About the BOI and it's future here...

Rich, I have not read this entire thread but it is apparent to me that you no longer have the energy or desire to be responsible for this site......please sell it to someone or a group of people that will make positive steps forward to unify and strengthen our hobby. Thank you for you services over the years and enjoy your retirement.

Tony C,if I'm not mistaken,you are a contributor,by choice .You paid your contribution in the hopes of helping to save this site .So did I .I did not purchase a service and there is no contract beyond my contributing to site in the hopes of keeping it running .I didn't purchase an indentured servant whom I can browbeat when I feel like it .

If Rich should use some personal funds for himself,so be it ,as I never hear anyone jamming him up for his own time and resources spent thus far .I hope you did it (contributing) with the right motives .If not,maybe your actions and attitude are self expalanatory then .You came here to cause grief .Your choice,Merry Christmas .

One other thing,Tony,you do have a right to question if you feel something is wrong .I agree,it is something you will always have in this country,but demanding and then accusing will usually make 99 % of most people blow you off,even the honest ones .I do hope you stay and make your presence here count .

I was blown off several times before I leveled any accusations. I do not expect Rich to be my indentured servant, I simply wanted a straight answer to my question of whether or not our contributions are truly being used to fund the BOI. I contributed under the impression that the purpose was to fund the BOI, not to give Rich money to play with in hopes that it would make him feel good and keep the BOI open out of the kindness of his heart.

Well,I'm right there with you .I hope it's being used to fund the BOI,but I ,unlike you have used this site for years,and have gotten my money's worth tenfold .That is somewhere we differ and I hope you get your money's worth too .If I remeber correctly there were still 150-200 members needed .Maybe we can get some idea on that figure .Hopefully this all works out .

Originally Posted by Tony C

I was blown off several times before I leveled any accusations. I do not expect Rich to be my indentured servant, I simply wanted a straight answer to my question of whether or not our contributions are truly being used to fund the BOI. I contributed under the impression that the purpose was to fund the BOI, not to give Rich money to play with in hopes that it would make him feel good and keep the BOI open out of the kindness of his heart.

Thus far I have yet to see any evidence that Rich did any thing with the money contributed other than what he said he would which was try to keep the BOI open. What it seems to me that some of you are forgetting, and Rich has already stated, is that there are more cost to running the site than simply hypothetical lawsuits. He has employees that help with the site who require to be paid, he has fees for servers, and I'm sure numerous other running cost. Without making enough money to cover those cost from the contributions where do you think that money comes from.... thats right his pocket. Would any of you like to foot the bill, especially if you were trying to retire? You, Tony, are implying that maybe he did something dishonest with the money and as far as I can tell have no evidence to support that. What Rich does or doesn't do with his own money is absolutely nobodys business but his own.

Originally Posted by Tony C

I was blown off several times before I leveled any accusations. I do not expect Rich to be my indentured servant, I simply wanted a straight answer to my question of whether or not our contributions are truly being used to fund the BOI. I contributed under the impression that the purpose was to fund the BOI, not to give Rich money to play with in hopes that it would make him feel good and keep the BOI open out of the kindness of his heart.

So I blew you off by merely suggesting that your time and efforts to read this thread might be productive for you to obtain your answers? The reasons WHY this is all taking place are plainly spelled out here. Sorry, but if you are just too lazy to make that effort, then I am just not inclined to spoon feed you the info you want.

rich,
I don't post much here,but I read alot.I read the BOI because it's interesting,and browse some of the other forums.When i read about you closing down the BOI due to lack of paid memberships,I called a friend of mine who has a large fishing forum(around 35,000 members).
I asked him about the cost of his site,traffic,and how he does monetarily from it.He said he makes a pretty substantial amount a month from banner ads and business-type paid sponsors.He said he wouldn't think of instituting paid memberships because it would kill his site.
I can't help but think why he's making good money running a 35,000 member site,and you're not, running a site with double the traffic?
I have no ulterior motive here,and I only buy animals in person.I think the BOI is a great tool for others,and you did a great thing by creating it.You just have me curious whether it's really a money issue or you just don't want to deal with the BS anymore.
congrats on your retirement and thanks for the site.

Originally Posted by kevk

rich,
I don't post much here,but I read alot.I read the BOI because it's interesting,and browse some of the other forums.When i read about you closing down the BOI due to lack of paid memberships,I called a friend of mine who has a large fishing forum(around 35,000 members).
I asked him about the cost of his site,traffic,and how he does monetarily from it.He said he makes a pretty substantial amount a month from banner ads and business-type paid sponsors.He said he wouldn't think of instituting paid memberships because it would kill his site.
I can't help but think why he's making good money running a 35,000 member site,and you're not, running a site with double the traffic?
I have no ulterior motive here,and I only buy animals in person.I think the BOI is a great tool for others,and you did a great thing by creating it.You just have me curious whether it's really a money issue or you just don't want to deal with the BS anymore.
congrats on your retirement and thanks for the site.

This might simply be an apples or oranges thing. Did you happen to read where I stated that my major concern was because the financial risk the BOI exposes me to? That my allowing people to post controversial topics exposes me to the potential of a lawsuit and THAT is my major concern? Has anyone priced what a protracted legal battle costs these days? Would YOU want to have to foot the bills for something like that by allowing people to use YOUR site for something like the BOI?

Does your friend have a similar forum on his site and exposed to the same risk? Yes, I know I would probably win such a lawsuit, but how far would the money this site earns take me if it was being spent fighting a drawn out legal battle?

It may also be that he just simply has more people willing to run banner ads then I have here. It has been plainly noted before that nearly all the big names in this business are pointedly avoiding this site. Maybe he doesn't have that sort of problem with his own site.

Hope that makes sense. I'm just getting really weary of this whole thing now. I may just shut down the BOI over the weekend since I'll be away anyway, and see how it feels to even have it temporarily off of my back. I'll think about this over a bowl of popcorn....

Originally Posted by Tony C

You have time to put all that together, but not time to say "Yes, I did intend to save the BOI, but the contributions I have received are insufficient." or "No, I did not intend to save the BOI and have used the contributions for other purposes." Give me a break.

The following quotes are from posts 36, 37 and 39 of this 300+ post thread.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

That could very well be true. And if so, then I'm ok with that happening. I've done all I can, and want, to do with it. The ball is in everyone else's court now and it's the losing point at stake. Personally, I feel pretty confident that FaunaClassifieds can survive without the BOI any longer. Traffic will take a hit, but it's survived those before for one reason or another.

We're getting a new or renewed paid membership every day or two now. Extrapolating the likely results come January first, I seriously doubt we will hit the target membership (at least 600). I may very well lock down the BOI to paid members sooner rather than later. Just haven't had time to put much thought into it because of higher priorities right now. I'm sure it's GOING to happen, I just need to figure out HOW to best do it to cause the least amount of hate mail. I am certainly not looking forward to the inevitable emails from people who lose access and just think they got banned or something is broken here. Most people just don't take the time to search for and read notices around here... Maybe I'll just do it before Expo, since I don't read emails when I am away anyway...

Originally Posted by DeeRa

My question is your asking for more members to contribute if they do and on Jan 1st you close down sections or limit use because it wasn't enough people. Will there be any reimbursement for those people that tried to help but no longer wish to be with the site as it has changed? What kind of promise/guarantee can you offer the new members that join up between now and then and what kind of reassurance are you offering to the people who are already members?? Just trying to make my decision on what I want to do.....

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Sorry, but the only guarantee I am offering is that if the membership does not want to financially support the BOI based on the concerns I have already aired, then I GUARANTEE that it will not be here much longer.

If anyone feels this is unfair, that I have not done enough as it is to support the BOI with my own headaches and out of my own pocket for years, before this site even had the capability of accepting contributions, regardless of the fact that I have faced down MANY threats of lawsuits because of what someone else has posted on this site, well I am OK with that. I can certainly live without those headaches and those threats in my life. At this point, I have more to gain then I have to lose with the BOI going away if that financial support isn't forthcoming.

So is this site making money now? Yes it is. Is it enough to pay for a SERIOUS lawsuit? Hardly..... And I have NO intention of allowing what someone else wants to say on this site drag me into court to drain my retirement savings. I've seen others taking swipes at me (yet again) saying that I should run this site strictly AT COST, meaning I guess server and hosting costs. I'm sure that when they apply for a job somewhere, they figure out their costs to drive to and from work and those few expenses associated with actually DOING the job and ask for that amount of compensation only from their prospective employer..... I sure wish I lived in the world that those people live in.... Even completely disregarding the potential expense of a lawsuit, really, just how much are your efforts and time worth?

Anyway, sorry if this is a repeat to some people, but apparently it is necessary for some others.

Tony...you joined this site on 10-25-2009. The above exchange, which I think answers your question, happened 3 MONTHS BEFORE you joined, let alone contributed. So you knew FULL WELL, or SHOULD have known, that this "save the BOI" campaign...was just that...a campaign. It was, and still is, an effort to preserve the BOI. Rich made NO guarantees that the BOI will be around. To the contrary, the only guarantee he made was that the BOI WILL be shut down IF...and right now, we're at crossroads of "IF."

However...I don't think that answer to your question is good enough. At this point it seems as if your arguing for the sake of arguing. I'm half expecting you to say..."Never mind that, I want to hear it from Rich." . You've seen threads in the BOI and have contributed to them......how many times has there been someone who wanders into a 300+ post thread, asking something that has already been answered, MULTIPLE times??? What reaction are they met with??? "...you might want to go back 20 pages...the answer has already been given..." Tony...right now, YOUR THAT GUY.

I understand that your frustrated...EVERYONE is frustrated. There are people who just don't "get it" or don't care that the BOI could go Bye Bye (hey, that's a catchy slogan ) So its up to us, the people who do "get it" and do care, to pick up the slack. You did your part by donating $25 for this cause...and the community loves you for it. Can you honestly tell me that if the BOI goes down because others were not as responsible as you, that you'll loose sleep over making an effort to help keep the BOI alive? Regardless of what happens, pat yourself on the back and move on...you tried, as well as MANY others...and we are STILL trying. There are auctions running on the "contributions and stuff" thread (shameless plug, I know ). On Mon, there will be yet another auction/raffle set up on that thread.

We are days away from Rich making a decision...yet people are STILL trying to keep the BOI around, even thought it SEEMS hopeless. But, in reality, its FAR from hopeless...because there are some of us who still HAVE hope......hey, stranger things have happened . Who knows, maybe if the next week brings in a good amount of donations, perhaps Rich might want to consider delaying his decision? I know that the potential demise of the BOI has been voiced for months, if not years...but its human nature to procrastinate. I think now, many people are FINALLY realizing that its all-or-nothing, so they just might make the extra effort

Tony...lets hope for the best, and thank you for donating to the BOI.

Disclaimer...I am in NO WAY criticizing the people who don't have the funds to donate...I know times are tough...so none of my "frustrations" are directed at you.