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

Or could you use the "What's happening today?" list? Those 1500 plus people that were online yesterday would be a good start.

Or better yet, could there be a page made that would have to be viewed prior to viewing the BOI? Instead of a sticky the page would pop up and at the bottom of that page you would have the link to the BOI?

just paid up my member fee and a donation to help keep the boi going. it'd be like driving blind to be involved in this hobby without it. i was confused at first and thought the "donate" button was the same as "membership". maybe you need a clear button for both; rather than the navigation through the user cp button?

anway - great site rich... i hope you figure it out.

Whyre there legal payments need to be paid out? Hey Rich if it comes down to do it why don't you give the website to someone who can pay for it? I don't know if it does come down to it I'm saying.

So Chris,

Do you know of anyone who would want a site where it might cost $50,000 a pop to defend its member's rights to say how they feel about not-so-ethical vendors? And there is NO guarantee that you would only get one lawsuit a year. You could get two or three. Even if one is in the right, and would prevail, one would still have to respond and hire an attorney EACH time a suit was filed.
Do you know any possible takers that would want to spend money under those circumstances, for a site that would not give the kind of financial returns to cover those costs?
No. I know you don't.
A buyer of this site would shut down the BOI rather than having that liability.

didnt Allen belcher want to buy this site he offered in a thread

Just my two cents but if you only allow paying members to post on the BOI -- you are thereby requiring people to pay if they want to defend themselves. If they choose not to then they get slammed by the paying members. Sorry just doesn't seem impartial.

Originally Posted by yankneck

didnt Allen belcher want to buy this site he offered in a thread

I think he was met with a resounding, "HELL NO!!" too! After reading about him, seeing the proof and witnessing his behavior, on these forums. I seriously believe that he is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar from what this site needs. If he was able to buy it, I wouldn't come around here any more!

Originally Posted by ToshaMc

Just my two cents but if you only allow paying members to post on the BOI -- you are thereby requiring people to pay if they want to defend themselves. If they choose not to then they get slammed by the paying members. Sorry just doesn't seem impartial.

Well, in a "Court of Law", wouldn't you have to pay a defense attorney, even if you aren't guilty? Besides, $25, for a year long membership, isn't asking a whole lot.

Wayne

I would hate to see the BOI go away as it would be a great loss to our industry and anyone can easily see why that would be, but making the BOI a paid members only section of the site is a terrible idea all around too. It would cripple the BOI and end up turning into something it was not originally designed for. It would end up withering away which would be even sadder than just shutting it down
Think about it this way. If I’m someone within the hobby who isn’t very involved , in that I might buy an animal or two every few years or so and I have the most wonderful transaction with a certain vendor in which I spent $30 am I then going to turn around and pay $25 to start a thread and tell everyone that this vendor is a great guy/gal and people should definitely do business with him? Probably not. Is this same kind of person going to spend $25 before spending those $30 to research a vendor? Again, probably not.
If the deal goes wrong and this person gets scammed are they going spend an extra $25 to let people know? Of course not. In that kind of a situation you tend to cut your losses and so scammers will run even more rampant through our industry.
And who does all of this affect the most? All of us who are more active members and need to know about all these small transactions in order to gauge the reputability of a certain vendor or even customer and who are also for the most part the constituency of the BOI. this information not being able to make it onto the BOI immediately affects the efficacy and undermines the whole purpose of the BOI.
Making the BOI a paid membership excludes all these people from being able to share their experience with us.It also keeps people from being able to defend themselves when charges are levied against them.
Making the BOI paid membership only turns it into a private paid club, nothing more than a herp fraternity. What’s to keep those in the club from bashing or grouping against and destroying the reputations those not in the club? Why should I pay to defend my good name in a forum supposedly designed for free speech? How free is this free speech if I’m forced to pay in order to exert it?
By the same token if I’m someone who is an active member of the herp community is it going to be worth to me to pay $25 to do my due diligence before initiating a transaction knowing that the information available on the BOI is going to be nowhere near complete and very likely heavily biased by those few who chose to pay.

The BOI part of this site is a great idea. I think everyone can agree with that, which is why is attracts so many people, but it’s more of a “public service” type of great idea than a “financial” great idea. As such I don’t think that this kind of a site will ever make a whole lot of money directly. When you try to do that it directly affects the premise of the original idea the BOI is based on which will in turn directly affect It’s popularity and success. Think about it, the whole premise of the BOI is free speech, but again how free is this speech going to be if you’re forced to pay for it?
I gladly and freely became a paid member of this site and I would gladly do it all over again as long as it is my choice to do so . I don’t know how gladly or if I would pay the $25 forced fee to be part of this site though.
Having said that, there are plenty of ways of making this of site profitable in indirect ways.

Another thing to be considered is the amount of people this part of the site brings to Fauna. Rick thinks Fauna will do fine without the BOI but that might not be the case. Think about how many people come here specifically for the BOI, or come here for the BOI and then head over to the classifieds or other part of the site.
Once the BOI is gone or becomes a paid club how many of those folks will still come here . shutting down or turning the BOI into a paid club could potentially cripple Fauna as a whole. The BOI is the baited hook that brings people here and keeps them here. It is also what makes this site unique. When the BOI is gone what will set this site apart from all the others, some of which are bigger and have better circulation, and make people want to come here? When the BOI shuts down or becomes paid only membership traffic to Fauna will most likely drop quite considerably. This will in turn affect revenue off of advertising. It will also affect the classifieds section which will in turn affect membership and traffic which will again affect revenues. You get the picture.

Yes this kind of a site carries a lot of liability and it’s understandable why Rick wouldn’t want to deal with it anymore given his current circumstances but there are other options other than shutting down or changing the structure of the site. Why is selling or transferring the BOI to someone willing to shoulder the liability not an option?

This is just my humble opinion but perhaps it's time for Rick to pass the torch, but what do I know other than I seriously doubt the money is just going to start piling up into his bank account compliments of the BOI and ultimately it's his site to do what he pleases.

I imagine it has ceased to become an option because no one creditable is willing to shell out the actual worth of the site. I think you would be extremely surprised how much this site is worth between its software, servers, advertising revenue and daily views.

You've also got to realize that if their is a new owner, and the general online population doesn't care for him and how he does things...This site will die just as quickly...

If enough people would contribute, the paid members only option won't even come into play. As it is, the paid members only option will likely only be for a year before the BOI is shut down entirely.

I'll be one of those people who will leave when the BOI goes. The site is a package deal for me, and I've hung around because I like to be able to look up seller's reputations before I send them my money, and I also like to be able to give feedback where it's due on the people I've done business with for others researching sellers.

Either way, I wish the site nothing but the best.