The BOI will be coming to an end on 02-02-2020

It's a huge loss to the industry to see the BOI go.
I'm very sad about this news.

Originally Posted by Big Time Reptiles

GOOD REDDENS!

You and Connie take a well deserved break....

Maybe then, you can cut back on Excedrin.


Lynn Peterson
Big Time Reptiles

GOOD RIDDANCE! Not reddens............

Originally Posted by dieselfan

Sorry but I don’t buy any of this as a valid reason(s). Recently Facebook had a massive crackdown on all animal sales and has deleted many Reptile groups. I have noticed a big influx of users online here on fauna just in the last week. Personally I feel the BOI is a priceless tool for the online herp community. It really sucks to see it go. I am sure the scammers and scumbags are relieved to hear that their past transgressions are about to be wiped clean from record. One them even had the audacity to come to one these threads and hint about possible coming legal trouble for the owner of the site. As much as I dislike this person I think they were telling the truth. Rich, would you like to come forward and admit that’s why you are getting rid of the BOI? Have you been served with papers or have you received paperwork from a law firm giving you a last chance to delete the BOI or run the risk of being sued? I look forward to reading your reply. Thanks!

Not true at all. Matter of fact, if I were to be served with any such papers, then I fight this one last battle, and could not remove the BOI because I would be tampering with evidence, which would get me into very hot legal trouble. No one has threatened me with a lawsuit in any fashion, much less actually filed one.

As for bad guys applauding the BOI going away, well, whose fault is that? I am supposed to continue to take on the legal jeopardy here regardless of how few people still support this site? Please show me where I am legally, or even ethically, obligated to do that.

Sorry that you choose to not "buy" what I am saying, but those are the facts and truth as best I can see and interpret it. And no, any such "influx" you are seeing is having a negligible, if any, impact on anything relevant to this aspect of this discussion concerning the future this site.

But if you have any contrary evidence to the contrary, please enlighten me. It certainly is possible that you know more of what is going on around here than I do.

Originally Posted by dieselfan

One them even had the audacity to come to one these threads and hint about possible coming legal trouble for the owner of the site.

Originally Posted by Frogman11

There is a law suite coming your way. It sounds like you might already know about it. I was asked to join it because of my BOI but I declined to participate.

The BOI turned into a bulling clown show, with the main clowns that now want to keep it going. Let it die!

Oh yeah, I remember, Garrett Smith's post. Frogman11, Garrett Smith, who has the lowest Karma of anyone in the history of this site. Lying, scamming, no-integrity Garrett Smith. Really, I would not put much stock in what he might say.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Not true at all. Matter of fact, if I were to be served with any such papers, then I fight this one last battle, and could not remove the BOI because I would be tampering with evidence, which would get me into very hot legal trouble. No one has threatened me with a lawsuit in any fashion, much less actually filed one.

As for bad guys applauding the BOI going away, well, whose fault is that? I am supposed to continue to take on the legal jeopardy here regardless of how few people still support this site? Please show me where I am legally, or even ethically, obligated to do that.

Sorry that you choose to not "buy" what I am saying, but those are the facts and truth as best I can see and interpret it. And no, any such "influx" you are seeing is having a negligible, if any, impact on anything relevant to this aspect of this discussion concerning the future this site.

But if you have any contrary evidence to the contrary, please enlighten me. It certainly is possible that you know more of what is going on around here than I do.

Rich, Thank you for taking the time to clear the air. I am glad to hear that’s not the case. Stills seems a bit odd that you say that you are playing legal jeopardy by just keeping the BOI where it’s always been but now suddenly and for no reason of any substance you are shutting it down? Oh and you and I both know there is a huge difference between shutting a section of a website site and or deleting files. Where there is smoke there is usually fire was not the case I guess. Where did I suggest that you are legally, or ethically obligated to keep the BOI open? Seems to me that you created this site and the BOI. I just don’t get why you would shut it down for no reason? Then you get defensive and throw around phrases like legal jeopardy and legal and ethical obligations. At the end of the day I am glad you are not being sued and I hope whatever you have going on works out for the best.

Originally Posted by Lucille

Oh yeah, I remember, Garrett Smith's post. Frogman11, Garrett Smith, who has the lowest Karma of anyone in the history of this site. Lying, scamming, no-integrity Garrett Smith. Really, I would not put much stock in what he might say.

That’s the post. I could not agree with you more Lucille. Just seems like something is off regarding why the BOI is being closed...

Originally Posted by dieselfan

I just don’t get why you would shut it down for no reason?

It was stated contributing memberships/sponsorships have fallen off over the years in a significant manner in the first post, meaning loss of funding to challenge any potential (frivolous) lawsuit that may arise. That's a pretty significant reason IMO.

Originally Posted by dieselfan

Rich, Thank you for taking the time to clear the air. I am glad to hear that’s not the case. Stills seems a bit odd that you say that you are playing legal jeopardy by just keeping the BOI where it’s always been but now suddenly and for no reason of any substance you are shutting it down? Oh and you and I both know there is a huge difference between shutting a section of a website site and or deleting files. Where there is smoke there is usually fire was not the case I guess. Where did I suggest that you are legally, or ethically obligated to keep the BOI open? Seems to me that you created this site and the BOI. I just don’t get why you would shut it down for no reason? Then you get defensive and throw around phrases like legal jeopardy and legal and ethical obligations. At the end of the day I am glad you are not being sued and I hope whatever you have going on works out for the best.

Patrick, sorry, not trying to be rude or brusque in my earlier reply. Trust me, this is not an easy thing for me, neither. So I can go into defensive mode rather quickly.

In any event I strongly suggest that if you have not read this entire thread, to please do so. I believe that I have expressed the "why" of all this pretty sufficiently.

But in a nutshell, the reason is because the BOI (and pretty much this site as a whole) is not getting anywhere near the support that it used to. It is my opinion that the site's lack of support (not just financially, but the weight of a large majority of the people in this industry) can no longer justify the liability incurred should I have to fight even a frivolous and legally unwarranted lawsuit by some disgruntled "bad guy". Basically, I don't have the majority of people at my back for the Board of Inquiry that I felt used to be there. Without that, well, time to drop my support too. The numbers just aren't here any longer.

FaunaClassifieds will still be here as long as the traffic warrants it. But as I have stated before, I will NOT go into the red to keep this site afloat. The rest of this site outside of the Board of Inquiry does not subject me to anywhere near the legal jeopardy, so that lowers the goal post for what I feel is needed to keep it running.

Anyway, got more long winded than I had intended, since nearly all of the above has already been stated in earlier posts I made in this thread. But I think you get the idea now, anyway.

Originally Posted by Akiranar

I'm mainly wondering about some of the big threads. Like the Ty Park's one. I know some people still refer to it in some groups when people ask about him.

Yes, that is unfortunate, but as mentioned earlier, if this site is not worth supporting by a large majority of the registered members here (141,186 and counting) then why should the BOI be important enough to me to keep sticking my neck out for others to post such things? Yes, I am legally protected by law, but a lawsuit doesn't have to be based on logic or sound legal interpretations in order to be filed against someone. The goal of many lawsuits, often, is to just obtain a desired result that someone is willing to pay enough to an attorney in order to accomplish. There really isn't an real intention for it to go to court. The complainant is hoping that the expense to the other party defending against such a lawsuit would cost more than what standing their ground against the lawsuit is worth to them. In the past, that equation, to me, favored keeping the Board of Inquiry in place, no matter what. Now, the equation has flipped the weight to the other side of the balance, and as a result that only left one path available. So here we are.

Okay. So now that you opened the board to the public again (if I read that correctly earlier) if they want to keep any thread they think important enough for them. They need fo archive themselves. Got it. Cool. Thanks for the answer.