Final poll on the membership fee program

[rujonesin]

Whew!

Wow that's like reading a novel. I just made it through this. I think rewarding someone for having 500 posts would just increase the meaningless posts that already get posted within a thread. I sit down to read a thread and before you know it two people are carrying on a conversation about something unrelated. I would gladly pay a fee for the use of this site. I don't think anything should be separated though. Pay your fee to use the forums and classified sections and the BOI is just a bonus for being a member. If it were just the BOI I wouldn't see it being beneficial to pay to use it as I think some who could offer a meaningful comment would not post because of the fee. For what this site offers and the traffic $10 is nothing. Maybe if there was a fee some of those threads that are 1000 posts deep would shrink up a bit. To use the features of this site as a whole I would certainly pay more.
Mike

 

[David Bellis]

I didn't read all 21 pages so forigve me if this has already been posted. I think the BOI is a great tool and the only one of its kind out there. Losing the BOI would be a bad thing for everyone.

I voted for the middle option but I have some reservations in doing so. By charging people to post you're obviously going to lose out on quite a few people posting. Someone that got scammed may not want to be out an additional 10 dollars just to tell their story. This would be good for scammers which means it's bad for everyone else. And the other side of the coin is losing the good guy posts from a lot of people who have never used the site.

There are quite a few one man operations and smaller businesses that I see posting things on KS and on the classifieds here. I would buy from these people based on their feedback and their comments here. With that feedback lost, I'd play it safe and purchase from the big breeders. That move is bad for everyone selling animals (myself included).

I don't know that there's a perfect solution but anything that hinders anyone from posting to the BOI is bad for us all.

 

[WebSlave]

I didn't read all 21 pages so forigve me if this has already been posted. I think the BOI is a great tool and the only one of its kind out there. Losing the BOI would be a bad thing for everyone.

I voted for the middle option but I have some reservations in doing so. By charging people to post you're obviously going to lose out on quite a few people posting. Someone that got scammed may not want to be out an additional 10 dollars just to tell their story. This would be good for scammers which means it's bad for everyone else. And the other side of the coin is losing the good guy posts from a lot of people who have never used the site.

There are quite a few one man operations and smaller businesses that I see posting things on KS and on the classifieds here. I would buy from these people based on their feedback and their comments here. With that feedback lost, I'd play it safe and purchase from the big breeders. That move is bad for everyone selling animals (myself included).

I don't know that there's a perfect solution but anything that hinders anyone from posting to the BOI is bad for us all.

I really can't argue against these points, but the simple fact of the matter, in my opinion, is that the BOI has reached a plateau at this point. There is no way for it to progress upwards without taking steps to legitimize the people making posts there. Without increasing the credibility of the posts being made there, the BOI will always just be a 'B' grade soap opera in many peoples' eyes. Perhaps some people would be willing to live with that, but I am not. So this elevator will either go UP or go back DOWN, but it is not going to stay where it is now.

 

[Inside Out]

Okay after 21 pages of reading I decided not to jump into this one with my foot in my mouth. So I don't get hit with all the neg rep points lol


I did a count on just in the Boa section of the classifieds for this month and I want to say there was 32 or so individual posters selling Items. Thats just in the boa section Feb starts on about page 4.

I noticed the Ad to the right states around 6k in hits a day. Surely advertisers would be willing to pay more than what they do. Some I'm sure advertise other places for more. People serious in selling animals should also be willing to pay to do so. I noticed in another thread that Rich said that voters wanted to see ad rates go up but none of the advertisers had shown postive input. IMO thats like going to the store and the manager asking you instead of paying 2.50 for a gallon of milk would you pay 5.00 it's your choice.
Well who is going to say I want to pay $5. No one!


I don't use the site much other than browse the classifieds once in a blue moon. I get more use out of the Shows and Events and BOI. But when it comes down to paying for it I don't think it will be worth it for me so I guess at that point it's happy trails.

I think it will survive untill the only people that are left are those that are contributors that are die hard users. I don't know the exact number of contributors but they are going to get sick of talking to each other. Membership fees are going to detour new users.

With any business new customers are what keep you alive and if you tell them they can't window shop. they have to come in and buy. It's a dead end alley. You don't buy a new car without test driving it.

On that note I'll be here untill the day the fee shows up and once that happens I wish you all the best. GOOD LUCK Rich.

Grady Robinson

 

[shrap]

Grady Robinson,

If you had read everything then you would know that viewing would be free for all registered members and that it does not cost money to register.

Check out this membership table webslave posted, it will clear things up a bit for you.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showpost.php?p=232698&postcount=57

 

[Inside Out]

Okay I'm now enlightened. So I can look but I can't inform the world of fauna that I got the screws put to me. No biggie. They key to that table tho is restricted forums. I have a feeling those mean the classifieds right?

On another note HELL is a waste of space and bandwith lol I'd start deleting unused parts of the board starting right there. But thats me.

In the end I'm sure i'll drop the $10.

 

[WebSlave]

"Restricted" forums are going to be those forums where I feel that some credibility of the posters may be in everyone's best interests. **HELL** is still a toss-up in my decision. In some respects I feel it should be completely left open to give the black sheep of the family a place to call home. But a sticking point is that I originally set this up as a dumping ground for those threads on the BOI that just got way too far into right field to remain there. So since I will have that restriction on the BOI, I'm not sure it is prudent to drop a BOI thread into a forum where then all credibility controls are absent.

And honestly, some people will purposely start threads there bad mouthing someone else, knowing it wouldn't be tolerated anywhere else on this site. So maybe I need to insist that those people pass the minimum credibility test before being allowed to do that.

As far as getting rid of the HELL forum? Nope. Despite a lot of predictions to the contrary, it served the purpose I had in mind for it when I set it up. It got rid of a LOT of the garbage that used to be in the BOI.

Which brings up another point. I expect that there will be some problems with people posting inappropriate posts within the *free* forums rather then paying that minimal $10 fee in order to post in the appropriate forums. Expect outright, no warning, deletions to take place when that happens and associated warning points assessed. In the past, myself and the moderators would take the time and effort to move those kinds of posts into the proper forums. That will be over with, for obvious reasons.

 

[tai_pan1]

Personally, I enjoyed Hell. I laughed all night when I read those threads!

 

[turtletary]

Purpose of BOI?????

i think "$10 yearly fee to POST on the BOI, viewing still allowed. Same as above for the classifieds." seems the most fair and reasonable

i think new people would be really unlikely to pay a fee for something that can't see beforehand...without being able to read it first they wouldn't have any real understanding of what the boi is all about and why it is worth their money


--liz

I'm an honest breeder of turtles and tortoises.. evidenced by "references and reviews".. elsewhere. What's all this mean to me??????

Terry

 

[jmkhet]

Webslave, i actually just sent you an e-mail, if i want to make the payment but dont have a debit/credit card, does that mean im just screwed and cant use certain aspecks of this site until someone comes up with some other sort of payment plan?I can send a postal money order but thats all i can do....Thanks, Josh McDermott

 

[clifford]

An excellent idea...

I'd pay for access no matter how you slice it, and charging is a great idea. I think you'd be wise to allow most of the content to be freely browsable to attract users, and then charge to be a part of posting/adding to the site. In fact, I think I'd actually use the site *more* because it would knock off most of the clowns who only come here to cause trouble and waste everyone's time.

If folks can't cough up $10/year to support something they use...then they must really not care about it at all. Give me a break...that's like paying to see one freaking movie...two hours of entertainment. I probably spend that amount of time here in a week, just checking the classifieds and BOI to make a purchase.

I say go for it, I'm totally on board.

Cliff Miller

 

[WebSlave]

Webslave, i actually just sent you an e-mail, if i want to make the payment but dont have a debit/credit card, does that mean im just screwed and cant use certain aspecks of this site until someone comes up with some other sort of payment plan?I can send a postal money order but thats all i can do....Thanks, Josh McDermott

No, not at all. Matter of fact, I just went and allocated part of my SerpenCo shopping cart for this purpose until I can get a dedicated shopping cart program set up for this purpose. Please see the second post in this thread for more details about payment options: http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64541

Thanks.

 

[Gary O]

Can I ask a quick question. Was this poll not made after you said you were going to charge either way anyway. And there were like 2 or 3 other polls with 70 to 100+ votes against charging. Maybe most of them people left after you said you were going to charge for sure and did not vote on the last poll..............................................

But I remember the first polls not being for this charge? Just a thought

 

[Gary O]

I posted this in the wrong thread sorry

 

[TheVipersHouse]

Charging For Boi Usage Is Wrong

Well we all know this is his baby .. But 1 thing most people forget about when saying that , that is "HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS GETTING INTO WHEN HE STARTED THIS " ..i mean comeon lets be honest here 1 main reason he started this was for his personal benefit .. ( he gets exposure for his own business , he creates more traffic for his business ) hence he makes more money off this cause it brings more customers to his business ..
Now if you want to charge for classifieds that another story and it would be understood cause thats saying " You want to make money off my site then u can pay to help me keep it running so u can make money "
but to put a price tag on the BOI ..i think thats going to far I'M SORRY BUT IF I JUST HAD A DEAL GO BAD AND LOST $200 BUCKS ON IT ,CAUSE I COULDN'T POST PRIOR TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE GUY , I DAM SURE WOULDN'T PAY YOU $10 BUCKS AFTER THE FACT , TO BE ABLE TO POST AFTER ITS ALREADY HAPPENED TO ME ... THE BOI'S EFFECTIVENESS WILL DROP DRAMATICALLY AND MORE AND MORE PEOPLE ARE GONNA GET RIPPED OFF BECAUSE THEY CANT POST TO FIND OUT INFO ON SOMEONE THEY WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH UNLESS THEY PAY FOR IT .. THE BOI WAS MEANT FOR EVERYONE (GOOD , BAD , UGLY ETC..ETC..) BUT IT WAS MEANT TO BE A FREE TOOL FOR ALL TO USE ... IF YOUR GOING TO PUT CHARGES ON SUMTHING PUT IT WHERE IT BELONGS JUST LIKE EVERYOTHER SITE OUT THERE " IN THE CLASSIFIEDS SECTIONS " WHERE THE MONEY IS MADE ... I WILL NEVER PAY TO POST ON THE BOI ,I THINK CAUSE OF THE REASON THE BOI WAS STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE (GOOD REASON ), AND NOW BY ADDING FEES TO USE IT PROPERLY TO ITS FULLEST USE IS UNETHICAL .. ITS USED FOR AN INFORMATIONAL TOOL AND THE INFORMATION SHOULD BE FREE EITHER READING IT OR INFORMING OTHERS ABOUT IT .. JMHO

 

[WebSlave]

Thanks for your input Shawn, but you are a day late and a dollar short. This has all been covered and beaten absolutely to death months ago.

But you take care and thanks for stopping by after being gone for so long.

 

[TheVipersHouse]

well being is what happens when u get married and have been in process of moving to another state priorities come first over visiting a website
and regardless if it is a socalled "deadhorse" putting a price tag on BOI is wrong and IMHO unethical ...

 

[WebSlave]

Yeah, I heard that one before. Unethical, in like I am supposed to do this for free for all eternity, pulling the money out of my pocket and spending HOURS every day with it. And it's not worth $10 per year to you but it should be worth it to me to do all the time, effort, and expense for free? Yeah, right....

Plus I guess you missed that issue about using the payment hurtle to help clean up the fake registrations and posting on the BOI, I guess.

Heck, I wasted HOURS here today when I should have been preparing deli cups for babies hatching out. I spend HOURS here each day for one reason or another. So no, I am NOT doing it for free. If it comes down to having to do it for free because no one finds it worth paying for, then I really don't need this at all, now do I? So then it will be gone. And I'll be laying around the pool most of the day or down at the beach getting the Gulf of Mexico between my toes enjoying all of my new found free time.

 

[reptilebreeder]

well being is what happens when u get married and have been in process of moving to another state priorities come first over visiting a website
and regardless if it is a socalled "deadhorse" putting a price tag on BOI is wrong and IMHO unethical ...

Give me a break. Unethical? wtf. First of all WS didn't start this site as part of his "business", he started the BOI because he got ripped off. It mushroomed from there. It's a site he started, it's a site he maintained for free for years (possible sales made from the exposure to his real business, are probably minuscule or at least would have been better utilized, by actually putting all this time and effort into the actual business site, and not this one), also as WS mentioned above (which naysayers seem to ignore), the incidences of people registering multiple times, under different aliases, to either defend themselves, give themselves an atta boy, or just post garbage, has dropped immensely, in fact I know of only one person that has registered and posted as an Additional* alias, and that was to post in the free section. Sure it's possible "we" just haven't caught anyone doing it in the BOI, but regardless it's a big change from catching dozens of people, with dozens of alias'.

As far as not spending $10, if anyone does more than one or two internet transactions a year, I think a measly $10 is well worth it. Sure people can go their whole life without even knowing what the BOI is, and never get burned, but I personally think it will lessen the odds of someone getting burned. Just like car insurance, we moan about those stupid payments, until some drunk, or unlicensed (or both) person hits us, then insurance is our best friend.

* I state additional alias in reference to bad guys having more than one or multiple alias', for the purposes of deceiving-ripping off, not the internet user who chooses not to reveal his/her real identity, and has no malicious intentions.

 

[TheVipersHouse]

Yeah, I heard that one before. Unethical, in like I am supposed to do this for free for all eternity, pulling the money out of my pocket and spending HOURS every day with it. And it's not worth $10 per year to you but it should be worth it to me to do all the time, effort, and expense for free? Yeah, right....




WELL IF YOU WOULD HAVE READ A LITTLE BETTER ...
I said put the fees where it belongs on the CLASSIFIEDS sections
where people make money .. if they want to make some money using your site charge em to do it ..
But the BOI is a TOOL used to find out about people for bettering business and protecting themselves and YES to charge for a information service to protect people of this site IT IS UNETHICAL ... no body told you you had to do this for free , no body said u had to be here 24 hours a day , thats why u got moderators to help you free time up ... all i can say is WS you knew what u were getting into when starting this , you knew it would cost money , but you made your choices on how to operate this site ... but to install a fee where it dont belong after all this time of making it and preaching about its purpose to be a free tool to protect everyone is what i call UNETHICAL ...but like everyone always says its your site ,its been your site , so no matter what your gonna do what u want to like you always do , right or wrong ... but remember your right it is your site and you knew what u getting into when making it like that old saying goes You made your bed , So sleep in it ...Not charging the on the site (what should be charged) and Placing charges (on what shouldnt be charged ) is what i call unethical ..Especially after all the years so far i have heard you preach to everyone about WHY the BOI was started for ...
LIKE ALWAYS YOUR NOT GONNA CARE ABOUT WHAT I HAVE TO SAY BUT I SEEN MANY POSTS ALREADY THAT AGREE FOR THE MOST PART WITH MY POSTS AND SAY THE SIMILAR WORDS MINE DOES .. BUT AS ALWAYS YOU DO WHAT U WANT .. SO WHATEVER ....


Im sure here soon we will see the same outcome here as we see on Kingsnake ..