• 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.

đź‘Ť Ring doorbell

M

Mech

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I installed this last week and really like it.
This smart doorbell is really cool .
It sends alerts and videos to my phone and I can talk to the person in real time like “it’s ok just leave the package there and I can even act like I’m there when I’m not.
My kids don’t have a curfew but it’s nice to know that they came home safely.
It is a motion,bell or remote activated with pretty clear night vision.
Spans my driveway pretty good and is range programmable so sidewalk traffic doesn’t set it off.
I now know when a package has been delivered .
I can see if workers are honest on their hours.
Lots of positives with this unit.
Only negative is it costs $3 per month.
Unit off Amazon cost $199 added a $48 remote bell total cost was $260 with tax.
 
I find little video doodads like this pretty interesting. I've been using game trail cams on my property for years, but having something that would be real time video at unlimited distances would be a lot more handy. Of course this device you are referring to is not the same thing I'm waiting for, but with the technology leaps, I figure it is just a matter of time. Things we have available now were unthinkable 20 years ago. And that gap between "unthinkable" and "here it is on Amazon" is shrinking rapidly.

Of course, the dark side of this is that it is pretty safe to assume that no matter where you go it is a very good chance YOU can be under surveillance by someone if they want to check on you. Heck, I taped over the little cameras that come on my laptop computers long ago. And as for the smart phones the wife and I have, if they can see through the places we have them stored, then technology is WAY ahead of what I believe it might be. Talk of the "smart home" run by Google, Amazon, Apple, or whoever, just makes my skin crawl.

But I guess surveillance always seems like a better idea to the serveillors than to the surveilled. I've seen this with the topic of flying drones, whereby a lot of people just get actively hostile even of the mere idea that a drone up on the sky might be spying on them. Regardless of the fact that most people just don't have or do anything that would be of interest to another soul. The fact that their neighbor now CAN put an eye in the sky above their house invokes a pronounced defensive mechanism.

One thing for certain, though, it's likely to get worse and likely never better. BIG BROTHER is watching you.
 
I expect before too long technology will exist that will be able to blur a person or area so that remote surveillance would be difficult.
As soon as someone builds a better mouse trap, the next guy figures out how to create an escape hatch for said mouse.
 
Lucille said:
I expect before too long technology will exist that will be able to blur a person or area so that remote surveillance would be difficult.
As soon as someone builds a better mouse trap, the next guy figures out how to create an escape hatch for said mouse.
Click to expand...

Yeah, likely so. But the government will always have the upper hand by simply making all devices and efforts to defeat their goals illegal with increasingly severe penalties attached. Depends on how badly they want whatever it is they are trying to do. But of course such efforts will be heavily padded with good sounding intentions. "If it saves just one child's life..." sort of thing.

I'm actually surprised that ski masks haven't been outright outlawed. Everyone KNOWS that only criminals wear those things to keep from being identified.... :rofl:
 
WebSlave said:
Yeah, likely so. But the government will always have the upper hand by simply making all devices and efforts to defeat their goals illegal with increasingly severe penalties attached. Depends on how badly they want whatever it is they are trying to do. But of course such efforts will be heavily padded with good sounding intentions. "If it saves just one child's life..." sort of thing.

I'm actually surprised that ski masks haven't been outright outlawed. Everyone KNOWS that only criminals wear those things to keep from being identified.... :rofl:
Click to expand...

The government is I believe attempting to control guns, I believe for their purposes and not for the welfare of the general public but it is not getting very far.

I have to say that the skull ski mask I saw on a motorcyclist a few weeks gave me a bit of a start, I guess it was unexpected. But I was thinking more in terms of an electronic blur to avoid surveillance. A force field, as the Trekkies might say.
 
I agree with what both of you are saying.
I feel that brother and big business are wolves to be wary of and that’s not even to mention the asswipes that like to steal from us.
The monitoring of us from here on out is concerning.
 
It has a lithium rechargeable battery that is supposed to last 6 months.
Uses an android type charger.
I have it wired into my existing bell so I really shouldn’t have spent the extra $48 on a remote chime.
Oh well🙄.
 
My concern would be someone stealing it off the door? I assume they made installation easy, so wouldn't removal be quite easy as well? I'm quite intrigued as it's quite a bummer having packages stolen from the door step.
 
AbsoluteApril said:
My concern would be someone stealing it off the door? I assume they made installation easy, so wouldn't removal be quite easy as well? I'm quite intrigued as it's quite a bummer having packages stolen from the door step.
Click to expand...

I think you need a device that records the video stream on a remote recorder so you could review the captured video even if the transmitting video camera gets stolen. There are a number of such devices on the market. Some will also copy still images and/or video to an internet server or service as well as to your smartphone or tablet. I've found wireless cameras to be very capable and rather convenient to set up. Of course, you still need a power source for the cameras, but perhaps there are units available now with enough battery power to be practical for short term use. I have a unit that the wireless cameras are easily functioning a good 250 ft from the recorder, even when the signal is going through trees and brush.

Or you can get something simple but effective like a game trail camera. A lot of people use them for security cameras, since most can be had with heavy duty steel mounting boxes and cables that can be very securely attached to a surface to make theft or effective damage rather difficult.

Or heck, make up your own box booby trapped with capsicum pepper spray. I couldn't do something like this myself, because sure as heck I wouldn't remember that it was booby trapped and would wind up taking it inside and opening it myself... :face_palm_02: The mind is such a terrible thing to lose.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQmlUAIbcXA
 
It has an “odd ball” Allen screw that when properly secured would be a pain to remove.
I mean a crowbar would do it but then you would have the persons face stored in cloud memory.
You could also yell nasty things at the thief if you have you phone on you.
Last week I had a carpenter work here while we were not here and I could see his truck clearly.
I also used a couple of well placed game cams on the inside of the house.
I just don’t trust people much.
 
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