cannot expect me to take the risk on my shoulders of frivolous but still expensive lawsuits for YOU to expose me to by your postings here if you (collectively) are not taking up the bulk of that weight. Been there, done that, and that ship has left the dock..
What I am looking for is an alternative method of keeping the scammers on their toes and on the defensive. Maybe even create an overtly hostile environment for them. I have been discussing this with the moderators, and I approached this with the possible intention of allowing review style post replies in the classified ads themselves (which has NEVER in the past been allowed here) that someone is posting. This would hopefully have the result of such ads placed by alleged "bad guys" being plagued with negative comments and reviews, and as such they will HAVE to delete their ads, and hopefully leave the site when they find that none of their ads can attract victims any longer because the bad press just constantly nips at their heels.
There are issues and details to be ironed out, of course.
Scammers are always changing their identities on the fly. It will be work for YOU all to keep tabs on them. We are not going to do that for you. And obviously you will be posting reviews and comments in threads that the original author can delete at will. That deletion capability is just inherent in the classified sections, and will needfully remain there for something like this to work without exposing me to possible litigation (again).
Things that still will not be allowed is someone posting a thread anywhere with topic lines such as "Avoid JOE BLOW, as he is a scammer!", or "Has anyone done business with JOE BLOW?" Those were topics relevant to the Board of Inquiry, not the classified ads sections. So in effect, JOE BLOW must post a classified ad here
first before such claims or questions could be made.
One issue noted is that members posting classified ad threads can lock their ads via the
Classifieds Control Panel. That function may possibly go away. Or if the code can be modified easily enough, maybe try to filter out the "bad guys" using that function to shield their ads from negative replies by limiting that function to paying members only. Most scammers are highly unlikely to pay for a membership on this site so that would automatically remove the function from their use. At least from what I have seen here, that has been the case.
I am also looking for other options, but please understand that I am not going to be spending buckets of money for complicated and expensive custom programming for this. Yes, revenue has dropped in the past year, and as such, I am not going to be throwing money that just isn't there at the problem. As I stated in the above referenced thread, if I find that this site cannot survive without the BOI and it is already on a death spiral, and my choice would be to either open up the BOI again and take on that financial risk as a result (which could become a financial death spiral to me, personally), or just let the site slide on down the tubes and be gone, I am afraid that my choice is clear.
So the question is really, can we use what we have and try to make the site less welcoming to scammers by some simple and easy changes in policy and minor changes to existing programming? I don't know, but that is what I am looking for. Something that can be implemented without subjecting me to financial risk, and pretty much puts the responsibility squarely in the hands of the people involved in the transactions they engage in here. Both you and the OP can edit and delete your own words in classified ads. Or at least that would be the plan. So the responsibility and liability for your words, as well as control over them, will be yours, not mine.
Anyway, there you go. Yes,I understand that it is a pretty narrow bridge I am fleshing out, but if anyone has ideas and suggestions, I am willing to take a look at them.