The BOI will be coming to an end on 02-02-2020

[Lucille]

Lynn,

It was simply an idea. Neither great or perfect but just an idea.

A good idea, when the thought behind it is to expand membership. I have had similar thoughts, to help those who could not get a membership, and the way I went about it is to just gift a membership to someone else. I've done this a few times. So maybe up the road when you see a need you could do something similar just every once in a while.

 

[Iguanalady]

I had been a contributing member in the past, it was my pleasure to do it again to help Rich out. I hate facebook! At least here I get honest opinions that can't be deleted. I read BOI on a daily basis just to keep up to date on who not to do business with and also who I can trust. Thanks Rich for all your hard work along with all the mods here. It is of great value to me and many other.

 

[JimM]

I look at the BOI all the time as I'm blown away at how low the standards of reptile dealing have dropped in the 47 years I've been doing it and I love to see the scammers revealed. Think it's bad now, wait until this place disappears and see how even more scammers come out of the woodwork and standards drop even further.

Anyway, I've wanted to contribute but always saw PAYPAL is the way you take payment. I refuse to use PAYPAL to pay for anything. Isn't there another way to pay for the contribution ?

 

[Insomniac101]

Come on, folks! It's 7 cents a day for a Contributing membership!! I find at least 10 cents a day in my couch cushions!

I find it irritating that so many people profit from the sale of animals and dry goods, while utilizing this site for free, yet balk at supporting it.

 

[Big Time Reptiles]

I look at the BOI all the time as I'm blown away at how low the standards of reptile dealing have dropped in the 47 years I've been doing it and I love to see the scammers revealed. Think it's bad now, wait until this place disappears and see how even more scammers come out of the woodwork and standards drop even further.

Anyway, I've wanted to contribute but always saw PAYPAL is the way you take payment. I refuse to use PAYPAL to pay for anything. Isn't there another way to pay for the contribution ?

Jim,
PM Rich, and ask if you can send payment like I do...I won't use PayPal again for any reason. PERIOD!

Lynn Peterson
Big Time Reptiles

 

[JimM]

I'd pay double that just to keep it going if I didn't have to go through PP , and I don't even use the 'vast' herp comunity anymore ... I only buy,sell or trade with friends or their referrals and only meet in person at a rest stop or restaraunt ... not a show ; like we did 'back in the day'.

The internet and social (anti-social) media has done just as much bad as good to this hobby ... all depending on who uses it for what. The BOI hasn't been infallible, but has done a lot to keep things in line.

Right now there are many dirt ball dealers who think the end of the BOI is one of the best things that could happen to them.

 

[Big Time Reptiles]

Right now there are many dirt ball dealers who think the end of the BOI is one of the best things that could happen to them.

Don't you know........You hit that nail square on the head!


Lynn Peterson
Big Time Reptiles

 

[WebSlave]

I have had several people either renew their contributions, or make new ones, and I thank you all for that. But I really need to clear the air, as I believe there is an excellent chance that what is going on concerning the future of the BOI has not been made perfectly clear.

I started this conversation initially in the moderator's forum with the goal in mind to get their feedback whether they felt that FaunaClassifieds could survive without the Board of Inquiry. I believe the thoughts varied from, yes, it would survive in a "limp along" state, to the suggestion that I go full retirement, pack the bags for Connie and myself, close down FaunaClassifieds completely without a backward glance, then travel the countryside leaving my cares behind. And a lot of scenarios in between.

Quite honestly what you see now is really PLAN B. PLAN A had been to restrict the BOI to paying members only on 02-02-2019 as I felt I owed the contributing members that much. Then a year later, on 02-02-2020, shut the BOI down completely. After getting some suggestions from the moderators after I told them my PLAN A decision, I thought hard on it, and decided to modify the second part of that plan. So instead of a hard shut down on 02-02-2020, it is now a "let's wait and see how things look then". I'll be perfectly honest, I don't believe enough people really give a crap any longer to keep the BOI from shutting down. And quite likely PLAN A will be what really takes place.

As such, I do not want anyone to be under the unintended misguided impression that the BOI remaining is a done deal. Even only available to contributing members. I would say that it is more likely that PLAN A is the future that will develop.

So if people still want to contribute, please do so under that full understanding. You will be supporting this SITE, and not the Board of Inquiry. I presume there are a number of people who would prefer FaunaClassifieds to survive, even without the BOI. Yes? No??

Anyway, I wanted to get this out in the open, as I felt I have been dancing around this point, and it's been eating at me that I may be inadvertently misleading people by omission of some details about the future I really expect to take place.

Yes, I expect the BOI will be gone on 02-02-2020. I am just not saying right now that it POSITIVELY will be so, just very likely so, based on what I have seen over the last few years concerning dwindling support. I really do not expect that to turn around. But I am also willing to admit, and submit to the advice of my moderators, that I could be wrong.

 

[Pasodama]

I know/knew this is plan B, vs. shut down, but my understanding, is that the BOI's survival is, now, (in your words) "up to us". IOW If the amount of contributor level memberships (for the site, of course) go up, the more likely it is that the BOI will survive (when you revisit this in 02-02-20). Did I misunderstand or is this correct?

~~~~

 

[Pasodama]

I realize that, due to your experience of dwindling support, you don't expect that things will be much different in 2020.
Hopefully, things change for the better.

~~~~

 

[Iguanalady]

Rich, have you considered allowing someone else to take over the site? I get that it has worn you down and retirement is in the wind. I’m close to retirement myself. I really would hate to see the BOI gone for good.

 

[WebSlave]

I know/knew this is plan B, vs. shut down, but my understanding, is that the BOI's survival is, now, (in your words) "up to us". IOW If the amount of contributor level memberships (for the site, of course) go up, the more likely it is that the BOI will survive (when you revisit this in 02-02-20). Did I misunderstand or is this correct?

~~~~

Well, I would be foolish to let go of the BOI if it proves out to be worth keeping. I'm just saying that this concern of mine actually started in 2005. Then reached a head again in 2009. We now have 139,000 registered members here, an extremely thin minority of which are finding this worth supporting.

In my shoes, how do you think 2020 will look?

Exactly. I wish that it will be different, but I am not holding my breath.

 

[Pasodama]

In my shoes, how do you think 2020 will look?

Exactly. I wish that it will be different, but I am not holding my breath.

I know exactly how you feel and it is quite understandable for you to feel the way you do.
Am keeping fingers crossed.

~~~~

 

[RGMinc]

RGM Inc uses the BOI one of us check in at least every other day to see if there is any new posts we feel it is an extremely valuable asset and since we don’t use Facebook and because bad guys are weeded out so quickly here, we’d really like to see it continue.

 

[Insomniac101]

I presume there are a number of people who would prefer FaunaClassifieds to survive, even without the BOI. Yes? No??

For me, yes, of course! Obviously, many of us would like to see the BOI stick around, but if it's not to be, I will still continue to purchase an annual membership, even if it's for the classifieds only.

Heck, I don't buy a lot of animals these days, and I sell none. If I'm willing to purchase a membership, and don't even use the classifieds, I don't think it's unrealistic to expect those who make money here, to help out.

Kathy

 

[Big Time Reptiles]

For me, yes, of course! Obviously, many of us would like to see the BOI stick around, but if it's not to be, I will still continue to purchase an annual membership, even if it's for the classifieds only.

Kathy

YES...I'll stay and contribute with

every year, without fail!

Lynn Peterson
Big Time Reptiles

 

[tlmoon]

I would hate to see the BOI go and the thought makes me sad, but I totally understand Rich's position. Forums in general don't seem to be what they were 5, 10, 15 years ago, or at least it seems that way to me. So many people are on facebook or other sites like that. And with those sites being free to use, it doesn't come up on a lot of people's radar that a site like the BOI needs to be supported.

I'll stick around and contribute as long as the BOI is still around though!

 

[DavidBeard]

Although my first reaction to reaction to reading that the BOI might go away was "oh no!", that is born mostly out of nostalgia I suppose. I've been here pretty much since day one, although I have taken breaks from the hobby over the years occasionally and I no longer participate nearly as much as I used to, this is literally the only "message board" style website I vist, and has been for years.

Perhaps the online community, reptiles especially, has evolved to the point that sites like this are no longer desirable commodities. That is entirely possible and you will probably find that nearly all of the other mainstay sites/message boards of the reptile world have either died completely off or are ghost towns ripe with digital tumbleweeds rolling around.

Having said all of that, I have never once paid for access to a hobby website, and I won't start here unfortunately. If the BOI ends, it was a good run....if you have to pay to access it, then I won't lose any sleep over losing access.

 

[onebigmoth]

Hello hello! If It's alright, I have a few thoughts on this matter. I'm not an active conversationalist in the community, but I do care deeply for the website as a whole; I apologize if that precludes my being able to weigh in, but I would like to speak of my experiences as a more casual user of Fauna.

I would like to start by saying thatif not for the BOI, I would likely cease in getting new reptiles.. The adage of doing one's research is moot when there's nowhere to get that information from, and I have been burned too many times to boldly go where no one has gone before. As someone who doesn't dabble in social media, the BOI is instrumental in how I research potential sellers: it is, in fact, how I found FaunaClassifieds in the first place. But in spite of my wonderful experiences here, and my constant recommendations of this website to other herpers I know IRL, I was not aware that there was more I could do to support the site as a whole.

I don't know how many people realize that support for Fauna has been falling, and I think more visibility in that area would benefit the website. Another site I support (mynoise.net) has a banner showing their current funding level for the month in various places throughout the website. It acts to remind users that their actions have a cost, without being obtrusive or obnoxious. At least in my personal experience, users are more likely to donate (in the instance of free-to-use or nonprofit services) when they are confronted with the reality that a website is vulnerable to the realities of server costs and hosting fees -- especially when it is a website with an invested community, or one which provides a service not replicated elsewhere.

And Fauna has bits of both of those things.

In my experience, people don't tend to notice problems with a site until the 504s start. I believe many of us are lulled into a false sense of security that the websites we use will be there for us- that everyone else is footing the bill, and that there isn't anything an individual person can do to impact a situation. Therefore, I think the registered users of Fauna would benefit from a wake-up, shake-up roll-call linking everyone to either this thread, or one similar to it in perhaps the news section. Users value transparency and honesty, and if more people- newcomers in particular- were aware of the troubles you've had with the BOI and in keeping Fauna open, I think more of them would be willing to do what they can to support the site. Had I not come to the BOI to search up a name, I wouldn't have found this thread, after all- and for many people who primarily dabble in the classifieds, they may not be aware that there are issues brewing under the surface to begin with. From a purely end-user perspective, then, I think we could stand to be more conscious of the website's needs.

(Fauna is free, it costs $$ to host this ad, consider making a donation if you found buyers/sellers/benefited from fauna et al, our subscription model offers these perks, etc etc. There are a lot of ways to remind people that the webhosts aren't made of money and that the site is a service, not a guarantee.)

In addition to the subscription model currently offered, and the ability to purchase adspace, I also feel that (if Fauna management were open to it,) the website would benefit from a place to send Donations! I know that when I'm either not in a position to set up a subscription for service, or I do not use the service enough to warrant paying for it on a monthly basis, when available I instead opt to donate directly on a one-time or per-use basis to show my appreciation! Less-frequent users of the site may be drawn to that option over subscription models- and as some use the site more over time, they may move to buying a subscription in the future, too. Either way, some money is better than none money, and I doubt that there's a dearth of people willing to donate -- I think that many, like me, are a combination of not thinking about it, and not being aware of the options. I certainly want to support this website!

(There are also myriad ways to encourage donations and membership perks- some sits paywall icons or wordcount of posts, install limits on how many photos you can use and all of that, but if you'd rather not you can try the positive reinforcement route of giving donators little "donator" titles in addition to the membership roles, perhaps giving out little profile banners or things you can purchase for your donation like a badge stating if you're a snake breeder or an iguana collector or something. There are a lot of options is my point! It depends on what the users would be open to and what the staff want to implement, of course!)

In all, I personally think the hobby would change for the worse if Fauna were to go away, BOI or no -- but I think the BOI itself is a huge asset for the community, and one I would hate to see disappear. Facebook and other websites are all well and good (not,) but none of them can match the history and the level of accountability found in the BOI. Even if things do tend to go awry there from time to time, this is where the community gathers to feel each other out. I don't believe another website will replace that any time soon. I feel that the BOI is one of Fauna's strengths, in addition to the wonderful organization of the classified's section and the fact that this site boasts more variety in available species than any other site out there. I consider Fauna one of the touchstones of the community, at least personally, and of the big three classifieds sites (morphmarket, kingsnake, and fauna,) I consider this one to be the best of all three in terms of user engagement, variety of content, and overall quality of experience. I think there's a lot of good in the people here, too, and that counts for a lot.

But all that said, I understand the need for funding and the desire to rid yourself of a perpetual headache in the shape of a legal liability. I am far, far too familiar with being on the receiving end of a job that feels thankless, like a hole in the wallet and an ache in the head. And I will support and respect whatever decision the Fauna Admins decide to make on this issue one way or another as the decision they found necessary, because at the end of the day, it's their site and their rules, and they must do what's best for their own well-being first and foremost.

I will also say that on the first I will be purchasing a subscription to support the site in light of this article. And if you read all of this, thank you very much for your time.

 

[Insomniac101]

But all that said . . . .

And, well-said! Thank you for taking the time to offer your valuable input.