Enough is enough with the classifieds (*or* Why you cannot reply to classified ads)

So the inly way to talk to some one or reply to a message is to be a payed member. Thats great lol im sorry but then say u might make it that payed members cant eather maybe im sorry I dont get it bc of some people others have to suffer

Originally Posted by bonyclideex

So the inly way to talk to some one or reply to a message is to be a payed member.

no, use the PM (private message) function, leave a visitor message or ideally use the contact info the seller provides in the actual ad, usually an email address or phone number.

Please don't think I am trying to pick on you Drew, because many others share your concerns, but I am curious why people's first thought isn't to use the contact info posted by the seller? Why is their first thought to reply to the thread, even when many of the ads specifically state email or pm? I can understand those who wish to warn others publicly about something or someone, but I am referring to those who are interested in purchasing the item. Especially when the interested party posts stuff like "I am interested, email me at .....". If the seller posted his/her contact information, why should they email you? That just never made sense to me and to those who do this sort of thing, I would love to hear the logic behind it.

Originally Posted by hhmoore

I'll estimate that at least half of the posts in the classifieds were fluff - friendly, usually complimentary, posts that did nothing but bump the ads. (There is an infraction for ad bumping abuse; but again, consideration was being given to the intent. The goal was not to just pile on infractions, and end up banning people....THAT is counterproductive.) Then there were the good guy posts...the positive, well intended ones - those could be argued to be breaking two different rules for the classifieds (ad bumping + BOI type posts outside of the BOI); but cracking down too hard on them seemed like a bad idea. Let's say we were getting about 350 posted responses to ads each day...the two types of posts described above easily made up 200 of them. From there, it was a battle between legitimate questions and disruptive or chatty posts.

In case anybody thinks this change only impacts the registered members, I wanted to point out that we are now in better position to address the type of posts mentioned above. All the Wow, Nice snake, I wish I had the money, Good luck with your sale, _______ is a great seller with great animals - buy with confidence, etc are being treated as what they are: bumps.
The purpose of having the classifieds open to posted responses is allowing sale related communication between buyers and sellers. Posting BOI links and (politely) pointing out misrepresentations are also accepted. Those are the type of posts that are allowed.

I'm already seeing more people slip the fluff in by tacking on PM sent, though.

I'd rather see people get banned than to lose the ability to post in a classified all together.

Makes sense to me (keeping people from replying) but hopefully it is left open for paid members so BOI threads can be linked in trade posts from a user with an open bad guy thread.

If you can't reply to the add, then what do you do to contact the seller?

Probably the same thing you do in all the other classifieds out there. (Not just reptile classifieds).

You contact the seller through their contact information.
OR
You click on their name and send a private message or an e-mail.

Do not abuse the replies. You guys do NOT want to totally lose the reply function for everyone.

How about this. To keep you from pressing the reply function. Just think of it as being there only for your protection. Nothing else. Just YOUR protection. And if you do not know what that means..... don't worry about it. Pretend it is not there. We will take care of the rest.

Originally Posted by HerpVenue

How about this. To keep you from pressing the reply function. Just think of it as being there only for your protection. Nothing else. Just YOUR protection. And if you do not know what that means..... don't worry about it. Pretend it is not there. We will take care of the rest.

That doesn't make any sense to me. And when I don't know what something means, I ask. So, what DOES it mean? Are you referring to inserting a BOI link?

If all replies are stopped in any ad, what would the proper response be if someone posts an ad that misrepresents the animal? For instance, someone posts a "For sale, one ball python very tame, $50" ad with the pic showing a retic. Should a reader go "Well, I know that's not a ball" and move on, ignoring it? Should they only send a PM to the poster, saying "That's a retic" and hope they are just honest and posted the wrong picture and will fix it? Or post a thread in discussion saying "Hey, is this a ball python or a retic?" with a link to the ad?

Just wondering about hypothetical situations. I personally do not care one way or the other about non-disruptive comments in ads, i.e. the "Nice snake, those colors are super bright for that locality" type things. I know those bump ads, and some would be honest "Good snake!" comments and some would be deliberate attempts to bump the ad. I think that posting a active BOI Bad Guy thread link in a ad is a good thing. I would ASSUME that a good seller would post his own BOI good guy links if he wanted to, so posting good links would be kind of silly. But then if a buyer doesn't want to take time to research the seller on the BOI ON THE SAME SITE THE AD IS ON, then I don't feel anyone should need to hold their hand to point out a BOI Bad Guy thread either. They can click the buttons themselves.

I personally don't think there is any such thing as a "overpriced" animal for sale. If the seller wants $5000 for a normal corn snake, it's THEIR animal and they can put that price tag on the snake. If someone feels they want that snake badly enough to pay five grand for it, then it's a fair price. If you don't like that price and think it's utterly ridiculous to pay that much, no one is twisting your arm to buy it! Move on! Buy elsewhere.

I do prefer to have things like the snake's feeding and such to be mentioned, but if it is not, it is equally easy for me to contact the seller via PM and ask that myself. A locked ad doesn't mean anything to me, since I'm fully able to look up a bad guy in the BOI all by myself. See, I have fingers and thumbs so I can type up the search on the site. If someone has no BOI entries, and I've never heard of them, I can even start a Inquiry thread to ask if people say good things or bad things.

The mods have stated repeatedly that there's a LOT of infractions being handled. That's not "only a few are causing all of us to be punished". That's a lot of people screwing around because they don't know the rules, don't care about the rules or just want to cause trouble. If it was only a few people, they'd have been banned by now and there wouldn't be any issue to address.

As far as sending a PM to each and every member, geez... the banner announcements in more than one place plus a whole thread explaining it aren't enough? I prefer NOT getting a email or PM every time there's some policy change, just because some people refuse to read announcements in the section they're in, OR the thread announcing the change.

It's kind of ridiculous to argue that it's being a "daddy" to stop chatter in ads and therefor not allowing discussion outside of the discussion sections... but then to claim the site should be a "daddy" and police all the ads for possible illegal activites. Which way is it? Police the site or not? The mods have all but said that IF a illegal ad is placed and it's obviously illegal it can be pulled. They also have bluntly said they won't SAY that the site will pull illegal ads because that would make them legally saying that the ads that ARE here are legal in nature. I haven't seen a single ad selling cocaine or nuclear weapons, but I bet if one was posted, the mods would pull it. As far as whether a subspecies of toad is legal in someone's personal county, the mods cannot be held to knowing every single law and restriction. If you see something illegal, you can PM the seller, report the ad with a link to the actual laws on the official website AND send a link to the ad to the authorities. You can also start a discussion on the discussion sections or EVEN post a Inquiry on the person, if you think you have proof they are selling a illegal animal... right?

All in all, if people prefer KS to Fauna, they can go over there. If they prefer Fauna, they can stay here. If they want to start their own site and run things their way, they can do that. It's pretty obvious that Fauna allows a lot of "free speech" here or all the replies in the thread here wouldn't be here. People will discuss changes and state their opinions, good or ill. Some sites wouldn't even allow that. Someone posting that the mods just don't want to do their jobs would be banned from a LOT of sites.

I'm not super active here, but it's a good resource for me. And if someone doesn't have the money to become a contributer and is buying snakes, they are CHOOSING to not be a contributer. You aren't required to be one to participate, but paid members should get perks that non-paid members don't get.

When you click on a classified ad, down at the bottom there are several links to other ads that share keywords (related posts, I believe). Most of the time they are just old ads from years and years ago.

Is there a way that it could search the BOI and post BG/GG links (on the OP) similar to that of the sale ads? I think that would greatly increase the use of the BOI and bring greater visibility.

Originally Posted by Wolfy-hound

I haven't seen a single ad selling cocaine or nuclear weapons, but I bet if one was posted, the mods would pull it.

Funny you mentioned that. I saw an ad earlier in the year where someone was trying to trade a third-world child for ball pythons.