• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • 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.

Replies to classified ads

Should the classified sections be reopened to allow replies to threads?

  • Yes, I think it will be helpful

    Votes: 15 42.9%

  • No, I think it would detract from the usefullness

    Votes: 20 57.1%
  • Total voters
    35
WebSlave

WebSlave

The world looks differently to me now.
Staff member
Staff
Endowment
Resident Demon
Joined
Feb 3, 2002
Messages
20,307
Reaction score
826
Points
113
Location
Crawfordville, FL
I've been getting a number of emails from people baffled by their inability to post replies in the classified sections on this site. They would like to respond to the ad within the thread and get more information without a more direct manner of doing so.

This is often compounded by the problem of the person posting the ad not providing adequate contact information within the ad itself.

So I am considering reopening the classified sections for replies to the messages posted there and am asking for opinions on this change.

Pros:
(1) People can reply immediately to an ad, and the answers may help other viewers gain more information about what is being offered.

(2) I will stop getting those emails asking why they can't post replies in those threads.

(3) Any ads that are suspicious looking will have immediate feedback within the thread itself.

Cons:
(1) The ads will not be in strictly chronological order. A reply to a thread pops it back to the top of the classified section. Often referred to as "bumping". I will have to institute a warning point for the original poster doing this simply to put his/her ad back to the top of the section.

(2) The classified sections could turn into mini-BOIs with arguments flaring up in those threads. This could wind up being more work for me as well as the moderators.

Anyway, how about voting on the poll here and let me know what you all think about this.

Thanks.
 
While I see the usefullness of having the ability to respond to adds, I really don't see it being enough of a Pro to outweigh the cons.

Also~ It really looks like it will just make more work for you and the other mods. If people want to use this FREE site, well then they will have to do a little work on thier own and check the BOI associated with this site before purchasing or take the risk always associated with on-line advertisements.

How about you a put a notice on the top of the add boards stating that responses can not be made to the advertisements, and that all sellers should be checked out on the BOI. Then just ignore any e-mails asking WHY, or draft out a standard response you can paste in reply that tell people to learn to read the announcements.
 
Here is a link to the rules they use over on the Broadband Reports.com website's classifieds. It works pretty well and the Mods over there enforce the rules strictly, especially the 24 hour bump rule.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,1289093~root=forsale~mode=flat

You can institute a rule that any BOI type of questions/accusations be limited to the BOI and are not allowed in the classifieds section. Warning points and post deletions for breaking the rules.

You could always just try it out on a trial basis and maybe ask for a couple of volunteers that you trust to act as mods over it to strictly enforce the rules.
 
Personally, I like being able to comment on others ads, if I'm interested, and I like having others comment on mine. I think it sort of weeds out the window shoppers too, because it gives them the opportunity to make comment like "Nice animal!" without clogging up the old email. However, the same tendancy uses up space here.

Whatever you decide is fine, WebSlave. I like it over at cornsnakes.com, but it may be too cumbersome here. I'm still amazed at how markedly different the two sites are from one another in tone, given how many of us frequent both sites!
 
WS-

I think that being able to comment on posts in the classifieds will end up clogging everything up and making it look a mess. I think one of the biggest problems will be for those of us who like to view new ads. Old ads will keep popping up and we'll see them repetitively because of people posting a "Nice looking Corn!" reply to them. I would, personally, like to have it stay as it is so it can have some order to it.

Also, like you said, you run the risk of it turning into a mini-BOI making things a lot tougher for you and the mods because of all the reading and patrolling you'll have to do.

I can understand that you get emails asking why people can't reply, but you'll run the risk of replacing those emails with people who are ticked off because of replies tagged with their ads and how they can't post ads here because they always get slammed for something or other.

Just my $.03 (sorry....inflation)
 
To help with the "nice looking animal" posts is you just don't allow them, period.Unless it is a legitimate question regarding the sale of the item, all other posts will be deleted. It could work but it would take a commitment from those that moderate it and very strictly enforced rules.
 
They used to be allowed.

Lotta mini-BOI threads.

There were even a few where people simply accused others of wrongdoing by replying to the ad itself.

The moderators here can reply to classified ads. Any questions that end up being asked more than once... The person who posted the ad should edit it to include the information.
 
Then again...

It would be nice to follow up an ad that has

2.2 breeding group of redtail boas All are proven.. Will sell as pairs or whole group only!!! $200.00 a pair 0r $400.00 for all!!!!
Click to expand...

with a smart-@$$ comment like "Wait....so the deal is I can buy two for $200 or I can get a deal and buy four for twice as much?"

No disrespect meant, and good luck to the seller.
 
I have to go with no on this one, I just simply don't see the use of it.
Every ad has a PM and an email button right there, contacting the seller is easy.
It will turn into a mini BOI, it happened last time.
It will also bring ads up repeatedly in the view new posts function without any benefit.
 
I have to go with no on this one, I just simply don't see the use of it.
Every ad has a PM and an email button right there, contacting the seller is easy.
It will turn into a mini BOI, it happened last time.
It will also bring ads up repeatedly in the view new posts function without any benefit.
Click to expand...

You read my mind. If you have a question about an ad... How many ways do you really need to ask.

The only benefit I can see is it would allow a seller that was selling more than one animal or cage to update the thread by saying that one was sold, and that so many where left.
But the way it is now. All they have to do is delet their post, and repost.
Pretty simple the way it is.

I think it would just turn back into another mini BOI like it was before.
 
I also had to vote NO on this one.

I remember when classifieds could be replied to, and it would get pretty messy and cluttered at times. There were mini-BOIs popping up regularly, and older ads were getting bumped ahead of newer ads that, in my opinion, SHOULD be at the top. Plus, I remember seeing a few of those smarta$$ comments like the last person posted. Funny though they might be, it does nothing for the site, the moderators, the sellers, the buyers, or anything. The posts saying "nice animal" or something like that are nice, but definitely not necessary. The times I've wanted to compliment someone on an animal they had for sale, I e-mailed them.

If someone needs to contact the seller, e-mail and private message links are available in all posts, so that should be no problem. To me, if you are not willing to send an e-mail or private message to the seller regarding what is for sale, then it is likely you are not thatt serisouly interested. But that is just my view.

Webslave, you and the mods have enough on your hands, I don't see any reason to add more. At least when it comes to something that is not a major benefit or detriment to the site.
 
Also, just thought of this...

Rich, for the classified sections, might it be worthwhile to consider removing the "Post Reply" button from the template altogether? That way you don't have to deal with the e-mails anymore.

Just a thought...in a long list of thoughts...that should probably not be taken seriously. LOL
 
Rob,

The idea to remove the "reply" button from the classifieds section is a very good one, but not easily done. This message board system is a template based system, so this same template for displaying threads in the classifieds section is used every else as well. While it certainly should be possible to put code into place to be able to determine if the template is being needed in the classifieds section, and therefore omit the REPLY button, it would not be all that easy to do.

Actually I am kind of surprised that the majority of the votes appear to be against enabling the reply function. Of course, only 19 votes out of 6,000 registered members isn't exactly a mandate either, I guess.

Thanks.
 
Vote no

My feelings in general mirror the others but I will express them since my vote seems to count for a survey of about 300 members.

1.) With replys it would be hard to keep just going to new ads and not going over and over the ones you have already looked at.

2.) It takes no more time for me to hit the PM button and write a question directly to the seller than it does for me to hit Reply to Post.

3.) Maybe after several emails from buyers asking for more info a seller that doesnt want to be bothered with the stupid questions will learn to fill details in on the original ad. Granted selling and classifieds can be an art but as we have all found after hitting the post button we need to learn to proofread!

So in summary leave it the way that it is.
 
Sometimes I get the feeling that the way I should run this site is to just go ahead and make a change, then count the number of people that complain about it rather than trying to get a feel from polls like this.

Maybe I am just doing this all wrong. Perhaps the Captain Bligh approach is the best way....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top