Glenn, I've got some time this morning, so I'll address some of the issues you have brought up.
I think you would only bring this site down by spamming email addresses that you cull from Kingsnake.com. By the way, isn't that a violation of their terms of service. If such is the case, and you cull those addresses and spam their users resulting in a loss of revenue for kingsnake.com, I imagine they could file a civil suit against you. That would be a bummer, even if you won it would cost a lot.
No, I am not going to do that. But certainly not because of any fear of a lawsuit. There is nothing illegal or defensible in civil court claiming damages by my using an email system where the members and the site owner have specifically provided the capability for another member to email other members. Certainly, if anything, I would have the high ground in this matter by filing a countersuit claiming damages because of an unfounded blocking of my URL on kingsnake.com's site. Generally speaking, in a situation where someone with deeper pockets (ks.com) gets into a lawyer cat fight with someone with shallower pockets (me), certainly both are at risk to losing, but whom has the opportunity to gain more than the other?
First of all there are five (5) discussion forums listed under the for sale forums. They can easily be overlooked. I would think they would be better off under their own forum header such as 'Herp Business Forums' as that is in essence what they cover.
I agree, and I will be taking a closer look at this. But would it really make that much difference to have three main categories rather than just two under
Reptiles and Amphibians?
Instead of having just:
- Classifed Ads
- Discussion Forums
This would make it any easier?:
- Classifed Ads
- Herp Business Forums
- Discussion Forums
Then there are the animal forums, about which I will address only the herp related forums. If I have an interest in kingsnakes, and click on kingsnakes, I am hoping to find a list of user generated threads that cover the whole spectrum of kingsnakes. Instead, what I find is a number of what, I believe, are truly annoying subcategories. I say they are annoying because instead of readily seeing a number of kingsnake related threads I now have to swim through a sea of forums to find one that may contain something that interests me. This requires to click on an additional eight topics (that is if there are any threads in each). This is a pain in the neck (I was going to say somewhere else but figured I get slammed - LOL). If I want to browse or surf each main category of herps that is listed, then I have to do this 296 times (37 herp categories for animals times 8 subcategories in each), and after each of those clicks I have to again search for anything that interests me in the subcategory.
This is all matter of opinion, of course, and likely simply a case of my opinion differing from yours. My strategy with this new structure is not aimed at casual browsing. It is aimed towards eventually becoming an information resource. Information is ALWAYS easier to find when it is properly categorized and presented in logically arranged areas. I am using the model of a typical manual or text book. The messages in the threads themselves will be considered as the information provided by the book. Now certainly, at the other end of the spectrum, you could have just one big forum called "Herp Stuff", and it would look tremendously active with every post being made in this one forum. And certainly some people might actually like that style because of the ease of just browsing through each and every thread posted there. But what if you are ONLY interested in king snakes? After a while, this will get VERY old. What if it is spring time and you have some questions about breeding those king snakes. Sure the information is probably in that mess of a forum somewhere, but who the heck wants to look for it? So instead, you will simply just post your message and hope you get some responses before it scrolls into oblivion.
Watch most of the forums in the format you are talking about. The same posts are made year after year at the same time of year. Why is that? Well, perhaps it is because even in a narrowed down category of just king snakes, the information needed in such a structure is still too hard to find. My attempt here is to further segregate the information so that someone looking for information about breeding king snakes has far less information to search through. Plus the search engine in this message board system allows you to limit your search anywhere from ALL of the messages to only those within a single forum. So if you were interested in finding information about dystocia in Ball Pythons, this effort on your part will be MUCH easier to accomplish.
That's why I claim I am targeting this to be where I want it to be in two years. The database of information has to be built up first for people to have the information here to find. That just doesn't happen overnight. Granted, there are always going to be people too lazy or in too much of a hurry to use the search tools to find what they are looking for. But even in cases like this, other people being helpful will merely have to provide a link for them to the thread that will help provide the answer needed.
The broad category, subthreaded forums are great for sites that are only looking for traffic to please their advertisers. And it is great for those people whom just like to be chatty or are casual lurkers wanting to just skim the messages to see what's up. But how many times have you had to open up a message that had a topic line like "Read THIS!!", or "Help ME!" just to see what it was about? You had no context about the issue. Whereas is that same thread with the same topic were in this system under King Snakes - Breeding/Reproductive Care, you would have a pretty good idea about what you would find in the text body of the message.
Yet there are other forum areas where you use the method I prefer. If I click on Field Collecting, for instance, I do not get eight (8) subcategories covering ethics, tools for field collecting, hotspots, capture techniques and so on. What I do get is a link directly to all the threads posted, where I can very quickly see what interests me, and may even see something that draws me in that I would have otherwise have missed under the current system for herp related forums such as kingsnakes.
Apples and oranges. And that's exactly why I structured them differently. A Field Collecting forum, by definition is going to be free flowing and basically unstructured. This sort of forum will be dominated by people talking about their experiences out in the field and is generally a chatty topic to begin with. It is not intended to be, and probably never COULD be, an information resource for anyone. This type of forum will be more talking involved than anyone trying to seek out specific information.
And if someone has some SPECIFIC information or questions related to Field Collecting king snakes, then there is a forum under the king snakes category that is suited for this. Actually I would encourage people to cut and paste their messages in such a manner that it would be most useful to people whom might be interested to seek out the information they have to share.
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Oh well, it just seems pretty darned complex to read and make posts the way it is set up.
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This is likely true for some people, and it is certainly something that any designer faces when making choices about their target audience. But my general philosophy has been to set the bar a bit higher than normal and don't try to accomodate the lowest common denominator. I try to reach the higher end of the spectrum and give those people whom are not quite computer literate yet a reason to stretch themselves. THIS site has been designed with the goal in mind that some people will find it useful immediately, but MOST people will take time to grow into it. I have been doing various types of message boards for a long time, comparatively, and viewed most of what is out there being offered. I thought long and hard about the strengths and weaknesses of all of the ones I perused and had to make decisions that were tradeoffs between one end of the spectrum and the other.
So this is my shot at what I think is best, based on the technology available, the information most likely to be of interest and to attract people, and the average computer literacy level of most likely to visit here. I felt that if I shoot high, then I don't have to work so hard over the next several years trying to keep people's interest up in here.
Thanks for bringing these points up.
lol
