• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

New feature - individual feedback ratings

WebSlave

WebSlave

It is what it is, but certainly not what it was.
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We're trying out something new here that just got installed by my programmer. It's an individual feedback system, similar to what you see in FaunaAuction. This can be accessed via the user's PROFILE button when you are viewing a message posted by this person.

Results of the feedback rating are displayed under their post count in the section that displays the poster's name to the left of the actual message. This may change if I decided it would be better placed directly under the name or somewhere else.

Clicking on the number displayed as the rating will bring up a screen giving you a history of the ratings as well as the person providing feedback and any pertinent comments.

This is designed to be used in addition to the BOI and provide a little bit quicker feedback system, particularly for those people placing ads in the classifieds section. A glance at their feedback rating will help (hopefully) give you a bit of an idea of their overall approval rating before you go do a search in the BOI for them.

Anyway, this is just a trial run. If it works it stays, if it gets too easily abused, it will be gone. Try it out and let me know what you think of it.

Thanks.
 
Well I screwed up already with this new system. But at least I figured out how easy it is to delete a rating that someone might place on someone else. Too easy, actually!

My apologies to Rob Trenor and SPJ! :blush:
 
I dont know about everyone else, but this to me is pretty scary. I've never liked it on other forums either.
Can someone give someone else a poor rating without any sort of support? Just type in a number? Can they do it anonymously? Can the person who gets a bad rating refute it, or ask why? It just seems like anyone with a personal dislike or even competitors can attempt to smear someone's reputation without evidence or reason.

I think the reliability and accountability of the way the BOI is set up is really the best and most fair approach. So what if it takes people awhile to search and read--it is just way too easy to jump to conclusions the quick and easy way.

And Webslave, do you really want more work? LOL!!!

Thanks for taking this into consideration.

Dana
 
No, it is NOT anonymous. Every 'vote' will have the person's logon ID tied to it. If that logon ID does not have a real name in their USER CP, it is subject to being deleted.
 
Hey, so you were a pioneer with this new feature. And YOU got the arrow in your back... :laugh:

How was I supposed to know what that red 'X' was for, next to your vote? The guy just installed the software and it didn't come with any manual.

Sorry....
 
No. I can erase it if it appears fraudulent. Meaning the vote was done by a member that cannot be verified when attempted contact is made.

Maybe mods can to, I don't really know. Let's experiment and YOU be the guinea pig.
 
Well, it seems easy enough, and when you view the ratings, you can see who made what comments so you can ask them for more details of their experience.
I do have to ask the same question that Dana did though. If you get a negative feedback, is there any way to dispute it? I can think of numerous instances where parties would be giving each other negative feedback points for "personal" reasons instead of "professional" ones or even made-up reasons.
 
I think that if it had the capability of having rebuttals made, then it would take on a life of it's own and become a mini-BOI.

Consider this as just another level of protection, but on a minor scale. It is not intended to take the place of the BOI. In the case where known bad guys may post ads on the classifieds here, this would be a front line warning system, that at the very least, will keep them from even posting on this site at all.

No, it's not going to be perfect, and it will likely be a hassle, but it's just another tool in the toolbox to be used as deemed appropriate. And I think that pretty much describes the BOI as well....
 
Guinea pig was successful.

I could have told you that.
Because I was giving someone a good review.
Then I went to view it and saw a red X.
I was wondering what it was. so I clicked on it and poof my review was gone.
 
OK, so moderators and admins here have the power to keep control of the feedback system.

Ratings are not anonymous and every vote placed needs to have a valid ownership. Votes will be subject to random audit by making contact with people placing them to verify that they are not bogus registrations. Any lack of response to an audit query will be cause to have the vote removed.

Anyone receiving a negative vote can see whom cast that vote and have the opportunity to contact the person making it.

Of course, the question is certainly going to come up asking if a vote can be changed by the person casting it. At this time, I will say definitely maybe. I want to give this more thought before I decide one way or the other.

But I want to make this voting system a little stricter than the requirements for posting on the BOI. You can ONLY vote if you have actually had a business transaction of some sort with the person you are voting on. Voting for or against them solely on hearsay or what your friend has experienced is not appropriate. Nor is just expressing your opinion based on anything other than direct experience in a transaction involving animals sold, bought, or traded.


Thanks.
 
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