Fauna BOI

Interesting you say that today.... I have mixed emotions on Fauna and the BOI. I am currently spending $1 a day on advertising there which hasn't really proven to be a productive way to spend $1 a day. I figured since nobody else is doing the new sponsor thing for the BOI specifically (besides Serpenco, which is owned by the same guy as Fauna), that I would do that for an additional $1 a day. Just last night, I started making up a little banner for it, and when I went to log into the BOI to see what color the background was, I had apparently lost my access to that forum (probably because I'm not a paying member, just a paying advertiser). He must have just changed something in the past 2 days, because I haven't been a paying member for a few years now, but could always access the forum. So I'm paying essentially $365 a year in advertising there (and was about to double that), but can't access the only useful forum there because I haven't paid a $25 membership fee? At the same time, he has now lost the $1 a day that I am currently paying, since I'm not going to renew the sponsorship account when it's empty in a week on a forum that I can't access.

About a year ago, I was trying to get my "Good Guy Certification" edited, to have a different phone number or something, and because I asked, he realized I wasn't a paying member, and revoked my "Good Guy Certification." So basically, you have to pay him a membership fee so that you can put his link on your own site, and send people to his site.... Kinda seems like it should be the other way around. I wasn't going to pay him to put his link on my site.

When they were doing the "Fauna Fund Auctions" a few years back, I donated more than probably any other single vendor and the money raised went directly to support Fauna.

It's been a great forum to have and has saved me and countless other people a great deal of trouble by being able to research people before we buy from them. He has been complaining about money for years now, though, and blocking access for people isn't going to force them to pay a membership fee. He tried that a few years back and it didn't work. There's really no benefit of being a paid member if the forum is going to stay open for the non paying members (you should only be able to sell on there if you're a paying member, for starters, which would get me to pay because there would be less classified competition). If he cuts access for non paying members to the BOI, it just won't be used enough.

Wouldn't hurt if he made an appearance in Daytona handing out free t-shirts or flyers to build up traffic like Kingsnake does and Reptster did. There is zero advertising of Fauna besides word of mouth.

(Sorry, Lisa, didn't mean to contradict your post! I'm just financially frustrated with Fauna right now!)
 
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Ryan Jarosek said:
nevermind , I just said the same thing as Chris and Lisa. :D
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Yeah, I read that link after I posted.... It's still frustrating that people are getting on the non-paying members like they're deadbeats when many of them are spending many more times the money on advertising there. You would think you'd just get the access or get the membership by spending X amount of dollars. All I'm getting is 4-5 clicks a day and being classified as a deadbeat for my money LOL.
 
TylerStewart said:
Yeah, I read that link after I posted.... It's still frustrating that people are getting on the non-paying members like they're deadbeats when many of them are spending many more times the money on advertising there. You would think you'd just get the access or get the membership by spending X amount of dollars.
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I agree 100% shouldn't matter how they get your money
 
I guess I should have been more clear. From what I gather, the BOI isn't closed yet, he has temporarily taken it down to see peoples reactions/how they feel about it. It was discussed how in the past he planned on making both BOI and classifieds access only by paid members and that didn't fly. Although I don't think the BOI should be paid member only, I feel classifieds should. There are plenty of scammers out there, and though a $25 membership wouldn't stop them all, it might stop some.

And I do agree about the good guy certifications. Pretty said IMO to have to pay to put that little ribbon on your site. If anything, I think he should offer that to those that have proven themselves with quality product and services in the industry (if they even choose to link it to their site). Those ribbons, as you have said, don't do a darn thing except link people back over to his site. I would much prefer my reputation to be from my product/services rather than a ribbon I paid for.

Regardless, I just hope they straighten things up over there. I know I don't mind shelling out $25 a year to have access to both. Might eventually save me some money from getting ripped off on a shoddy or non-existent animal in the future.

No worries Tyler :) There are several sides to every story, and you see one that most people don't by being a sponsor on that site.

TylerStewart said:
YIt's still frustrating that people are getting on the non-paying members like they're deadbeats when many of them are spending many more times the money on advertising there. You would think you'd just get the access or get the membership by spending X amount of dollars. All I'm getting is 4-5 clicks a day and being classified as a deadbeat for my money LOL.
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Absolutely!! If you are shelling out hundreds as a sponsor, that should also make you a contributing member...you are contributing a hell of a lot more to the site than most!! That is just goofy for him to have it set up that way
 
Evidently the problem has to do with the legal aspects of running a potentially slanderous and liable site. Law suits can be filed, wile most if not all will be lost it still cost money to fight them. Lawyers don't work for free.

The owner seems to be worried about what happens if he gets sued after he retires in 2010. I don't know anything about past money complaints. Just commenting on the current situation as I read it.
 
So now we have to pay $25 to make sure we are never scammed?

I think I'll have to start finding someone who is willing to look up people for me, I don't have access to a credit card.. bank account.. it's a but frustrating, to be honest.

Guess there's not much I can say about this, though. I mostly read the BOI for laughs... But it did save me quite a bit of money at least once.
 
Pure said:
Evidently the problem has to do with the legal aspects of running a potentially slanderous and liable site. Law suits can be filed, wile most if not all will be lost it still cost money to fight them. Lawyers don't work for free.

The owner seems to be worried about what happens if he gets sued after he retires in 2010. I don't know anything about past money complaints. Just commenting on the current situation as I read it.
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I understand the need for a site to make money, and I understand the time it takes to properly run a forum. I know that Rich (of Fauna) and Brad (of this site) put in a ton of time maintaining their forums, even with moderators to help.

In this case, I think it would be smart for someone (Rich, or whoever takes over the role) to sit down with a good lawyer, pay a few grand to the lawyer, and make sure the ability for someone to sue you wan't there. Sure anyone could try, but there are ways to button up a site that would make you essentially free from attack (by signing up, you agree to this, that and this, etc). If you were to be sued, they woudn't have a case against you that would cost much to defend yourself from. A thriving website set up and run by someone as a "second job (that wasn't relying on the income)" should have no problem fighting off the occasional lawsuit. I think a big part of the problem in Fauna is that it's expected to be a sole source of income as he retires in January, and the pressure to generate money is getting in the way of making a functional website. The focus right now needs to be generating traffic, which Fauna has traditionally never bothered doing. With traffic comes paying advertisers. I'd love to see a FaunaClassifieds booth in Daytona or any other show, but he sells cornsnakes instead at Daytona.

Kingsnake is set up in a way that makes it (great) money without him having that liability. There are those people that hate Kingsnake and that's fine. There are those that hate Fauna (mostly the "bad guys"), but from a business, financial standpoint, Kingsnake is a well run site. It gets more traffic than any other reptile website and in turn, makes a good profit from the people advertising there.
 
I agree with pretty much everything you are saying man. Just the part about being bullet proof. Those disclaimers work in the owners favor to win the law suit. They don't prevent at least a preliminary hearing (more legal fees) from happening. The disclaimer has to be presented to the judge to have the suit tossed out of court.

But yeah BOI has a purpose and it needs to stay. I totally agree that he is going about this the wrong way..but then again it's got us talking. ;)
 
I think the problem is the BOI is not really understood or know about until you have been burned.

I for one am happy I found it before that happened. Thanks Jerry!

I think it being down now hurts the cause. It did get us talking but no one new can check it out.

BOI down = all the BadGuys win and can start scamming all over again with a clean slate.
 
That's what I was saying when I said a thriving website wouldn't have a problem fighting off the occasional lawsuit (meaning, lawyer fees if you were sued). I don't think it's very likely that a lawsuit would happen anyway (against the site holder), but a few grand set aside should keep you covered.

I do think the site serves a good purpose and I doubt that much will change with it. He knows what it's worth, and he has no interest in selling it (as of yesterday, I haven't read today), so I don't see why he would just shut it down when he could potentially sell it. The last 3-4 days has certainly put it in a better financial situation (with everyone feeling guilty for using a free service and once again paying to be a member), I just don't really agree with the way that money is being raised there in the last 3-4 days. Still think it needs to be a free forum with a focus on better traffic which would mean more paying advertisers.
 
Ryan Jarosek said:
I think the problem is the BOI is not really understood or know about until you have been burned.

I for one am happy I found it before that happened. Thanks Jerry!

I think it being down now hurts the cause. It did get us talking but no one new can check it out.

BOI down = all the BadGuys win and can start scamming all over again with a clean slate.
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With the BOI down what the heck are you going to do all day at work!?!?!?
 
Well said Tyler.

He really should be advertising the site more. I had no clue of it's existence before reading this site's FAQ
 
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