Fauna, the BOI, and Favouritism...

[Lucille]

The more these posts come up, the more likely it would be if I was the owner to shut it down.
Simple fact is this. Each and every one of us has their own opinion. This "medium" is here for a third party to research dealers for possible future business.

No matter what happens, this SHOULD be based on what facts are presented. This may not be true always.

A dealer could have one screwup on a seemingly perfect record and a consumer decide not to deal with them because of that.
If that is so, then BOI does it's job.

A dealer could be a rotten dealer, but have a few people that have had good deals, and a consumer could decide to try that dealer, and guess what???? Once again, the BOI did it's job.

We can ran't and rave because that is the easy thing to do. I know that I am human and I make mistakes. I also am not one to sit there and send blame onto anyone else. If I Screw up, and offer a refund to try to make it right and rectify the situation, I expect a bit of flack, but not a lynching because someone feels that I am getting preferential treatment just because of who I am.

Ahhh just rambling now.....
TOM

Tom: A terrific post, lots of insight. Thank you....

 

[cthulhu77]

*pop*

What a soap bubble.

Yep, I agree...all in all, the boi certainly does a wonderful thing in regards to educating the masses about shady traders and good dealers...but, do you not think to look back at your own ranks from time to time and maybe take a distant view?

I don't think I was begging the moon here...just asking for opinions...mine is just as valid as any of yours.

so there.
greg-n-a-nutshell

 

[Lucille]

*pop*



Yep, I agree...all in all, the boi certainly does a wonderful thing in regards to educating the masses about shady traders and good dealers...

Agreed.

Goodnight, Greg, all.....see y'all tomorrow....

 

[The BoidSmith]

There are a few bad guys out there that are having a “picnic” with this thread. They love it when we spent hours in this sort of futile exercise of anarchy. That’s their gain. They will fuel division because by doing so they get the attention of their backs. So far they have succeeded in maintaining intact THEIR brotherhood.

 

[Zoo Supply]

of course...

Of course your opinion is just as good as everyone elses....if it wasn't this thread wouldn't be here.


As for looking back at my own ranks, I can tell you this.... Getting someone ticked off enough to post on here scares me. Because reptiles are my livelyhood. I have a retail store, I sell online and I wholesale some animals.

I Understand your points very well, my point is simply this: Nothing is perfect. each of us have our flaws as does the BOI.

The hard part is: when should something be said and when should we bite our tongue.
Sure there have been times that I havn't agreed with someone else on here, or even with some of the decisions that are made by rich, however you have to accept the human factor. The internet provides a great deal of anonymity, but it is still run by humans.

I say that my vote and my opinion lean towards Rich doing a hell of a job here, but like you said....thats just my opinion....
TOM

 

[shrap]

Greg, I just wanted to repeat my post to you from the Tim/Ray BOI thread.

Greg,

As I stated earlier in this thread.... mistakes happen. It is how you as a seller rectifies the mistake that makes you a good guy or not. Nobody is perfect and mistakes will happen. Just making a mistake alone does not make you a bad guy or deserving crucification.

Ray said there was a screw up on his end, refunded the money and showed remorse that things went bad. Honestly, what more was he supposed to do?

You are screaming that others get nailed for less...... how did the others attempt to resolve the situation? Ignore it? Say tough crap, that the sale is final? Refuse to accept any responsibility what so ever? Yep people probably did nail them to the cross then. Not so much for the mistake but how they refused to make it right. And by refusing to make it right people are going to throw their mistakes in their face. Do you not see the difference?

I am not sure, I could be wrong, but I do not recall any bad guy posts that when the seller made things right that they still got crucified. Unless it was one of the scammers who made right on 1 of 100 bad deals. Ray had 1 bad deal out of 100 and made it right. Again, see the difference?

 

[Dennis1]

Clique

Im feeling that that this site is biased against me too!
if you invite me into the fuana clique and each member sends me a high end reptile i will forgive your discretions


I was no where near that grassy knoll

 

[shrap]

Now on another note. Are there little clicks here? Sure there are and they are obvious if you have a keen eye. Are they all encompassing of the entire site? No. They are little groups of friends here and there who will blindly defend their friends no matter what. Or blindly attack another group or individual if one of their click decides to attack.

Now me personally, I do not give a damn if my mom, dad, brother, kid, best friends or anyone else that is close to me screws up and does something wrong, I will not back them up. I will be there for support and try to help resolve their problem but in no way will I go along and defend them for their actions. Nor will I help them attack and destroy somone that does not deserve it.

I learned when I was around a month old that everybody is different when I seen that other poor infant sucking a bottle when I had a booby to suck on!!!!

 

[Karen Hulvey]

Start here...http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68199

Okay I already read that whole thread. Ray offered a full refund AND accepted the total blame for losy packing and mites. What more can the guy do? Forgive me for being obtuse here but where is the favoritism?

This place has become the BOI of whining and crying.

 

[WebSlave]

If, however, there were a poll available to all Fauna participants which asked a question such as " Do B.O.I. participants tend to show unwarranted favoritism towards certain individuals based on their standing in the Fauna community or in the Reptile hobby in general". The results of that poll would be a good scale on which to weigh the detractors claims.

Apples and oranges, I am afraid. I believe the gist of this thread is something about bias on the BOI, possibly based on paid members, but I'm not sure. We still don't have any actual facts or details about what Greg is really talking about to go on.

Are people here giving other members preferential treatment because they are paid members, instead of not? Beats me. How can you tell? I can't speak for what other people may do nor why. Do I give them preferential treatment? Why, yes, I do, to a small extent. I tend to answer their emails sooner, take care of problems for them quicker, and listen more closely to what they say. Why? Because they are helping to pay the bills here and have more of a stake in the direction this site goes and a demonstrated INTEREST in it's survival and future. So why shouldn't I give them that little extra attention? If someone finds fault with that, well I guess you are just going to have to live with that little quirk.

But would that protect them if they stray to the dark side? Why no, not even a little bit. I have given warning points, fined and suspended, and flat out refused to edit or delete threads related to advertisers here. I have had advertisers drop their advertising because of this, who were certainly paying far more money towards the upkeep of this site then any of the members are through their membership subscriptions. So no, you CANNOT BUY a "get out of jail card" here, if that is what is being implied. If a bad guy is a bad guy, being an advertiser or paid member is not going to make a whit of difference to me in how I treat you.

But if this discussion is also encompassing bias in the entire reptile industry, then you are talking about something entirely different, and really outside of the scope of my responsibility. But yes, it does exist, no doubt. But that is just the way PEOPLE are, not just reptile people. If a member sees someone who they are doing $100K worth of business with a year, and that person gets a query here about them, do you think this member is going to try real hard to come up with something negative about this person? Particularly when they know that person will probably be reading it within 24 hours, and who knows how they may take it? Is this member really going to jeopardise their business for something like that?

No, probably not. So yes, people do weigh everything they say based on some amount of self interest. That is just human nature. Not a darn thing you can do about it either. You just have to factor that in with your own decisions when you read threads from and about anyone at all.

So what exactly are we talking about here? Something that I need to be concerned about at all? Because no, I never made any claims that I was going to fix the world. Matter of fact, I don't believe I ever made any claims at all about what the Board of Inquiry WILL do, only what it has the POTENTIAL to do. It has been, is, and always will be exactly what you all make it into. All I try to do is to keep chaos at bay with some rules.

 

[robin d.]

favoritism... yes
double standards... yes
clicks.... yes
to name a few ...



note to rich: i know what your gonna say. no i am not going anywhere i enjoy this site

 

[jdany]

I don't usually participate in threads.. I'm more of a reader.

But I felt compelled to comment on the alleged clique on Fauna;

I don't think there are some vendors that get a free pass.. I think that for every unfortunate transaction, some have plenty of transactions performed without incident. Everyone knows that bad things happen to every person and every company. You can only go so long without a snag.

The people that I noticed get pounced on don't have a reputation to lean on or have a reputation that is "lien"ing on them.

There's a huge different between someone doing a couple hundred (or thousand) transactions before hitting trouble.. and someone who seems to have trouble every 5 or 6 transactions.

As a consumer, I'm looking out for such trends. The BOI does a great job at putting the info out there.

 

[WebSlave]

favoritism... yes
double standards... yes
clicks.... yes
to name a few ...



note to rich: i know what your gonna say. no i am not going anywhere i enjoy this site

Well, I guess what you are telling me then is that you don't have a better alternative to choose from. I guess we'll both just have to settle for that.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

I did not read but this whole thread but I assume Gregg you made this thread in response to the Tim and Ray thread on here that I just caught up on a minute ago.

I agree with you Gregg about 99 percent of the time but since I disagree with you on this one issue I think it proves against the click theory because if it were a “click thing” we would be agreeing because I would be in your click.

Now you have gone and hurt my feelings, I have to find a new click.



On a side note, Welcome back to the BOI Ophis.
Do you have a click yet?

 

[robin d.]

i do have other alternative rich however i like this comunity on a whole just a few easy to fix problems i do not disagree on, thats all

 

[HerpVenue]

I do not need to read another thread that is started because someone wanted to whine.



To the originator of this thread.
Why don't you whine about not getting warning points for starting this post?

This either has a wrong tittle.
or
It is posted in the wrong forum.

Since the BOI has gone private (pay to post), there seems to be an enormous turn towards a sort of "good ol boy" click...

Gee seems to me an advertiser who has spent more money on this site than you ever did just got warned not to long ago. In fact I think he got his feelings hurt and left if I am not mistaken. (my point is you are wrong......your turn to show details and facts.)

p.s.
I do not care how much you m' f 's pay. Your all still fair game in my book.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

I did not read this whole thread but I assume Gregg you made this thread in response to the Tim and Ray thread on here that I just caught up on a minute ago.

I agree with you Gregg about 99 percent of the time but since I disagree with you on this one issue I think it proves against the click theory because if it were a “click thing” we would be agreeing because I would be in your click.

Now you have gone and hurt my feelings, I have to find a new click.



On a side note, Welcome back to the BOI Ophis.
Do you have a click yet?

Lol, I just went back and read page one of the other thread and I am the only one to have a statement not in the Majority.

QUOTE=Dennis Hultman]This is very surprising. I have read a lot of good things about Ray. I hope he gets on soon and explains.[/QUOTE]

I really must not be in the click or maybe I am the leader of my own.

 

[Wilomn]

You know what REALLY sucks?

I just spent an hour, literally, writing a well thoughtout, proofread, edited post and had the WHOLE DAMN THING go away.

damn damn damn

Greg is entitled to voice his opinion. We are entitled to respond. Such vehemence is not necessarily necessary. Opinions vary between people. There are LOTS of people here so there are LOTS of opinons.

Somtimes things get overlooked. Sometimes things are looked at in microscopic detail.

If anyone does NOT like the way a thing is SEEN then that seer needs to step up to the plate and change the magnification setting.

Greg just did that.

It's hard to go from 10X to 800X without anything in between.

What's the lesson here?

That's for YOU to figure out. But don't take it so damnall personal.

 

[WebSlave]

Since the BOI has gone private (pay to post), there seems to be an enormous turn towards a sort of "good ol boy" click...

So just how long have we been hearing that "clique" tune? (ps, it's NOT CLICK people)

clique ( P ) Pronunciation Key (klk, klk)
n.
A small exclusive group of friends or associates.

intr.v. Informal cliqued, cliqu·ing, cliques
To form, associate in, or act as a clique.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[French, from Old French, latch, or from obsolete French cliquer, to click, clink of imitative origin.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cliquey or cliquy or cliquish adj.
cliquish·ly adv.
cliquish·ness n.


clique

n : an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose [syn: coterie, ingroup, inner circle, pack, camp]

Wish I had the keyword search code working in those old versions of the BOI linked off of the front page. I wonder who it was that first accused us all of that term.

Now the twist applied to it is that it is being caused by the payment requirement? So is this the same clique as before or is this a new one? And is this a clique of only the original members or have other people joined, therefore enlarging the clique to epic proportions and national conspiracy levels? So is it that the people on the outside are the only ones to be able to see it, or us on the inside are just lying to keep you outsiders out?

But seriously folks, there IS a clique here now. We are "an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose", and willing to pay to be here. So yes, we are now a pretty exclusive club, I guess. There are worse things in this life to be...........

But I do find it amusing that with all of the threads posted here over the years, that sure as shootin, someone will grab on to the few exceptions and run hogwild with them claiming that those are ample proof of their conspiracy claims. So all of the rest of the threads and posts are just smoke and mirrors to try to confuse you from our real purpose? And that purpose is to what? I'm not sure what we are being accused of doing while being a part of this clique. Anyone?

 

[brucestephenson]

If only you knew the power of the force! Join MY clique and together we will rule the BOI as Jedi master and his minions!