I am already a contributing member so I had already decided that this site was worth some of the money out of my pocket. It is an invaluable resource for information.
I agree with whoever said it would hurt the site to charge for the BOI and I also think that all the forums should be free as well just so people have free access to the info here,why would we want to hinder anybody that just wants to talk about and learn about reptiles. There are a lot of young people/out of work people/down and out people that really wouldnt have the money to come and use the BOI and the forums.
Charging a fee for the classified is definetely a good idea. whether it be a yearly fee for regulars or a "by ad" fee for people that use it once or twice a year to sell something.
I think that with a few more improvements and some good advertising this site could easily become the forefront for the selling and buying of reptiles. you would bring a lot of potential customer here to use the forums and you know they will flip through the classified while here and possibly make purchases.
Rich might even think about using the site as a escrow for people that arent sure about the sellers,meaning the buyers could pay thier money to a escrow account run by Rich and upon delivery of the animals he would release the money to the seller, this would put a end to a lot of the "not so good" guys out there ripping people off. Most buyers wouldn't find it necessary to do this with well known or reputable dealers but buyers are always leary of new dealers or dealers with a so-so reputation and both buyer and seller can be assured they wont be scammed.
Also once certain people that have a known "bad guy" reputation for ripping off people Rich can ban from selling here and buyers will feel safer making purchases here rather then elsewhere.
So in short....Keep the information FREE and have the people making money spend a little of it.
I hope that all made sense to everyone