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

If you close it down will the posts still be up I think they wouldn't be but just wondering. This is for Rich.

Wow. Just...wow. Some of the responses/questions here are making me want to crawl under my desk and weep for the future of humanity.

Frankly, I'm impressed that Rich and the mods have held on this long. It's a sign of how much they want the BOI (and Fauna in general) to live on as an aid to those in this hobby. I would've thrown in my hat in frustration long ago.

Originally Posted by birdman123

If you close it down will the posts still be up I think they wouldn't be but just wondering. This is for Rich.

Rich has addressed this in another thread already. He has said that if it goes, it all goes. Reason being, that if he leaves up the old threads, that still leaves him open to potential litigation. I think that thread is in the feedback forum, if you wanted to go and check it out.

Hope that helps!

Wayne

Figured a brief status report is in order....

Been looking over the stats for paid subscriptions (which is the system used for paid contributor memberships). I believe I started this paid membership plan sometime in 2005, but from whenever it was, just looking at the Contributor level memberships (which is the one most people use BY FAR), we have had a total of 1,325 paid memberships to date. Of those 1,325 paid members, 957 have chosen to NOT renew. So the number of active paid Contributor memberships to date, is only 368.

Personally, it just feels disheartening that 957 members here have decided that this site is no longer worth supporting. Yeah, I'm sure there are all kinds of reasons for this, not related directly to the abandonment of their support for the BOI and/or FaunaClassifieds, but does anyone seriously think this doesn't indicate something significant to me about this site I am running?

But on a more positive note, traffic is up substantially on this site as a whole, and the classified sections seem to be really jumping. With the current trend, if the majority of the members here decide that the BOI can go, I doubt it will severely affect the overall health of this site in general. Yeah, it will take a hit, but we've had enough of those for one reason or another in the past, and are still here to tell about it.

Of course, there is a downside to this, as the /home volume on my server has been flagging warnings of being 85% full lately. So it looks like either a server move in my future (again!) or perhaps I can skate by with just a hard drive upgrade. So it does appear that nearly every silver lining can actually have a cloud around it.

As for my own projected timeline for retiring my reptile breeding business, I have already sold off all the 2009 and 2008 animals, and am working on listing the adults and subadults. From the number of inquiries I have gotten about when I am going to get this done, I suspect that many of the 1300+ corns I have will move out fairly quickly. So I guess maybe my wording about when the fate of the BOI will be decided needs to be revised to state that it will be NO LATER THAN January 1, 2010, but perhaps sooner. Maybe even MUCH sooner. After all, once my business has been liquidated, it will be on THAT date that my retirement really starts.

To add another disappointing note - it appears that there is still a fairly significant group of members that isn't aware that this is happening (based on the responses I have gotten when I referenced the situation)

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Been looking over the stats for paid subscriptions (which is the system used for paid contributor memberships). I believe I started this paid membership plan sometime in 2005, but from whenever it was, just looking at the Contributor level memberships (which is the one most people use BY FAR), we have had a total of 1,325 paid memberships to date. Of those 1,325 paid members, 957 have chosen to NOT renew. So the number of active paid Contributor memberships to date, is only 368.

Personally, it just feels disheartening that 957 members here have decided that this site is no longer worth supporting. Yeah, I'm sure there are all kinds of reasons for this, not related directly to the abandonment of their support for the BOI and/or FaunaClassifieds, but does anyone seriously think this doesn't indicate something significant to me about this site I am running?

Question, of those 957 members, is there a way to see how many were paying to post on the BOI when it was initially started or how many paid to post classifieds when it was pay to post? It may not be those people have decided this site is no longer worth supporting, it may just be the options those people were paying for then are now free.

Originally Posted by hhmoore

To add another disappointing note - it appears that there is still a fairly significant group of members that isn't aware that this is happening (based on the responses I have gotten when I referenced the situation)

I didn't see if the following was answered so I will put it out there again.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Actually I don't believe this system has the capability of a mass PM. Even if it did, most people have their user cp set to send them an email notice upon receipt of a PM, so I would STILL get flooded with those bounce back emails.

Originally Posted by DAND

Could you utilize the member list and then the last visit option? That way you could go back a month or two and those people would be the folks that have used the site and may actually want to do something about it. Chances are you'd have much less bounced back e-mails too.

Originally Posted by DAND

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?

Originally Posted by hhmoore

To add another disappointing note - it appears that there is still a fairly significant group of members that isn't aware that this is happening (based on the responses I have gotten when I referenced the situation)

Email and/or mass PM to let them know so those people have a chance to step up was suggested a couple weeks ago, wasn't it?

Originally Posted by WebSlave

So the number of active paid Contributor memberships to date, is only 368.

Which equates to roughly $10,000 on memberships alone. Not too bad looking at it from the cup is half full perspective.

Originally Posted by shrap

Which equates to roughly $10,000 on memberships alone. Not too bad looking at it from the cup is half full perspective.

Which certainly would be true if expenses and overhead were completely ignored and this was all just pure profit. Even ignoring the entire reason this came up in the first place....

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Which certainly would be true if expenses and overhead were completely ignored and this was all just pure profit. Even ignoring the entire reason this came up in the first place....

Sure. I think we all understand that. Just saying, almost 400 paid members, that is no easy feat for any website.