MAYBE I HAVE MISUNDERSTOOD- BUT......
didn't you recently post the following, and I quote:
Effective immediately, this site is NOT to be used for the discussion of what other web sites may or may not do. Or what the owners of other sites may or may not think or act.
I was away for the last two weeks and will admit not being onsite an awful lot just before leaving - so when I returned I was pretty surprised to see that you had posted the above quote. But now you seem to be saying sure it is ok to mention the web site kingsnake.com in our posts but; heck we had better not actually write anything about that site's policy or what that site does or does not do! In effect it would now seem to me that the only reason to mention that site here would be to give it a plug (free advertisement).
Your site may have initially begun as a place to, and I quote you again:
This site was intended from the beginning, and specifically the BOI, to help people reach resolutions to problems concerning their business dealings with other people buying, selling and trading their animals. I am now pulling that back into the track where it belongs
and you may think you have pulled back to that level but you definitely haven't reverted to that stage of this site's history; and I am hoping that you never do. This is a great site that has expanded far beyond your initial goal, and it is a 'place' that is a haven for those among us who enjoy herpetological and herpetocultural discussion and debate, including discussion of the hobbies other websites. Faunaclassifieds has always welcomed the other opinion, and this has been the major attraction for me to this site – even when the other opinion did not agree with mine – because I was able to express my opinion. I for one, but I am sure I probably speak for many, would be fairly despondent over any change which would cutback on a member’s abilities to pen his/her opinion – including those concerning the business practices and forum practices of kingsnake.com.
I readily admit I don’t have a clue as to what started the current or recent row about kingsnake.com here at faunaclassified.com – but then again I need not know the nature of that beast to slay the dragon which actually stands before me. The dragon which I now face seems, in my opinion, to be censorship at its worst and in its most heinous form. You are, if I understand correctly, no longer allowing discussion about the workings and or policies of kingsnake.com. That action on your part is pretty disheartening, as I see it in the light of the previous history of the faunaclassifieds site as a place to freely share one’s thoughts – even when about a competing website. Hopefully you have already decided to recant your decision to block discussions about kingsnake.com.
I left kingsnake.com, because among other things, I believed, they did not allow open discussion about other sites such as faunaclassifieds.com (and I do mean they disallowed discussion about the fc site not just the fc name from being posted). They also did some other things I did not agree with – so I stopped using their forums. Sure I have glanced at them a few times since, and I have considered reregistering on ks – but I have stood by my decision and I have not registered or posted on their site since I initially pulled out. It has, you see, been a matter of principal! As things seem to be going now, here at faunaclassifieds, I am beginning to wonder if I am going to have to make a decision based upon the same basic principal once again. I certainly hope not, just as I certainly hope that this site is not beginning to use, what in my opinion, were the negative user restrictive tactics of kingsnake.com. Of course I realize this is your site, and the bottom line for your site is that you will do as you see fit – but I also am aware of the fact that you realize the importance of your site’s registered users. I hope you also realize that a move in such a direction by you will likely result in your losing at least one of us, if not more of us, based upon the same reason that many of us left other herp forums to come here. I being at least the one, certainly hope the faunaclassifieds.com policy banning discussion about the policies of kingsnake.com will not stand. I would hate to leave such a beautiful place, but I would likely do just that, because I cannot abide the dragon of censorship which would burn the pages upon which I or others write. Please understand I am not making any sort of a threat, I know that losing me as a user would be like a single pebble being removed from a gravel pit. I just felt it necessary to give my opinion on the matter that made me shun kingsnake.com and embrace this one wholeheartedly in the first place. It is something I feel strongly about.
Best regards,
Glenn B