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

I became a contributing member within minutes of finding out that the BOI was becoming restricted to contributing members. I don't understand the backlash against paying to view the BOI. I stand with everyone who attested to how valuable they feel the BOI is. The BOI protects us from scammers, and that plays a part in protecting the hobby itself by preventing people who are in it for the wrong reasons from proliferating and overshadowing the rest of us. The BOI benefits captive reptiles directly by creating transparency around practices in the hobby. Besides becoming contributing members, what can we do to help support the continued existence of the BOI?

Originally Posted by raagatikki

Besides becoming contributing members, what can we do to help support the continued existence of the BOI?

Probably nothing, unfortunately. Rich has made his decision, and while I certainly understand the reasoning, I do agree with your statements, 100%.

I think I have laid out all of my cards on the table within this thread. I believe my reasoning is sound, and in this final hour I don't foresee anything happening to change what I feel is the obvious result of the deterioration of participation and support here over the years. I have been at this warning point a few times previously in the past, and sounded an alarm, but I guess most people either did not believe me, or chose to be unconcerned about the future I was seeing as stark writing on the wall.

I am just reading the tea leaves and doing what I have to do. A vast majority of the 141,433 registered members here have made their choices. As a direct result, now I have to make the only sane choice I can.

Maybe someone else would be willing to host a boi on their own page.
Rich, would you be willing to leave a link here to get to that page? Possibly even allow the content of all the current threads to move to there as well?
Just throwing an idea out there.
Thank you for all of this website

Originally Posted by Kfen

Maybe someone else would be willing to host a boi on their own page.
Rich, would you be willing to leave a link here to get to that page? Possibly even allow the content of all the current threads to move to there as well?
Just throwing an idea out there.
Thank you for all of this website

Well, on the surface it might sound like a good idea, but in reality it is not very practical. That would mean "giving" someone the entire member database table as well as the threads and posts, otherwise all of the posts and threads copied would not be associated with anyone other than "guest". In effect it would mean I would be "giving" someone this entire site via the MySQL database.There are a large number of tables in that database linked together in ways that only someone intimately familiar with vBulletin could likely ever figure out. Then there are the attachment files that are stored elsewhere on the server external to the database, linked in some arcane manner to the posts they are associated with. It would be a rather complicated maneuver to try to do a surgical extraction of just the BOI forum from my server. Yeah, possibly some wizard at MySQL programming could do it if you paid them enough, but quite frankly, I just can't see any good reason for me to jump through all of those hoops. Especially considering the fact that the reason I am closing the BOI in the first place is because it has evidently been rejected and abandoned by the majority of the members.

As for providing free advertising to someone else's attempt at creating their own BOI, well, gee, wouldn't that kind of be a kick in my teeth? Honestly, would anyone be surprised if I would feel that way about it? "Hey Rich! Instead of trying like hell to get that lost support back to your original BOI in order to save it (and sorry we haven't been around much lately), we are instead going to start up our own BOI! Isn't that just a SWELL idea?? What do you think? Wanna help us?"



I mean, seriously?

I just became a contributing member. I've used this site as a resource for years. I'm sorry that I never invested my money before. For what it is worth, the BOI and this website have been a great resource for me and my business, and I intend to be a contributing member from now on. I really appreciate all the work that has gone into maintaining this website and the BOI in the past. I wish I would have become a contributing member years ago. I'm very sorry for that.

Originally Posted by Boondockreptiles

I just became a contributing member. I've used this site as a resource for years. I'm sorry that I never invested my money before. For what it is worth, the BOI and this website have been a great resource for me and my business, and I intend to be a contributing member from now on. I really appreciate all the work that has gone into maintaining this website and the BOI in the past. I wish I would have become a contributing member years ago. I'm very sorry for that.

Thank you for this.

Interesting concept in that I never really considered the memberships and sponsorships as being "investments". But in fact, I guess you are correct. In retrospect, I sure as heck invested a LOT on multiple levels into this site, but never looked at it from the perspective that the membership was also investing in this site in many ways too. I guess a company that lost most of their investors would likely feel about the same way that I do right about now.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

In retrospect, I sure as heck invested a LOT on multiple levels into this site, but never looked at it from the perspective that the membership was also investing in this site in many was too. I guess a company that lost most of their investors would likely feel about the same way that I do right about now.

That's something that has always irritated me. Maybe, like you, I have an entrepreneurial mindset; my dad owned a watercraft dealership, and had to sink or swim (no pun intended!) on his own.

My point is, everyone wants to share in the profits, but they have no financial stake in building the business up to the point of even being profitable. Many do not understand the initial lean years, where you may barely break even, after investing significant amounts of time and money to get the business up and running.

I blame Facebook, in part, for the dwindling support of Fauna in general, and the BOI in particular. Facebook is free to join, and everyone loves "free". However, there's really no accountability, as to truth or integrity of posts. People get blocked, and stuff gets deleted all the time. The drama and backbiting is like being back in high school again, which is one of the reasons I stay away from it. Apparently, you do get what you pay for.

It certainly is an investment. Just two weeks ago, I sold a single gecko for $1200 using this site. I have probably bought and sold over $10,000 worth of animals using this site over the last 8 years.

I will say that I never realized that a year membership was only $25.00 until just now. It is my fault, I suppose, for not looking into it. Honestly, that is an incredibly small price to be a contributing member. That is less money than a Petco leopard gecko.

So, here are a couple thoughts that I have. I'm trying to say this as tactfully as possible and so I will preface it by stating that these things are ultimately my fault for not doing as much research as I should have done. However, these things are true none-the-less.

I've been using this site since 2012. I have made over 30 posts - most of them classifieds. I have bought and sold nearly $10,000 worth of animals during that time. I have a boi thread about me. I have contributed to boi threads about others. And...

1.) I never knew (until just now) that being a contributing member was only $25.00
2.) I never knew, and honestly, still don't know what all the benefits are to being a contributing member. Now that I am one. I'd like to know.
3.) I never knew what Trader Ratings were or Reputation level and how to use those.

Is it possible that some of this stuff could be better advertised across the site? Have you ever done membership drives or fund drives on the site? For example, have you ever done something similar to how public radio occasionally makes a concentrated effort to increase contributing members and donators? I'm not meaning for this to sound accusatory, as if I'm blaming any of the problems on you, Rich or whoever else is involved in hosting the site. I hope it doesn't come off that way and if it does I'd like to apologize in advance. I've just been rolling all of this around in my head the last day or so and I've been asking myself about how my own experience with this site has been over the last several years.

I know that spamming people with messages begging them for money is a turn off to virtually everyone. However, I'm wondering if I would have become a contributor earlier if I had received an email or message or something once a year and even when I first signed up on the site saying how much it costs for each contributing membership level and what the benefits are for each one.

Once again, I'm not trying to blame anyone who is in charge of hosting the site. I'm just thinking about my own experience. For example, I didn't know it was only $50 per year to advertise on a forum until just today (because I looked for the first time - yes, obviously, that is my fault). That is such a low price.