• 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.

The shocks of coming out of the woods....

WebSlave

WebSlave

The world looks differently to me now.
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Many years ago, Connie and I went on vacation down to Florida (we were living in Maryland at the time) and when stopped at a rest stop, I went into the men's room to do my business. When I came out I went to wash my hands and was flustered by the water faucets that had no handles to turn them on. Fortunately a guy pointed out the sensor that enabled the water stream. I guess he thought I was fresh from the boonies coming to modern civilization. And maybe I was...

So recently I am taking a trip and took some routes that had toll booths attached to them. I had money in hand, but was astonished to see signs saying that vehicles should not stop, that they will be billed for the toll. Hmm??? How does that work? There appeared to be cameras that I assume took photos of the license plate of the vehicle, and I was wondering it the bike carrier on back of my vehicle was going to obscure my license plate. But even so, this brought interesting thoughts to mind. Does this mean there is a system in place linking the license plate info all across the USA such that a billing system of this nature even exists? Do they send me a bill in the mail or do they also have it linked to my credit card info? And what about rental vehicles? How would that work?

To top this off Pim and I went to a state park and then again I had money in hand to pay for parking. But WTH? They just had signs up stating that visitors needed to text a number or else log into a website via their phone. So what if someone doesn't bring a cell phone to the beach? I will be honest, I have never texted a number to a numbered code on my phone, so didn't have a clue about how to do that. And neither was I going to stand around there all day long to register on some website and provide any sort of identifying info to anyone in that manner. So I just said "screw it all" and we went down to the beach. Beats me how they are even going to know I am there, unless someone comes through the park periodically and scans everyone's license plate and this parking fee system is also tied into the above mentioned license plate database. Then I guess I might get some sort of fine sent to me. So this is saying that it is a REQUIREMENT than anyone going to such state parks MUST have a cell phone and MUST bring it with them to the park? Again, WTH???

Yeah, maybe I am some rube now living in the wilds of Wakulla County. Maybe I should just stay there.
 
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