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

Originally Posted by Gecko_Den

Rich's first post in this thread pretty much explains his position...

Yes, I read the first post...several times actually. I just had trouble understanding why just the BOI going away while the rest of this massive forum stays active would cause such an uproar. I know its a very useful tool, but since I haven't done dealings here I guess I didn't appreciate its importance.
Thanks

Originally Posted by BBNewYork

Yes, I read the first post...several times actually. I just had trouble understanding why just the BOI going away while the rest of this massive forum stays active would cause such an uproar. I know its a very useful tool, but since I haven't done dealings here I guess I didn't appreciate its importance.
Thanks

Because it is the only section of this site that subjects me to a lot of legal and financial liability because of what other people post there. If the paid memberships won't cover that financial liability incurred by my allowing them that freedom of expression on this site, then I don't need that hanging over my head when I go into retirement.

Originally Posted by BBNewYork

I just had trouble understanding why just the BOI going away while the rest of this massive forum stays active would cause such an uproar. I know its a very useful tool, but since I haven't done dealings here I guess I didn't appreciate its importance.

You will understand once you've been ripped off.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Because it is the only section of this site that subjects me to a lot of legal and financial liability because of what other people post there. If the paid memberships won't cover that financial liability incurred by my allowing them that freedom of expression on this site, then I don't need that hanging over my head when I go into retirement.

I understand why it makes you legally and financially liable, I meant why it causes an uproar for the other members, but i can answer my own question now. The BOI saves people endless amounts of money by keeping them from being ripped off. Thanks for humoring my stupid questions!

Originally Posted by BBNewYork

The BOI saves people endless amounts of money by keeping them from being ripped off. Thanks for humoring my stupid questions!

Correct, many of us found fauna because of the BOI. (after being scammed, finding a thread on the guy here). Many people are upset at the idea of losing their main reason for even being here.

As someone had requested, I put a generic "donate" button up at the top of the page for those people who wish to donate without having a membership icon associated with it. Those contributions will also be taken into account when it comes time to make my decision as to whether the BOI needs to go or can stay.

Quite honestly, traffic has been picking up significantly on this site lately. It's really not all that large of a percentage of active members that I need to have contributing in order to give me a somewhat comfortable feeling of being able to weather any financial storm that the BOI will bring me.

But once I make the decision to pull the plug, that is IT, for good. Nothing anyone can say or offer afterwards is going to change my mind. I'm getting quite used to just thinking about retiring and reducing the load off of my mind accordingly with my real business. If the BOI is bringing me more grief and heachaches on top of the liability, I JUST DON'T NEED it in my life any longer. I really don't know how to stress that any stronger than I have been.

Yeah, maybe someone else will pick up doing this, and more power to them. But I will bet that they will be in the same place I am pretty quickly. No one can afford to run a BOI type of forum without substantial financial backing. Heck, I have gotten several threatened lawsuits just in the last few days, I guess from people who believe my resolve has weakened now to just do their bidding from their legal threats. They obviously don't know me very well... Hell, my funk over this site was broken when someone tried to destroy it with a DDoS attack. So yeah, go ahead and try me....

I finally got opf me arse and paid my $25.00. Hope it's not too late to help.

Originally Posted by kingsnake1

I finally got opf me arse and paid my $25.00. Hope it's not too late to help.

Thank you.

I honestly don't know which way I am going to bounce with this. My inclination is to just shut down the BOI and be done with it, but I think that wouldn't be fair without giving everyone an opportunity to convince me that this forum has substantial value to the majority of the people who come here to use it. Considering that I will be getting a substantial portion of the headaches from this forum remaining here, and all the real benefits will be for everyone else who utilizes the BOI, I really need a substantial incentive to keep up with the headaches.

So that is what I am offering here and now: An opportunity for you all to keep the BOI. But I hope everyone understands fully that this window of opportunity will not stay open much longer. Perhaps a lot of people aren't aware of this taking place, so it may be worthwhile for everyone here who DOES want the BOI to continue to spread that word so other people can make their voices (and contributions) heard and counted. After the fact, having a bunch of people tell me that they just didn't know the BOI was in jeopardy isn't going to carry much weight with me. If those people didn't come by here enough to stay on top of the news, then certainly the BOI wasn't all that important to them anyway.

So with that in mind, right not it's too early to tell if the contributions now are too little, too late or not. I will say that we really aren't all that much closer to the hoped for goal of contributors yet. And that clock IS ticking....

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Thank you.

I honestly don't know which way I am going to bounce with this. My inclination is to just shut down the BOI and be done with it, but I think that wouldn't be fair without giving everyone an opportunity to convince me that this forum has substantial value to the majority of the people who come here to use it. Considering that I will be getting a substantial portion of the headaches from this forum remaining here, and all the real benefits will be for everyone else who utilizes the BOI, I really need a substantial incentive to keep up with the headaches.

So that is what I am offering here and now: An opportunity for you all to keep the BOI. But I hope everyone understands fully that this window of opportunity will not stay open much longer. Perhaps a lot of people aren't aware of this taking place, so it may be worthwhile for everyone here who DOES want the BOI to continue to spread that word so other people can make their voices (and contributions) heard and counted. After the fact, having a bunch of people tell me that they just didn't know the BOI was in jeopardy isn't going to carry much weight with me. If those people didn't come by here enough to stay on top of the news, then certainly the BOI wasn't all that important to them anyway.

So with that in mind, right not it's too early to tell if the contributions now are too little, too late or not. I will say that we really aren't all that much closer to the hoped for goal of contributors yet. And that clock IS ticking....

Too bad you couldn't put one of those little thermometers on the site. Like the ones that libraries use, when they are doing a fund raiser. As they get closer and closer to their $$ goal, it gets filled in. It doesn't have to have any numbers on it, if that was something you are worried about. It would give us something to shoot for, a goal anyway?!?! Right now, we are just shooting into the dark and/or we have to keep buggin you for numbers and you have enough headaches, as is.

Just a thought,

Wayne

I haven't even read the whole thread, but this is sad. the B.O.I. has been extremely helpful to me and many people that I know, as well as many people nationwide (and in some cases, internationally).

Rich, you are a great man, and I would hate to see your retirement get leeched away by keeping the B.O.I. going on top of whatever legal fees it may incur.

Here is my suggestion, and I am sure it has been suggested before, but I have a couple of things to add.

Try to make a little extra money to create a whole new site (but still some sort of subsidiary of Fauna), that is strictly the B.O.I. No other forums, no other rooms. If possible, some how make it translate your memberships here over to the B.O.I. site. This would make a lot more people willing to support it.

Then, sell the B.O.I. site to someone who is willing to take on the financial and legal responsibilities. No one wants to see the B.O.I. go. If it moves down the street, people would still get to go see it, in a manner of speaking. If you do take this idea into consideration, let us know. I'm sure we could bring up paid memberships as well as donations in order to make it happen...