Can't seem to reply in my own threads...

[KelliH]

Only allow a certain number of posts/ads per day and a certain number of bumps. That would eliminate some of the problems I think. What gets annoying is people that post like 10 ads in a row in one section.

 

[Angel Rojas]

I can see that the tone of my keystrokes are being shown in a different light than what my heart feels. So if anyone would like to talk about it and then post how they felt, I'm more than happy 267-882-5350

 

[DAND]

If this was going to be a paid memeber's only site, then that's the way it should have started.

But it's not going to be a paid member's only site. Maybe you should take the time to read what has been written and try to comprehend what is being said before you run your mouth. If you cannot do this then I suggest that you ask an adult to help explain it to you.

 

[Southern Wolf]

Only allow a certain number of posts/ads per day and a certain number of bumps. That would eliminate some of the problems I think. What gets annoying is people that post like 10 ads in a row in one section.

Kelli... this year I produced 7 different morphs of babies... and Im trying to sell off some of my proven breeders and a few sub adult. Why is it wrong for me to list what I have for sale.

Its not like Im listing all 77 babies in their own ad?

 

[Dennis Hultman]

But instead of doing that, they are running around giving infractions and bans to whoever disagrees with them

Who is doing that? Simply for disagreeing. Let's see it! Frankly, you aren't contributing or discussing the matter here. You are being antagonistic and whining. What did you get an infraction for?

 

[billewicz]

So I guess listing by date and time/first come=first served, with paid ads coming before others does not work? i.e. list it and leave it. Re-list for another day as needed.

 

[WebSlave]

At the other place I can push 6 of my ads up per day per section.... here I can push up 10 per month total

I could swear that myself and others have mentioned that this is going to be addressed.....

Another thought that just crossed my mind. Since Rich has it shut down so registered members cant post in their own ads... I guess they wont be able to answer questions publically pertaining to their ad. Not good from an advertising stand point.

And I could also swear that it has been mentioned that this is temporary until the custom code can be implemented.

Then they should state it in the ad.

I was deleting bumps in my ad, and noticed my first 3 posts I can't edit. But the others I could, just wonderin why Rich.

Because of some people getting their panties all bunched up in a wad a while back and going back through all of their threads and posts to edit and delete their text, I had to put a time limit on the editing function. That editing limit is 180 days. Seriously, if your ad hasn't produced results in 180 days, maybe it's time to just let it go and create a fresh one, don't you think?

I agree also to this. I believe that if you have more than one of the same species of animal they should all go in the same ad, not 10 different ones just because of an age, size, etc. difference

Actually, I believe the most effective use of the classifieds is to utilize the thumbnail photos to show THE animal you are trying to sell. I'm sure most people browse the classifieds looking at the thumbnail photos for something to catch their eye. And that is what advertising WANTS to do: Catch the eye of a potential customer. Quite frankly, if I were posting animals for sale, I would create a separate ad for each one so I could display that photograph in such a way that the highest number of people possible would see it.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Why should paying members be the only ones to be able to bump their ads? Does it make them or their animals better than anyone else's just because they paid. And to be honest, the only people that I think would have a problem with non-donating memebers be able to bump their ad, is the BIG name breeders who's panties are in a bunch because he wants his ads to stay on the front page.

Question should be, Why shouldn't contributing members have a few perks for their contributions to this site? There are a lot of hobbyist here that contribute on a regular basis. There are also a lot of non-contributing members here that participate in other areas to promote this site. They don't sit there and state "give me, give me!"

 

[WebSlave]

Other classifieds don't allow replies. Maybe this is the answer.
To be honest, i barely get any leads from posting ads on this site, so becoming a paying member here just isn't justified for me.Not that it's the sites fault, but there are too many window shoppers, and not enough buyers here.
Whatever the solution, i'll deal with it.

I had considered doing that instead of the current temporary change, but I felt the number of emails would be MUCH greater than they already are. Posting announcements and threads within the feedback forum here are generally a waste of time, apparently.

So you think of every possible question and place it in your ads?

I dont think so

I was just using a for instance....

Sometimes we place ads when we are tired or have other things on our minds and we forget to put something in that should of been, but then someone asks a question and we remember it. We're thankful for the question and in the end that info gets out to the viewing public.

You have up to 180 days to edit your original post in the classified ad you create. Do you think you need MORE time to make changes?

RICH..... Why not allow paid members to do manual bumps... and registered members cant? Leave the lowest level $25 and this gives folks a reason to donate. You can still post your ad for free, but you wont be able to bump it

Well think about this, please. How long would be be before this same problem grows in leaps and bounds, even if limited to paid members only? Why would I bother having increasing numbers of highlight/bumps for higher level paid memberships as incentives for people to choose to utilize those levels? Heck, fellas, don't I give away enough freebies here for people to use?

Well, I'll tell you what I will consider doing. When everyone decides to GIVE away their animals, supplies, and services FOR FREE instead of charging for them, then I'll follow suit and make everything free here as well. How's that sound?

True, but that's what we have mods for also, to be our so called "site police", to protect the integrity of this site. But instead of doing that, they are running around giving infractions and bans to whoever disagrees with them

Sorry, but no. Anything that can be automated here to take the work load off of the moderators is going to be implemented that way. There have been roughly 1,300 posts made every day here and just a handful of moderators to have to review them. If we assume even just 30 seconds to read over a post and consider it in context of the thread and then contemplate whether it doesn't violate any rules and need an infraction, we are talking about something in the neighborhood of 10 manhours per day JUST to do that. So tell me, how hard do you think I should crack the whip for these VOLUNTEER mods to get them to shape up and pull their share of the workload?

 

[WebSlave]

So you want to force people to do pay...

No,not at all. No one if FORCED to pay anything to use the basic functions of using this site. The bells and whistles that need to be paid for are enticements for those who WANT such things, not NEED them, to pay for those functions via the paid memberships. No one even HAS to advertise here. If there are better avenues that are more attractive to people to advertise, then all means, avail yourself of them.

That may be true, but I'm NOT the only one who thinks this. I too have been banned for breaking the rules, but when a mod starts giving infractions and bans for "boaderline" stuff, that's when I get confused. I mean, you either broke the rules or you didn't, there's no inbetween.

I doubt anyone has been banned for a single incident of a "borderline abusive" post. They are cumulative, so yeah, after you don't get the hint and keep on doing such things, you just might find yourself banned. And "borderline" means "gray area". I do hope that concept is not completely foreign to you, as I felt it gave the moderators a method of warning a member that they ARE treading in a gray area and need to be more circumspect about their posting methods.

 

[Angel Rojas]

Well I just talked to DAND for a good half hour and I must say that It is clear to me now lol. I do believe that contributing memebers should have perks that registered memebers don't, and If that means the ability to bump an ad up more times in a given time period then I'm all for it.

 

[DAND]

I can see that the tone of my keystrokes are being shown in a different light than what my heart feels. So if anyone would like to talk about it and then post how they felt, I'm more than happy 267-882-5350

Done and done. It was nice talking to you Angel and I am glad I was able to help you understand things a little better.

 

[Angel Rojas]

WOW, first I was green now I'm red. All this bad karma from having a debate. I think this karma crap, like the ad bumps, is overly abused also

 

[WebSlave]

I'm not complaining at all, as the bumps were getting a little ridiculous.

I wonder if it would be possible to have it so threads could be replied to w/o bumping up the thread? This way questions could be publicly addressed/answered for all to see (if it warrants a public response), but still keep it from bumping.

Sorry, but this needs to be as automated as possible, otherwise the moderators will all quit in frustration having to read all of the posts made in the classifieds section to do what needs to be done. I realize that not everyone has programming experience under their belt, but trying to write code to determine if a reply is simply bumping or a legitimate post is pretty nigh impossible to do.

Well I thought that it was a very bad statement. I can only speak for myself, but when you have bills, 2 large retics to feed and house, pitbulls and cats, It can cost a good penny. Not to mention 3 kids, one of which will be in college soon. Hell, I had to quit smoking because of these things. And like I stated before, If this was going to be a paid memeber's only site, then that's the way it should have started. As far as big breeders here, there are plenty of them here, just look in the classifieds. If you are selling or own a 2,000-10,000 snake that's in your collection, you are more than a hobbyist. That's an investment animal that you plan on breeding

You do not have to use a paid membership to advertise here. But if you want to bump your ad, then yes, that perk will require that expenditure to gain that ability. I'm just curious how you took that molehill and blew it up into your eyes to be construed that this meant this site was now, or going to be, a paid members only site. I really am curious about how you made such a twist in conceptual logic to come to that kind of a conclusion.

Angel... one thing to keep in mind. I dropped around $13,000 on my business last year (I didn't buy any BP morphs).... so yeah... Im gonna take offense when Rich starts talking about limiting my ability to push my ads. Im gonna try my best to see that the paying members are not affected by this change.

No offense, but what you spent somewhere for your business really has no relevance in how I have to run this site in order to make it the best I can for the most members here. I am trying to make this site attractive to paying members, but not to the detriment of the entire site in general in that pursuit. Please don't be looking for perfection from your perspective, because I am trying to get as close to perfection as technically and reasonably possible from as many perspectives as possible.

Not only do I pay here... but I pay to advertise on KS. If my advertising is limited... then so is my sales.

And I believe it is a smart idea to advertise in as many places and in as many ways as possible. Anyone limiting themselves to a single avenue for advertising is being very short sighted. Your time and money really HAS to be spent wisely.

One thing that I have noticed is alot of folks that are producing babies for the first year are selling them for pennies on the dollar... and this hurts the market and everyone in the industry. What I dont get is why anyone would list an animal that retails on the low end for $30-40 and then try to sell them here for $8-10... and just keep bumping and bumping and bumping.

Realistically, there is nothing that can be done about that. Certainly this site will never engage in any sort of price fixing and dictating that anyone sell anything at some prescribed pricing structure to satisfy some arbitrary "market price" as determined from some committee of self interested sellers. Not trying to be condescending here, but that sort of thing is just not reasonable for any site to engage in, and probably isn't legal.

Your right... If you only sell a few animals a year. This year I produced around 115 animals.... next year it will be somewhere between that and 150. So would you consider me a hobbiest. Im giving my business an honest go of things.

You want to talk about higher tiers..... at the $100 level you can only bump 1.6 ads per month (30 day month). I can bump 6 ads per day per section for that same $100 on KS.

Tell me where my advertising $$ is better spent

You have to make your own decisions about how your advertising money is best spent to get the results you seek. But if you use the capability of the number of bumps you can get for your dollars, well, that just sounds odd to me. Do the additional bumps get you more sales? I'm curious to know, because everyone tries to seek out strategies that work, and if increasing the number of bumps produces a substantial increase in sales for advertisers, then I want to have this in mind when I consider how I want to change that number for paid members on this site.

 

[Southern Wolf]

WOW, first I was green now I'm red. All this bad karma from having a debate. I think this karma crap, like the ad bumps, is overly abused also

I think you have been red for a while now... and I didn't do it

 

[DAND]

WOW, first I was green now I'm red. All this bad karma from having a debate. I think this karma crap, like the ad bumps, is overly abused also

Unfortunately those who turn or who are normally in the red think it is abused. Debate or not it is what and how you say things. If someone thinks you are out of line, disrespectful or just being an ass (and no, I am not implying you were) they will give you negative karma. On the other hand if you make a good point or have a good idea they in turn can give you positive karma. It's all in how you try and make your point. Yeah, I have green dots but I think twice before I hit the Submit Reply button every time nonetheless.

 

[hhmoore]

I wonder if it would be possible to have it so threads could be replied to w/o bumping up the thread? This way questions could be publicly addressed/answered for all to see (if it warrants a public response), but still keep it from bumping.

This was actually one of the first solutions that we looked at...unfortunately, in addition to Rich's explanation, there would have been a conflict in how the bump feature is set up.

You want to talk about higher tiers..... at the $100 level you can only bump 1.6 ads per month (30 day month). I can bump 6 ads per day per section for that same $100 on KS.

Tell me where my advertising $$ is better spent

Actually, you seem to be incorrect on a couple of points here, Kevin. According to http://www.pethobbyist.com/services/classified.php, one is limited to 3 ads per section, per day. (I know that is the case for my own account).
At the $100 level here, you get 100 bumps per month...so 3 per day, plus a handful. However, you can post an unlimited number of ads - the only thing restricted is the number of bumps.
As far as where your advertising dollars are better spent, that sort of depends on how many sales your money generates, how much use you get out of the site, etc. Besides, the membership here does offer other benefits aside from the classifieds.

 

[Southern Wolf]

No offense, but what you spent somewhere for your business really has no relevance in how I have to run this site in order to make it the best I can for the most members here. I am trying to make this site attractive to paying members, but not to the detriment of the entire site in general in that pursuit. Please don't be looking for perfection from your perspective, because I am trying to get as close to perfection as technically and reasonably possible from as many perspectives as possible.

That was put out there to show that I have a greater interest in the way the advertising is done here vs someone that only produces one clutch of babies as a hobby. Just like there are folks here that have even more money/time tied up in their collections than I do.

And I believe it is a smart idea to advertise in as many places and in as many ways as possible. Anyone limiting themselves to a single avenue for advertising is being very short sighted. Your time and money really HAS to be spent wisely.

Agreed.... thus another reason why Im being vocal in this thread. Its not to be a pain in the butt... but rather looking out for my bottom line and what would be best for my advertising dollars.

Realistically, there is nothing that can be done about that. Certainly this site will never engage in any sort of price fixing and dictating that anyone sell anything at some prescribed pricing structure to satisfy some arbitrary "market price" as determined from some committee of self interested sellers. Not trying to be condescending here, but that sort of thing is just not reasonable for any site to engage in, and probably isn't legal.

Im not asking you to... I understand all about free market.... and I normally dont vent (publically anyways) about folks selling their animals pennies on the dollar... but in this instance I felt it was warrented to get my point across.

You have to make your own decisions about how your advertising money is best spent to get the results you seek. But if you use the capability of the number of bumps you can get for your dollars, well, that just sounds odd to me. Do the additional bumps get you more sales? I'm curious to know, because everyone tries to seek out strategies that work, and if increasing the number of bumps produces a substantial increase in sales for advertisers, then I want to have this in mind when I consider how I want to change that number for paid members on this site.

I dont think its odd. That allows you to keep your ads more visible. More visible = more sales. Otherwise... why would you keep hearing/seeing the same commercials all the time on the TV and Radio.

If more visiblitly doesn't equal more sales... then why do advertisers pay for multiple spots during a 30 min tv show

 

[Southern Wolf]

Actually, you seem to be incorrect on a couple of points here, Kevin. According to http://www.pethobbyist.com/services/classified.php, one is limited to 3 ads per section, per day. (I know that is the case for my own account).
At the $100 level here, you get 100 bumps per month...so 3 per day, plus a handful. However, you can post an unlimited number of ads - the only thing restricted is the number of bumps.
As far as where your advertising dollars are better spent, that sort of depends on how many sales your money generates, how much use you get out of the site, etc. Besides, the membership here does offer other benefits aside from the classifieds.

Harald... I am currently advertising there... and they need to update that page. You have 6 ads per day per section

Just like according to this page

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64541

you only get 50 bumps for your $100

 

[hhmoore]

Huh - I would have sworn it was 100 at that level - I knew I should have gone back and looked
Sorry about that