• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Trader's Ratings promotion

WebSlave

WebSlave

The world looks differently to me now.
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We've had the Trader's Ratings function on this site nearly forever, it seems, but from what I can tell, it is only very lightly used by anyone. Truth be known, I suspect that nearly half the people here don't even know it exists, and the other half just forgot about it completely.

So a little while back while I was involved in testing the Trader's Ratings because of a failure related with the server migration, I got to thinking about it. Mostly because while testing, I decided the best way to test was to actually DO a Trader's Rating on someone, and decided that using a member who just purchased a Benefactor level membership would fit that bill.

So after the testing, I was going to delete the positive rating I gave, but then gave pause to think about it a bit. Why not leave it? After all, wasn't this actually a commercial transaction? As such, am I not justified in doing my own Trader's Ratings for such people who are financially supporting this site?

Of course, one thing led to another, and I started thinking that perhaps I really should do this for ALL members who are helping to financially support this site. This could have a desired side effect of introducing them to the Trader's Ratings (or perhaps re-introducing them), and perhaps show them it's usage and perhaps act as encouragement for them to USE it much more than it has been in the past.

So here is the deal. Beginning on October 1, 2017, I will give positive Trader's Ratings for every member who donates $$ to this site, either as a paying level member, or a sponsor of any forum. This, of course, is going to be experimental in the sense that I want to see if this action will have a positive effect on several fronts for this site and the membership. Honestly, it is a completely manual process I will have to do, so if I discover that it has absolutely no positive effect, then I will discontinue the practice as soon as I come to my senses. But otherwise, hoping for the best, this will be implemented at the beginning of the month.

Unless, of course, one or more people can convince me of something I haven't thought of that would actually be detrimental to this site.

So there you have it. Probably won't mean a hill of beans to most people, but maybe some people might like this change.
 
I'm probably in the extreme minority, but I'm a paying level member who never buys or sells, so giving me a trader rating would be a bit misleading.

Not that I'd mind having it, of course, and as I don't trade, my rating affects noting, but just thinkin'....
 
I'm a firm believer in the trader ratings and the BOI. People can say what they want to, it can help or harm your business. I guess we should all be giving Rich trader ratings as well. Things are changing and I'm not completely sure in which direction, but this is the only outlet I've used for sales, ever. I've met a lot of great people through this site and will continue to support it.
 
Helenthereef said:
I'm probably in the extreme minority, but I'm a paying level member who never buys or sells, so giving me a trader rating would be a bit misleading.

Not that I'd mind having it, of course, and as I don't trade, my rating affects noting, but just thinkin'....
Click to expand...

I don't sell either, but I buy animals occasionally. Still, I think the ratings are helpful for getting an idea about a potential customer, as well. They show if people are good customers - paying when they say they will, good communication, do they initiate charge-backs prematurely?, etc.

Most of the attention is on the sellers' conduct, but there have been some nightmare customers here too.

Helen, even if you never sell, you are still a valued member here, and I enjoy your posts!

Kathy
 
I thought it was cool to get a rating from the man himself lol and that will probably be incentive to continue financial support of the site from me. I don't sell or buy much anymore and fell away from my memberships but I still come here and use the boi. I love all that fauna has done for me and the community! I truly enjoy it and a small contribution is just a way of saying thanks.
 
Well, I have been keeping up my end in the bargain for this, but not sure how much of an impact it has been having with people using the Trader's Feedback more often. I have noticed that nearly every one I leave positive feedback for has not had a previous feedback applied from anyone in years.

But I'll keep at it for a while longer in case I am just having to overcome a lot of dead weight inertia to get things moving again. Besides, it's not like I am being flooded with memberships and sponsorships where this is a lot of work for me...... :eek:
 
I've been trying to get ratings to work for me, but I keep getting a message saying that I don't have permission to leave ratings. :(
 
I appreciate the trader ratings and your efforts. I try to make it a point to rate everyone I deal with.
 
I like the trader ratings, but most of the folks I do business with don't have paid accounts and can't leave feedback. I'd like to see it stay even if it appears to get minimal use. I leave feedback for all those I do business with, paid account or not. I do feel it's just an additional, helpful tool to screen the good from the bad.
 
mrawesomeman24 said:
I've been trying to get ratings to work for me, but I keep getting a message saying that I don't have permission to leave ratings. :(
Click to expand...

Only site sponsors and paying members can leave ratings.
 
bcr229 said:
Only site sponsors and paying members can leave ratings.
Click to expand...

Actually that is not exactly accurate. Only members with paid accounts can use the trader's ratings. The sponsorships are not tied to any elevated member group, which is what the Trader's Ratings are tied to. The reason for that is because sponsorships are considered as being an "advertising" avenue instead of a "contributing" avenue, because, well, they both were implemented at different times with different incentives in mind.

That being said, I have been toying with the idea of changing all that, but not something I have yet had the mental stamina to address.
 
WebSlave said:
Actually that is not exactly accurate. Only members with paid accounts can use the trader's ratings. The sponsorships are not tied to any elevated member group, which is what the Trader's Ratings are tied to. The reason for that is because sponsorships are considered as being an "advertising" avenue instead of a "contributing" avenue, because, well, they both were implemented at different times with different incentives in mind.

That being said, I have been toying with the idea of changing all that, but not something I have yet had the mental stamina to address.
Click to expand...
I'm still sorting this out some and may have a mis-perception?

So traders rating are B2B, actual customers don't have a way to say they find the seller was good, or bad, is that right?

Is there a central page with "rules".

I got a warning a few years ago about suggesting PayPal fees would increase price, and yet see other suggest it. Pay by check discount would in effect be the same thing without explicitly saying something about PayPal fees. The agree to terms page might be linked to an all encompassing "rules" page maybe?

There are many outhouse lawyers here, good and bad at the same time. Looking for clarity.

Will, Biologist
Kapidolo Farms
 
Sounds like a good idea to me. I try to rate anyone I have a transaction with but forget sometimes too. Might help with reminding people it's there. I do look at them when thinking about buying or selling from someone.
 
Kapidolo Farms said:
I'm still sorting this out some and may have a mis-perception?

So traders rating are B2B, actual customers don't have a way to say they find the seller was good, or bad, is that right?
Click to expand...

Of course customers can rate a seller using the Trader's Ratings. They can rate a seller as Positive, Negative, or Neutral. That is what it is there for and why it is called a rating system. Of course, they must have a Contributor level membership or above in order to use the system, the reason for which has been talked about several times here.

Kapidolo Farms said:
Is there a central page with "rules".
Click to expand...

Not really. One reason is because I just haven't put in that kind of effort to try to itemize the rules beyond localized areas where such rules may apply. Another reason there is not is because there is a lot of past history that indicates to me that most people wouldn't read such a thing anyway.

Kapidolo Farms said:
I got a warning a few years ago about suggesting PayPal fees would increase price,
Click to expand...

Not trying to dispute your claim, but I seriously doubt you would get a warning from staff or myself for what you claim. My guess is that there were associated extenuating circumstances for which you actually got such a warning. But please correct me with a direct link to what you claim if I am mistaken.

Kapidolo Farms said:
and yet see other suggest it. Pay by check discount would in effect be the same thing without explicitly saying something about PayPal fees. The agree to terms page might be linked to an all encompassing "rules" page maybe?

There are many outhouse lawyers here, good and bad at the same time. Looking for clarity.

Will, Biologist
Kapidolo Farms
Click to expand...

This site is chock full of opinions. Some are worth their weight in gold, whereas other might not be worth their weight in fly feces. It is up to each reader to make their own determination about what has value to them. We only provide the venue for posters of opinions and readers of those opinions to meet. None are edited or otherwise audited for content value by site staff.
 
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