What happened to BOI????

Opps! My coin just appeared! Cool!

I just contributed as well as my made my first post...finally!! I'll be sure to spread the word on chamforums.

Lisa Kelly

I hope the BOI comes back. It's a very good resource to have! You don't know what you have till it's gone and I think this right here is a wake up call for a lot of us, myself included. Sadly I don't think this site will last to long with out the BOI. I'm sure someone else somewhere will try to create another kind of forum of a BOI. Rich I really hope that maybe you can hang on to this place and if you are burnt out of it, maybe you could sell it to another well known reptile lover who's willing to take on this place.

Originally Posted by LBenton

I feel that taking the BOI away so that it can not even be viewed by non-paid members will be a nail in coffin here.

Unfortunately, IMO, the nail is already there; it's just slowly being hammered in because while registrations may be up, paid contributions are not. Everyone wants something for free, but when times are tough, no one wants to pony-up the dough to help keep something VALUABLE going. And most of us agree that the BOI is very valuable. You (in general, not specifically you) may not use it now, but how many that may need it in the future are going to wistfully think, "Why didn't I contribute? It was only $25..." ???

Originally Posted by porkchop48

"MagickalMorphs;738874: What saddens me is that these same people probably sat back on their laurels while the rest of us did the dirty work burning up our printers, phone lines, and faxes when HR669 was on the table. The eh, let someone else do it attitude needs to stop."

Was this said because of why I said I have not contributed?

This is not about you--Look at the BIG PICTURE here. Check the home page, where it shows who's on-line at any given moment and I can almost guarantee that no matter how many times you check it, the ratio of registered members vs. contributors is always higher. Heck, sometimes the ratio of guests is higher than both of those!

Originally Posted by srsb

I just contributed! If someone as computer-illiterate as me can do it, anyone can! Now......where's my coin??? : )

And don't cha feel good about it? Seriously.

Originally Posted by ChrisnLisa

I just contributed as well as my made my first post...finally!! I'll be sure to spread the word on chamforums.Lisa Kelly

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!
As someone who values this site (as a whole), ~THANK YOU BOTH~!
Hopefully the old saying "every little bit helps" is true in this case.

I don't have any problem in having to pay a modest fee to post in the classifieds or in the BOI.

I do however feel that yanking the BOI (even as a "test") without notice is little more than a heavy handed tactic to drive up the number of contributing members. I recommend a more gentle approach.

I would suggest a big banner on the main pages and/or an e-mail to every registered user that you intend to make posting in the BOI and classifieds available to contributing members only effective Jan. 1, 2010. I think the BOI should be a free resource to read, but I don't think it would be too extreme to restrict posting to contributing members only. If you feel so strongly that you were wronged by someone that you want to must publicly complain about them, maybe you should pay for the right to post on the BOI. Maybe that would slow down abuse on that forum. Honestly, the BOI is the one unique thing this site has going for it, making just the reading of it available only to contributing members would hurt the site overall.

As long as posting on the classifieds remains considerably cheaper than the competition, I think that many people (me included) would become contributing members to use that service.

Greg

Well, I AM learning something from this test. When this happens for real, I need to shut down email capability from this site so I don't get flooded with emails. I'm curious to see how long it will take people to discover this FEEDBACK forum......

I have noticed an increase in registered members logging in, so I suspect some people were not bothering to log in when checking in here, and they figuring that access had been blocked to the BOI.

I don't know about you all, but I think I could get used to not having the BOI at all.........

BTW, someone asked me about how much I would like to be seeing coming into this site as padding $$ for legal defense. Honestly, I have been good about saving money, just in case, but with this retirement thing it puts a whole new spin on things. As one of my attorneys asked me not too long ago, "Rich, is it really worth $50K to you to prove that you are right? Will your being right earn that money back afterwards?" I thought that was an EXCELLENT point....

I'll be quite frank about it here. I am retiring from the reptile business. I am looking at this site as possibly being a modest return on my investment in time and effort (as well as not an insignificant amount of $$) to help bring in a little bit of money during my retirement. But I certainly don't NEED this site, either from an income standpoint, nor certainly for any collateral benefits to my own reptile business. Heck, if anything, I believe this site has HURT my SerpenCo business over the years. When I look at the stats and see 57,000 registered members, and only 300 paid contributors, well that is telling me that 56,700 registered members don't consider what this site provides as being worth donating towards to keep it afloat. Honestly, in my shoes, wouldn't YOU be thinking "why the hell should I be concerned about subjecting myself to the risk for THEM?"

I do intend to keep FaunaClassifieds running as long as it doesn't become a financial burden on me. The unknowable at this point is whether the BOI was such an important part of the reason for people coming here that it may not survive the BOI going away. But quite honestly, if the site cannot survive without the BOI and I cannot afford the financial risk of keeping the BOI, then there really is no choice in the matter. Sorry, but I have NO intention of potentially having to tell my wife that we both need to find jobs to make ends meet sometime down the road simply because a lawsuit caused by this site, even though I may have won it, cost so much that it drained our retirement savings below a sustainable level.

I've dropped enough hints about this in the past. Hinting is over with and I am laying this on the line. You all need to decide if you really want the BOI or not. It's REALLY out of my hands. I will be opening up the BOI in a couple of days, but no later than January 1, 2010 (which is when I plan to be officially retired), the doors on that forum will be shutting permanently if I see that the majority of the members here really don't give a crap either way.

If you all don't want or need the BOI, then that's fine. Because I certainly don't either.... I'm retiring, and the less headaches in my life afterwards, the better.

I know Lucille. Your correct and for once I wasn't trying for accuracy in that post. I know it would be posted elsewhere and leaked out. I didn't state there would be zero liability. More of a general post that Rich has given enough and to heck with those that still don't care enough.

Originally Posted by LBenton

I feel that taking the BOI away so that it can not even be viewed by non-paid members will be a nail in coffin here.

I think you are missing the point. We are talking about the BOI being gone anyway. The main reason for all the members that have stayed and used Fauna for all these years. What you stated above has been stated at every single turn in all these years. Charging for memberships, charging for the classifieds, every single time any revenue attempt was made here.
This time we are literally talking about the death to Fauna as we know it. Were talking after that nail has already been driven in and the site becomes a classified website and discussion forum with no BOI related material tolerated at all. The previous vision of this site would already be dead.

Originally Posted by LBenton

I can understand the liability and cost issues, but if it is not open to the public then it might as well be disbanded, after all it is supposed to be a tool for the public to make informed decisions about who to deal with in the herping industry. Not just a private club that does not share secrets as to who is a dirt bag and who will back up a deal / promise they made.

So to me it seems like to function at all it really needs an all or nothing approach in my opinion.

Your post above is understood and has been the thought pattern of all the users that have objective to everything tried in the past. You are the "Many" or "Most", in my previous post. I can't get it for free you guys worry about it. Anyone that would rather see the information posted on the BOI lost and the site "disbanded" doesn't see the same value in this site as those of us that have supported the opportunities to try and keep it up all these years. The information here isn't that important you. My point to Rich was that if the user doesn't step up this time I don't think he should worry about being fair to them and you pointed out my reasoning well.

If the BOI goes away and you can't see it, why would it matter to you that others can? Why should the information that some are willing to pay for be lost forever because you think the site should be disbanded because you are not willing to pay for it? After all, if all this came to pass the site will no longer have the BOI. It would no longer revolve around any of the ideas that have driven many of the supporters.

WTF? Why is this the 1st I'm hearing about this? I've been a contributing member for years, and access to the BOI is easily worth 20-30 bucks a year to me. If there is anything else I can do to help, please email or PM me. Seriously. I'm a big fan, and quite frankly, if the BOI leaves, I might too. Don't get me wrong- the people on this forum are generally great people imo, and thats why I read and post outside the BOI. But I pay really for the access to the BOI. It is why I'm not still on KS or some other forum, and I think what sets fauna apart.


Lisa Magil, J.D.

Originally Posted by ChrisnLisa

I just contributed as well as my made my first post...finally!! I'll be sure to spread the word on chamforums.

Lisa Kelly

I just contributed too. Thanks Chris and Lisa. Im gonna spread the word a bit.

Originally Posted by GregHuston

I think the BOI should be a free resource to read, but I don't think it would be too extreme to restrict posting to contributing members only. If you feel so strongly that you were wronged by someone that you want to must publicly complain about them, maybe you should pay for the right to post on the BOI. Maybe that would slow down abuse on that forum. Honestly, the BOI is the one unique thing this site has going for it, making just the reading of it available only to contributing members would hurt the site overall.

As long as posting on the classifieds remains considerably cheaper than the competition, I think that many people (me included) would become contributing members to use that service.

Greg

Greg, both have been tried before. The option was given for a lousy ten dollars to be a contributor to help build a war chest against frivolous lawsuits. Many users responded by leaving. At that time the economy was good but it still wasn't worth it for those that wanted Rich to share the liability for them to post their grievances. Apparently it still isn't now that it is optional to contribute. It was laid out just like you suggest in your post. Every ability given in your post was tried.

BOI is the one unique thing this site has going for it, making just the reading of it available only to contributing members would hurt the site overall.

Yes, it would. We already know that. It has been tried. Were talking about it being gone anyway.