Like I said. I knew you'd respond harshly but
I guess I'll try to answer your questions.
So, in other words, you don't mind at all that I make changes here as long as I am the one to foot the bill, do the work, and manage the headaches that ANY change here tends to produce. Is that it? Instead of you doing the work to search past ads that are of no interest to you, you want ME to do the work for you by removing them into their own section to make it easier for you to look at other ads.
This isn't it. You are the mod/admin of a forum and it's you guys' job to deal with those headaches. If I were the mod/admin here, it'd be mine. I AM sympathetic to the fact that they're probably numerous and tiresome. However. This absolutely should not change your bill unless you're running off of very old coding- which I admit is possible considering that the site is older. I don't know what kind of updates you guys have done in the past 13 years. Older coding in vBulletin based forums does some crazy stuff with hosting bills sometimes. I do understand that. I will admit I'm no coder these days, however, in checking with my database manager husband, he took a look around and said it Shouldn't change your charges. But without seeing your tables, obviously, he can't say yes or no for sure.
There's nothing wrong with running vBulletin-based forums the old way, by the way. But you're already hosting the ads, regardless of Where they're being hosted on the forums, so that shouldn't matter.
Your implication that I am a lazy person is uncalled for and, to use your own word, unjustified. Having multiple forums obviously makes things easier, otherwise you wouldn't have the classifieds sections you already have. I go throughout both the large and small forums and rarely use the search feature at all. I'm happy to browse and hey, maybe I'll find a new species. Others don't want that experience. Some others probably do. That's irrelevant.
I requested JUSTIFICATION for making such a change, one of which would be supporting sponsors that would help provide such justification. Has anyone sufficiently explained here WHY this change is really needed?
Justification has been given in two separate threads in two years, now. The cresteds bury all the other species of geckos- even the gargoyles. If other people knew they could get some flickering of visibility, they would post more and shore up the traffic in the gecko classifieds once the cresteds were moved out. I know you're going to go "that's HEARSAY" at me when I say this, but I've seen it said on facebook groups and other forums- "I don't post my gargoyles/satanic leaf geckos/ l. williamsi/ etc because the cresteds will drown them". And no, I'm not going to go get you screenshots but you can feel free to find them. They are pretty frequent and shouldn't be difficult to find.
As for sponsors, you want $150 just to start a new clickable link with a new table that does the same thing the old geckos forum does and should literally almost be able to be copy/pasted in your tables with a few small changes. In 2002 that would've flown. It's 2015 and more and more people are abandoning forums in lieu of free sites like, again, facebook. You said yourself that traffic is down. I know you have hosting bills. I know you want those paid and I sympathize. But stomping your feet and telling people "if you don't give me $150 I'm not doing it!" is not how you encourage people to give you $150. Nor is saying, in that thread I posted, "well, there's different standards and every request like this must be judged on it's own standards". In a 13 year old forum there is no reason not to have a base of standards posted somewhere that enthusiasts of a specific type of animal can work toward to get their own little nook in the forums, for instance, with cresteds or that such.
If you said, "This is the minimum standard" in a post, people could strive toward that. And you could add things as necessary or take them away since I'm sure it's possible standards would change now and again. You sneered and said "nobody would read it just like how people ask why they can't reply to classifieds all the time!". People can't read it unless you write, man. I'd get sick of writing the same thing 500000000x a year too and I understand why you feel how you do. But they can't read something that isn't there.
I support the change. I don't even have a paid membership here and would not pay $50 for *any* forum to be made, in the history of this pretty green earth we live on. Like I said. I know you have to make ends meet. But, again, requiring that when other forums have less traffic than crested geckos would and/or have 0 sponsors, just comes off like you're going "who cares what you want? Give me money.". And nobody likes to hear that. Heck, it's why half the world is mad at their cable providers.
Let's take a closer look at this. Here is a list of forums who either have lower traffic than a crested gecko forum would (based on posts per day from the gecko forum) or have 0 sponsors:
Agamids
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=50 (0 sponsors, low traffic)
Arboreal boas/pythons
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=498 (1 sponsor of 3 needed, low traffic)
Hognose et al
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=502 (0 sponsors, which is Really surprising to me)
Pine, bull, gopher
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=506 (0 sponsors)
Rosy boas
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=509 (0 sponsors)
Other snakes
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=49 (0 sponsors)
Cornsnakes
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=501 (2 of 3 sponsors)
Kingsnakes
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=504 (2 of 3 sponsors)
Venomous
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=48 (0 sponsosr)
Monitors
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=52 (2 sponsors of 3)
Tegus
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=489 (2 sponsors of 3)
Other Lizards
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=53 (2 of 3 sponsors)
Iquanas
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=74 (1 of 3 sponsors)
Skinks
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=488 (0 sponsors)
Uros
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=490 (1 of 3 sponsors)
Amphibians
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=56 (1 of 3 sponsors)
Trading and Bartering
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=14 (0 sponsors, though I'm willing to give this one a pass to be honest)
Crocodilians
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=55 (0 sponsors)
All other herp stuff
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=58 (0 sponsors)
Now, you're worried about traffic and I understand that. Let's compare the Hognose and etc forum to a projected Crested Geckos forum. From 10/19/2015-10/13/2015, the Hognose forum received 25 posts. That's not too bad. In the Geckos current collective for the Same Exact Time Period, Crested Geckos alone received 41 posts. That's one species.
Collectively, the other species in the Geckos forum received 37 other posts, not including wanted ads and 1 misplaced leopard gecko ad. Same time period.
You wanted justification. There you go. If that isn't justification for you, you will never, ever see it and nobody can force you to make a change.
So suppose I make that change. Then I have people who complain that they want it changed back because they LIKED having those crested gecko ads in that one forum where they could peruse other gecko ads for animals they were interested in. Should I then change it back to satisfy their complaint about the now existing situation?
I imagine you should tell them whatever you told them when leopard geckos broke away. If I were a mod? I'd tell them that we decided to give the crested geckos their own forum simply because we wanted to give the other geckos some room to breathe. And looking at those numbers above this quote, it's an honest answer. They can still persue other gecko ads. Nobody is saying geckos should only be crested geckos. They're just saying that all the crested ads are huge in quantity (and they are).
Take a look at the TOTAL number of registered members on this site. Then check in this thread and any others asking about this very same modification. Tell me what PERCENTAGE of the membership is asking for this change, please, and then explain why I should interpret that as an overwhelming force to be considered.
Tie two ball python people to a chair (no offense ball python friends, I love yall). They can only stand up when they both agree on everything. They will die arguing. If you want this sort of support, you're going to have to wait for decades until the crested geckos have the same sort of insane post level that ball pythons do and they have absolutely destroyed the gecko forum past the point of no return. Heck, maybe not even then. The reptile community at large isn't the best at agreeing to do things together. Six or seven of us go "hey" at once and then a few months later, maybe three or four people wave their hands and go "hey" again.
The pure simple fact of the matter is: this has been brought up multiple times in the past few years and crested geckos are extremely popular. One day they'll probably lose some interest (because that's how popular "easy" animals tend to do and it all regulates eventually) but that day isn't today and it will never be as dead as Agamids whose first 25 posts reach all the way back to the beginning of September 2015. Cresteds are very nearly as popular as leopard geckos by post volume alone, and having their own forum would only help to grow that interest WITHOUT hurting the other geckos.
Every time you shout "where is the support?!". It's right here, being "lazy" and posting you several paragraphs showing you pure, honest facts that it went and gathered itself when you asked for justification. Check them yourself and you will see that my numbers are right.
If this post doesn't convince you (and it likely won't), nothing will. You wanted an effort post? You got it. I like this site. It's a good site with a lot of solid people and I recommend it constantly. I want it to continue to last and to continue to grow, but for that to happen, man, you have to meet us halfway. And telling us to give you $150, when your justification is flawed as visibly outlined all over this post, is not doing that.
