Rich...
I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets frustrated knowing that your getting hate mail by simply trying to make something work, and asking for peoples help to do so. Like with any other issue in life...its always the fanatic minority, who talk the loudest...and ultimately they are the ones who get heard.
The rest of us just sit back and hope for the best. Hence, its
the rest of us who are at fault here due to our inaction. I can GUARANTEE you Rich...any person with the slightest hint of common sense is putting full blame, for this mess, squarely on the individual staring them back in the mirror. Too little too late...so much more could have been done but wasn't. No one from this corner of the table is criticizing you one bit Rich...regardless of what your decision will be.
You built a site which spawned a community. A LOT of REALLY good people found their way here. let me give you some examples;
The people who won some recent auctions, were told that if they feel that the items they purchased were NOT as described...then they can send them back for a full refund. The following are their responses to that;
martinarquero said...
btw I will keep them no mater what, money is for a great cause, thanks
porkchop48 said...
No need to worry if I will be happy with it or not. Just go ahead and donate the money to fauna.
Of course I cant forget about
Bozuka. When offered to be gifted a $25 membership with all its benefits, she unselfishly replied...
I use Fauna a lot but im not an active ad poster, id feel bad taking a membership. Can you give it someone who really will use it?
Mentioning the
Contributions 'n Stuff thread is probably one of the best examples I can give, to attest to the fact that the VAST majority of people on this site, are decent, fair and appreciative. If any thread ever deserved to stay
on topic, its that one. Contributions 'n Stuff encompasses the efforts of many people who are giving their time and money for something that they believe in. Although everyone is entitled to their opinions...as far as I can tell not ONE person came on that thread to bash its attempts. From day one its been on topic (you don't find many threads on the BOI that can claim the same) Everyone, even the "trolls" have the decency to understand that the goal of that thread is to help fix some of the problems...not to reiterate them over and over and over again.
I can give you MANY more examples, but I have a very important appointment that I must keep, with a tall bottle of campaign.
My point is, Rich...you have a thick skin and don't take any of that hate mail to heart. However, there is no question that eats away at you. A few posts back I thought you were about to lose it when you typed
"...then I'm the money grubbing asshole then?..." (by the way, I gave you points for that...don't let it happen again
...I joke, I joke). I just want to put it out there that the opinions in the hate mail you receive are NOT the rule...they are the exception. The
ONLY thing we can ask of you is not to perceive the hate mail as representing 99% of us who know better. That hate mail only represents that single individual who wrote it. Please don't let that factor into your decision. No matter how lacking the donations are...keep in mind that those people quoted above, as well as THOUSANDS of others, have FC's back.
Regardless of what changes we'll find on this site tomorrow morning...thanks Rich for creating the BOI and thanks everyone else who keeping it going.
One more thing...3....2....1....HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!
Easier to pick up on at a glance as well.
) 
