One year anniversary of the closing of the Board Of Inquiry - Page 7 - FaunaClassifieds
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FaunaClassifieds Site HELP & Feedback Forum Anything of a nature concerning this website, moderators, admin, or anything having to do with how it is being run, should go here. Criticism is welcome, but abusive antagonism is not. THIS IS NOT THE FORUM FOR FEEDBACK CONCERNING BUYERS AND SELLERS! Such posts are ONLY allowed as replies to classified ads posted by the specific member involved in a specific issue with you.

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Old 02-15-2021, 02:15 AM   #61
WebSlave
Quote:
Originally Posted by REPTILEMANIA View Post
To Stop the scammers in the US and you’re not familiar with the person you’re buying from you should request that they send a shipment COD UPS and FedEx have that option! Other than that I would have everyone registered with Faunaclassifieds to provide proof of identity like drivers license to weed out scammers!
Ah, yes. "Proof of identiy". That sounds pretty easy, doesn't it? You would be astonished at how easy it is for suitably motivated individuals to fake anything and everything. Which means that staff here would have to become private investigators and forensic specialists to try to qualify said "proof" being offered. I've seen my share of likely photoshopped driver's licenses over the years, and heck have even gotten forged attorney "cease and desist" documents sent to me now and again. So I really don't have a whole lot of faith in such an activity.

Besides, who will I get to replace the moderators when the current ones tell me to go to Hell when I tell them that is now their new job? I sure as Hell am not going to spend all my time doing such a thing, and hard as it is to believe, the moderators DO have a life outside of this site.

Then what about the liability from the inferred guarantee that anyone buying and selling here has been properly vetted and serves as an implied warranty that the seller or buyer is exactly who the say they are? When that is proven wrong, and you get screwed, aren't you going to be pissed at ME because of it? And if you have pockets deep enough, you might even consider filing a lawsuit against me as a result. Thanks, but no thanks.

As I mentioned in an earlier post there ARE legal minefields in running a website of this nature. Likely any attorney worth his or her salt would consider me crazy if I said I was going to take on a responsibility such as that.

BTW, I am sorry if it appears I am extremely negative when replying to suggestions here. Truth of the matter is that I have spent a lot of time over the years constantly thinking about how best to run this site. And point of the matter is that I have been thinking for at least the past year about how closing the BOI was going to affect the site, and knew the current scammer problem was a near certainty that I would need to address eventually. So many ideas being presented now really are not new to me. So I find myself explaining why I have already rejected such ideas as I thought about what would it would take to implement them, as well as trying to foresee problems they may cause.

Of course, I can't think of everything, and maybe I sometimes read more into things than I should. But all in all, usually when I suggest a plan and am asking for input, I have already thought pretty deeply on the matter, and am really looking for better ideas that I might have overlooked, or hoping that someone else sees something in my suggested plan that I hadn't thought of. And quite honestly, all the while knowing that there is a better than 50 percent chance that any change I make will cause a ruckus one way or another with a number of members, or perhaps be mostly ignored and wasted time and effort. If such changes that I have done similarly in the past would have left physical scars, I would be an awful sight to behold, indeed.

Anyway, I am planning on sticking with my original idea of just allowing BOI style replies in the classified ads sections and running with that. I have asked my programmer to mod up an admin panel so I can control the thread locking function so as to limit that to paying members only. I just haven't decided what level I want that to be set at, so I want the flexibility to be able to change it IF needed and AS needed. Will a scammer be willing to pay just $25 to become a Contributing level member and able to lock their ads? Beats me. That might just be a negligible cost of doing business to them.

As mentioned in my earlier posts, ONLY replies to existing classified ads will be allowed to have BOI styling posts made within them. New threads such as "searching for info on JOE BLOW", etc. will not be allowed. But if Joe Blow posted a classified ad here, then yes, that will be acceptable then. The reason for this, as stated before, is because I am only interested in steps that will prevent, or at least reduce, the incidences of alleged scammers using THIS site. If someone has questions about someone on another site, I suggest you go to that site for your information. That is their problem, not mine. I am trying to initiate plans to help members on THIS site with the other members using THIS site, and no one and no where else. As for those buyers and sellers on other sites that people might have problems with, as someone who I am very fond of often says, "Not my monkey, not my circus."

As this gets fleshed out, I will comment more about the implementation and rule changes that will need to be adopted.

Thanks to all of you who have contributed ideas and suggestions.
 
Old 02-21-2021, 08:39 PM   #62
geckoejon
I miss the BOI... I just had a personal experience of a scammer using my info from this site & trying to sell / scam someone. It didn’t work & I have proof. I posted proof trying to warn others & I get an infraction?! The scammer did not post an ad, but instead texted someone that was looking...

I in no way ever would hold a site accountable for my (or anyone else’s) scammed attempted purchase... if there is a known scammer, and proof, shouldn’t you be able to provide it to warn others though?

From a user perspective, that is very disheartening & not user friendly... I wouldn’t want the site to be held legally responsible, but there has to be a middle ground to report instances like that...
 
Old 02-21-2021, 10:40 PM   #63
WebSlave
Quote:
Originally Posted by geckoejon View Post
I miss the BOI... I just had a personal experience of a scammer using my info from this site & trying to sell / scam someone. It didn’t work & I have proof. I posted proof trying to warn others & I get an infraction?! The scammer did not post an ad, but instead texted someone that was looking...

I in no way ever would hold a site accountable for my (or anyone else’s) scammed attempted purchase... if there is a known scammer, and proof, shouldn’t you be able to provide it to warn others though?

From a user perspective, that is very disheartening & not user friendly... I wouldn’t want the site to be held legally responsible, but there has to be a middle ground to report instances like that...
What would you suggest as a solution?
 
Old 02-22-2021, 01:17 PM   #64
WebSlave
Exclamation

FYI, the ability for classified ad authors to lock their ads via the Classifieds Control Panel has now been disabled. Authority for this function is now controlled solely through my admin panel, and as such I have restricted this thread locking (closing) function in the classifieds section to ONLY be available to Contributor level members and above.

The method those authorized member groups need to use now is via the regular thread controls within the drop down menu in the upper right hand corner of the thread stating Thread Tools with a drop down arrow. It is by using this function that the original author of a classified ad thread can Close the thread to all replies. Sorry, but this function is not available to regular registered members any longer.

Effective immediately, replies made to classified ads that are of a BOI style nature will be solely under the control of the original author of a classified ad thread. But that sole remedy will be to delete the ad in order to be able to delete the replies. An exception to this general rule will be in any case that it appears obvious that the poster of such replies is causing widespread abuse across various classified ads, and his or her intent is obviously of ill intent. Things such as hounding someone because the viewer does not like the price being offered or OUR OPINION of frivolous nitpicking will be looked at closely as possible abuse. This will be at the discretion of the moderators, and does not imply that any and all claims by the original author of such classified ads will result in any action by the staff here. Just because YOU may have an unhappy customer of yours hounding you about their dissatisfaction with YOU, is not cause for staff to act in your behalf. YOU have the power to do something about it, even though you may consider that power to being somewhat drastic. Regardless, that will be your responsibility and your ONLY recourse.

Accordingly with the above in mind, BOI style posts are ONLY going to be allowed when they are posted as REPLIES to existing classified ad threads that have been created by the target of such replies. Starting a new thread anywhere on this site, including within the classifieds section with the goal of referring to anyone as a "good guy" or a "bad guy" in any way, shape or form, is not allowed on this site and will result in an infraction and the thread being deleted. As I have mentioned before, this Board Of Inquiry style posting will only be acceptable as an internal function solely with the goal of helping to inhibit "bad actors" from advertising on this site. What happens elsewhere is no longer permitted to be aired here. If you make a deal on any other site or though any other function other than directly through the classified ads here, that is no longer any of this site's concern. Nor will this site be used to air any such incidents.

And as such, I strongly urge all advertisers to limit correspondence with potential buyers and sellers ONLY via the private messaging function of this site. This forces contacts to register on the site in order to contact you, and therefore gives the staff here some power over helping to keep "bad actors" that register using false ID information from being able to access YOU in order to try to snare you in fraudulent offers. But that is up to you. And YOU need to report such incidents. Staff will not be aware of it unless YOU make that effort. Of course, if you provide your phone number, email address, or whatever alternate contact method you choose, and someone contacts you and defrauds you in that manner, again, that is not any of our concern. That will be considered as taking place EXTERNALLY to this website.

In consideration of the above, the staff here will only have a single recourse of looking into any accused "bad actor" and determine if they have used false information to register an account on this site. You will need to provide evidence of such a claim. And if such registration info is determined to be false, the account accordingly will be banned or deleted. Sorry, but that is the sole remedy available to us as an official recourse.

This change in policy and method is all being designed to try to help YOU when you try to do business here, and otherwise engage with others with trades, or other exchanges of merchandise and money. If you fail to take the necessary steps to protect yourself in reasonable and suggested manners, then when you get scammed, you know who to look to for your failure to protect yourself. You and YOU alone. Scammers are out there, and they are looking for YOU to scam. We will try to help all we can to prevent that from happening, but ultimately YOU make the decision of who to do business with. YOU have to understand that no blocks or attempted protections will ever be completely foolproof. So plan accordingly.

Anyway, I may create an announcement stating the above to get more widespread attention from the membership that what would be expected by being only mentioned in this thread.

There may be some details I haven't worked out or thought of yet, so if there are questions or concerns, fire away. I will do my best to address them. Just please understand that the Board of Inquiry is gone and not coming back. So asking for it will be a waste of space here.
 
Old 02-22-2021, 02:17 PM   #65
WebSlave
In reference to the above mentioned change in how classified ad threads are closed (locked) by Contributor level members and above, here is a little primer for those of you not familiar with the process.

First off, the Thread Tools menu is located above the upper right hand corner of the thread.




You need to click on that down facing arrow in order to see the actual menu selections.



Make sure the button for Close Thread is selected, then click on the Perform Action button.

That is it! The classified ad thread is now closed (locked) so no replies can be made to it, or in the case where there are already replies, no further replies can be made.

Now if you should decide to reopen your classified ad, for whatever reason, you simply select the same menu, but this time the option shows you the ability to OPEN the ad.



This time the button shows Open Thread, so verify that is the option selected, and then click on the Perform Action button.

Done! The classifieds ad thread has now been reopened.

Anyway, hope that helps.
 
Old 02-24-2021, 01:11 AM   #66
WebSlave
BTW, interested parties can also lock (close) their classified ad thread during the creation of the ad instead of having to go back to edit the initial thread post as indicated in the above post.

While creating the classified ad thread, down in the section called Additional Options where you also go in order to manage attachments to add photos, there is a line at the bottom of that area where you can click the checkbox to close the ad immediately when you post it.



Just a FYI...
 
Old 03-05-2021, 06:02 AM   #67
allreptiles1966
Quote:
Originally Posted by WebSlave View Post
It was a year ago today that I closed down the BOI and I guess I am interested in feedback concerning how this impacted YOUR use, value of, and/or perception of this site.

This thread has been prompted from the number of BOI-style posts that have had to be deleted from this site, infractions that posters of said posts have incurred as a result of making such posts, and the number of emails, PMs, and comments elsewhere I have gotten concerning people asking about how they can alert other members about the predations of spammers using this site in an attempt to snare victims. MY concern is that this site could be moving in the direction of becoming an attractive haven for scammers because of the rules now in place concerning BOI style postings no longer being allowed anywhere on this site. Basically they can advertise free and clear of anyone calling them out in any manner. Honestly, I'm not sure if I am looking at a tip of an iceberg, or perhaps a molehill that I am too close to that because of my close proximity, looks like it is a mountain.

So I am soliciting feedback for opinions and observations. No, the BOI is not coming back. Nothing has changed concerning the reasons it was closed down. But is there some alternative way to keep the scammers from having their way with the unwary membership via another method? Would allowing warning-based replies to classified ads be worthwhile in this pursuit, or would it just be more headaches than it is worth? Not that I expect anything to be headache-free here, of course. But I am uncomfortable at the thought that this site could very well may have turned 180 degrees from being what was once considered a relatively safe place to do business for the membership.

So please provide some constructive input, if you can. If there is no, or very darn little, input of any kind, I will just have to assume that everything is just honky-dory here for most people and put this thought behind me, leaving well enough alone. Wouldn't be the first time that what I was thinking I was observing was not actually reality.

And please note that even though I am soliciting suggestions, not everything suggested will be practical or even possible. This is not suggesting it would be a bad idea, just that there are limits to what CAN be done here programmatically, as well as what I WANT here to be sitting on my shoulders as an implied responsibility. I am trying to help as best I can, but not looking for more work to do.

Thanks.
Worse damn thing you did Rich. I personally caught people on here trying to rip others off and that’s because of the boi. It was even a on here when it happened to my buddy Mike on here. I’ve bought a couple things on here and cannot post how the guy is a liar and a cheat! How to warn people? We have no outlet to warn others. Without that, it make it easier to rip people off! Why would you do this?

How about a star system like teachers give out. Star for quality. A star for shipping quality a star for whatever else that’s appropriate to let people know it’s ok to buy from this person.

I’m getting pointed for asking questions about feed and feeders I bought on here telling me it’s a boi style ad!! Come on, it’s a forum and should be able to ask questions. I didn’t use the sellers name!! No hints of it either. So how’s that a boi style anything. Is this how it’s really going? Attack me for asking question about being ripped off. IMO.
Something needs to improve! People are being taken advantage of by others since the way to combat that has been removed.
 
Old 03-05-2021, 08:15 AM   #68
marker1
Quote:
Originally Posted by allreptiles1966 View Post
Worse damn thing you did Rich. I personally caught people on here trying to rip others off and that’s because of the boi. It was even a on here when it happened to my buddy Mike on here. I’ve bought a couple things on here and cannot post how the guy is a liar and a cheat! How to warn people? We have no outlet to warn others. Without that, it make it easier to rip people off! Why would you do this?

How about a star system like teachers give out. Star for quality. A star for shipping quality a star for whatever else that’s appropriate to let people know it’s ok to buy from this person.

I’m getting pointed for asking questions about feed and feeders I bought on here telling me it’s a boi style ad!! Come on, it’s a forum and should be able to ask questions. I didn’t use the sellers name!! No hints of it either. So how’s that a boi style anything. Is this how it’s really going? Attack me for asking question about being ripped off. IMO.
Something needs to improve! People are being taken advantage of by others since the way to combat that has been removed.
Yes there are a couple scammers on this site this very second with ads up. Its sad
 
Old 03-05-2021, 10:19 AM   #69
bcr229
Quote:
Originally Posted by marker1 View Post
Yes there are a couple scammers on this site this very second with ads up. Its sad
You are free to report the ad and a mod will look at it.

Under the new rules you can also post responses to the ad if you have information that the ad is fraudulent. Bear in mind that other rules regarding posting insults, threats, profanity, etc. still apply.
 
Old 03-05-2021, 11:23 AM   #70
marker1
Quote:
Originally Posted by bcr229 View Post
You are free to report the ad and a mod will look at it.

Under the new rules you can also post responses to the ad if you have information that the ad is fraudulent. Bear in mind that other rules regarding posting insults, threats, profanity, etc. still apply.
And what about our proof screen shots of texts etc?
 

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