• 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....

The wild, wild, west!

Wilomn said:
What's wrong with coming here for the drama?
Click to expand...

I have no issues whatsoever with some drama.
The Board of Inquiry is filled with drama by design.
It's the increasing intrusion of the Cartoon Network that gets a little old!
 
You know - this used to be a noble place. I remember how it started - and how it tried to help police a hobby liberally laced with bad people. But the bad guys and 40 year old adolescents seemed to have won.

It's too bad. The BOI was a great idea.
 
The BOI still works. I believe any reasonably intelligent person can sift through the crap and make an informed decision regarding a vendor through the BOI. This is all I would want if I was going to purchase an animal, or suppplies, from an unknown seller.

There's a lot of pettiness in the BOI but it is easy to skip over. Actually I was thinking it was getting better of late. Some of the major combatants seem to be in some sort of a truce. :)

Anyway it's commonly the same posters so if they get out of hand just tune them out.
 
It's so embarrassing though. Anyone new to the hobby - trying to find out information about a vendor, has to wade through loads of this junk.

It's like it reinforces every stereotype herpers have....
 
So why should I expend all that time, effort, and energy to muzzle those people dead set on making fools of themselves?

So now people are blaming me because they no longer have a "daddy" here to run to? :rofl:
 
WebSlave said:
So now people are blaming me because they no longer have a "daddy" here to run to? :rofl:
Click to expand...
Of course it is your fault grown adults can not behave themselves.:rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
It's like it reinforces every stereotype herpers have....
Click to expand...

It's funny we are all "herpers" but no one wants to be seen as the stereotypical herper. I guess I just give people more credit, whether they are new to herps or not. Generally, when I see someone call another an ahole for no particular reason, I'm thinking, look in the mirror. On most BOI threads the die is cast in about 20 posts(this is entirely a guess). After that it is rehashing, fighting,excuses and sometimes a footnote. I would suspect by 20 posts a reader would know whether they trust the seller or not, so if they keep reading it is for enjoyment.
 
I think the whole placing blame thing is somewhat rediculous.

If you don't like it, leave. You don't have to pull an even stahl and poop all over the place on your way out, just leave.

A few have done just that. Some of them, when they needed it, have come back because they know if it's possible to get assistance it can be had here.

There is also the ignore button. Feel free to use it.

Just because one of or some of the members feel a certain way, other members are in no way obligated to follow suit.

Cowboy, Indian, Storekeeper or SchoolMarm, they're all here regularly. They all play their part in outing the black barts of the reptile world.

Also, if you read here often enough to be familiar enough with this place to have a negative opinion of it, why are you here?

I can think of half a dozen sites off the top of my head that have things similar to the BOI. Go there. If you can get satisfaction there, more power to you. When you come back here, the members will still try to help you out, regaurdless of your previous nay-saying.

If I put my finger on a hot pot, that I know is hot before I put my finger on it, how is it ok to blame the guy who provides the gas to my stove for me buring my finger? I'm the dolt that touched the pot I knew was hot.
 
Great post Wes.
I agree completely, and in case anyone is questioning my motives for starting this thread, let me state this:

Fauna is still the best reptile forum on the internet. It is filled with good people who are always willing to help. Yes, there are more then a few who want to use this as a playground and constantly pick fights, but they are the minority here.

I am simply looking for, and hopefully offering suggestions to improve it.

I still believe that there is a better place just a couple of clicks back from wide open.
 
WebSlave said:
So why should I expend all that time, effort, and energy to muzzle those people dead set on making fools of themselves?

So now people are blaming me because they no longer have a "daddy" here to run to? :rofl:
Click to expand...

No one is asking you to do anything at all. I'm just commenting or perhaps, lamenting on how this site has declined, in my opinion.

Yes, yes, yes, I know - don't let the door him me on the butt.

Hey - it's your dough - spend it how you like.
 
Yeah, I know. Another complaint that I am not making this site exactly what YOU want it to be. Well what about the other guy who wants it like it is? Of that other person who liked the very strict rule enforcement? Or that other guy who wants absolutely NO rules whatsoever?

I can't please everyone, and if I am going to be banged over the head no matter what I do, then I choose to do the least amount of effort possible in order to receive that head banging. I'm done being the resident masochist around here.
 
Rich, I'm certainly not bashing you at all. Just commenting.

Lighten up a bit. My disappointment in the site doesn't mean I'm bashing you. Not in the least.

Besides - a happy medium can be struck. There are a lot of forums which accomplish this.
 
WebSlave said:
Yeah, I know. Another complaint that I am not making this site exactly what YOU want it to be. Well what about the other guy who wants it like it is? Of that other person who liked the very strict rule enforcement? Or that other guy who wants absolutely NO rules whatsoever?

I can't please everyone, and if I am going to be banged over the head no matter what I do, then I choose to do the least amount of effort possible in order to receive that head banging. I'm done being the resident masochist around here.
Click to expand...

Rich,

I know you get a lot of idiots who are just trying to be pains in the ass, but many others that you throw the "complaining" and "head banging" tag on are just trying to have an adult conversation. They aint complaining or trying to give you grief. They are just exchanging ideas and trying to help make the site better as a whole, not just for them personally.

And I also know that many of the ideas thrown around have been tried and havent worked out well and you get a lot of the same stuff repeated over and over. But not everyone has personal agendas, they just care about this site and want to see it thrive. I dont think those people deserve to get banged over the head by you just because they care.
 
Monte said:
Rich, I'm certainly not bashing you at all. Just commenting.

Lighten up a bit. My disappointment in the site doesn't mean I'm bashing you. Not in the least.

Besides - a happy medium can be struck. There are a lot of forums which accomplish this.
Click to expand...

Perhaps you aren't looking at this from my perspective. I make the decisions here on how this site IS, so anyone bashing the results of my decisions is also bashing me because what you see here is the result of my decisions on how to run it, or allow it to be by deliberate inaction on my part.

It's not like you are complaining to middle management about a company and they just shrug it off saying that they are just following orders. You are talking to the guy who makes those orders. That's a WHOLE different situation.

In other words, if someone looks at your child and says the child is ugly and stupid, it's YOUR genes involved in making the child look and act the way it is. And you are telling me you wouldn't get offended at that if it were YOUR child?

In my case, I am telling you that I tried the plastic surgery and mental enhancements on this site and they did not help reach the nirvana that some people think is attainable. It just cost me a lot of time, money, effort, and aggravation trying to reach that goal, which in my opinion, was all wasted. And now people are blaming me because I have decided to stop wasting all of the above on this site.

So I am letting the site be whatever it is based on what the people here make it. So ugly and stupid is as ugly and stupid does here. That's your choice to make. I am not interested in trying to make this site, and by association those people to whom the label applies, less ugly and less stupid looking through my own efforts. As far as the outside world is concerned YOU are what YOU post here. If you want to make yourself look like a fool, I am not going to stand in your way with a bunch of rules and guidelines, or clean up your mess afterwards.
 
Wow Rich,
If all of this makes you so unhappy, maybe it's time to turn it over to someone else. I'm sure that there are people who would be willing to take over, or at least, bear some of the load.

On the other hand, you must be getting some type of fulfillment from this, or else, I would think that you would simply pull the plug!
 
Well that certainly is one of my choices, Mike. But instead I decided to see what happens with the site mostly on it's own. I do step in here and there, but only in limited instances.

I think the site still is usefull to a lot of people, so do you think it would be right of me to cop a "take my bat and go home" attitude instead of this one? How many people do you think would be pissed off at me if I did that?

As long as the paid memberships and advertisements keep this site operating in the black, it will still be here. But if those go away and I am expected to financially support this site on my own, no, it will not remain.

I am comfortable with my mostly hands-off role here now. Of course, I never expected everyone to like it either, but since when is that unusual?

As for turning it over to someone else, yeah that would work. Then people would be bashing me for my poor choice in who would be running the site. :rolleyes:

Thanks, but no thanks.

The way it is now seems to be working as well, if not better, than some of the other methods I have used. And I have definitely cut way back on my daily Excedrin usage..... :D
 
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