Personal forums discontinued.
 

As of today, I have decided to go ahead and cancel the personal forums option offered on this site. At least half of the people having their own forum here haven't even visited this site in months, and I strongly suspect they will not be renewing their forum anyway when it expires. So I can't see any sense in maintaining that section any longer. If the current owners of such forums want to move any of their threads to other sections of the site, I suggest they do that at their convenience. The forums will remain until at least the expiration date of each, but they can no longer be renewed, nor new ones accepted as of today.

While reviewing this issue, I also noticed that there are only 18 Contributor level members remaining here. So with that, along with the number of members who visit each day lately, I hear what you are all telling me concerning the desire to keep this site up and running.

Hey, it is what it is, I suppose. Perhaps my retiring from breeding cornsnakes was the death knell of this site, but I am sorry, I could not keep up that pace forever. Not without mine and Connie's health suffering as a result. So I made the only realistic choice that I could.

So the site is closing too?

I will work on moving my threads over. I wish there was a way to archive the info for reference.
There is a lot of good information here.

No, not in the immediate foreseeable future. But if Contributor level memberships drop down to nearly zero, advertisers for this site through my FaunaAds website become nearly zero as well, and google ad revenue zeros out because just not enough visitors here to click on the ads to generate some revenue, then what other choice do I have? Sorry, but I cannot spend my retirement savings and modest income on maintaining this online stuff.

This site has 27,956 registered members. In the last 24 hours, only 79 stopped by. So where are the other 27877 previous visitors to this site hanging out these days? And why there instead of here? :shrugs:

For me, it's mostly been busy with the dogs (now having three Belgian Malinois in house, keeps me pretty busy LOL), and not having any planned projects this past season. I have several next season.

Facebook has ruined forums as a whole. Along with issues I've observed in the past between groups of members, it's no wonder traffic has died down...
I don't come around much anymore (2 times I think in the past year, and that's only over the past couple of days) because traffic has died down so much. I miss the days when the forums were more active, and more entertaining. I think that this is probably the longest lived site I've ever been a part of. It will suck to see all the information available here just disappear into the depths of the web.

It does seem true that many online forums are shrinking in participation or have dissolved. It's a shame, because Facebook and the like are very poor substitutes. A forum is like a reference library containing a comfy place to chat and hang out and discuss shared interests. But Facebook, Tumblr, etc. are like standing at the end of your driveway while a line of individuals come down the sidewalk. Each walks past you one at a time, showing you a favorite photo, you look, maybe comment, and they continue on. Sometimes a knot of people go by, fighting with each other, and you watch, frustrated that the argument is about something that was resolved years ago.

Never found any use for Facebook myself. I tried looking at a few pages, but there is just no flow or organization. I am generally looking for information, and Facebook just doesn't do it for me. If I want to be entertained, I will just watch YouTube videos, please and thank you.

So did people just stop wanting information about cornsnakes over the past couple of years? I know some people here used to always complain about new people asking the same old questions the last newbies asked, so I just can't see how that would have gotten better on Facebook with the lack of structure and archiving ability there. :shrugs:

I haven't logged in for a few years since I sold off all my snakes. Someone mentioned the forum to me today and I decided to check in tonight and see what's been happening here.

A lot of people are sticking to facebook. I mostly keep crested geckos now and even those forums are dying off and people have moved to facebook groups. The issue I have with FB groups is that it's much harder to find information. The search function is just horrible and it's always the same threads started day after day. I love forums but it's true, they're dying off due to facebook groups.

I also wanted to mention.. I posted about the BOI in a facebook group a few weeks back. Most had no idea about it and the few that did called it "a dinosaur of a website". Some said it was too confusing to even post. They'd rather stick to what they know and that's facebook. It's unfortunate.

Well, if everyone gives up, and our personal forums are taken away- I guess the end is inevitable.

Or maybe they're just internet newbs. :nope: Forums were my bread and butter for years. They're still superior to FailBook for archiving information for future use. FB is all about now now now, and when it's past it's gone. It's still there, sure, but good luck finding it!

Well, honestly, that just might be a big part of the problem. Between the Faceborg structure, and the conquest of smart phones over the minds of the population, it really is all about the fleeting NOW and RIGHT HERE of the moment. Why bother to try to remember or find information when you can just ASK whenever you want to from where ever you are at the moment? Why even go through the bother of trying to find something when likely someone can answer your question RIGHT NOW with no more effort on your part other than just asking?

Yeah, perhaps I am now running dinosaur sites, and I am a dinosaur that fits right in with them. To me, the internet is a large screen 4K resolution capable view with 7.1 surround sound and a full sized keyboard that I can use all my fingers on to search for whatever strikes my interest at the time. I only ASK when I just cannot find the answer myself. To me, the shallowness of the pond at Faceborg, and the use of a palm sized device to look at the world through the internet is just not what I am interested in partaking of. The internet through a smart phone is something I might use in a pinch if I am away from home and need some sort of info right now, but even then, I still wouldn't be going to Faceborg for answers. But sitting at home in my den, like I am right now, looking at my large screen, well THAT is the internet to me. If that is what it takes nowadays to be considered a dinosaur, then guilty as charged. And happy to die that way, please and thank you.

And truth be known, if the forum structure such as is here on this site is too complicated for a lot of people now, then so be it. I am not dumbing down my sites to become more "Faceborg-like" to accommodate such people. If that spells the doom of my sites because of my not wanting to change in that manner, then so be it. I've already retired from breeding reptiles, so it certainly wouldn't kill me to retire from running websites on the internet.

The personal forums that are currently present will not be "taken away". As long as they are being used by the members who have them, and they want to keep them, then they can stay there indefinitely as far as I am concerned. I don't have a problem with them remaining, but I just felt that I could no longer justify charging anything for them. Just as it became apparently that they aren't worth paying for by a lot of the members who used to have their own personal forum here. If it wasn't such a pain setting them up and then cleaning up the mess left over after they were abandoned, then I would just give them out to whoever wanted them, for free. But I'm not looking for more work, so I have to be realistic about what I volunteer for.

But in any event, concerning the existing personal forums, if a year goes by without any new posts in them, then I'm afraid I will see no reason to keep them around.

As for "giving up", well it just appears to me that a lot of formerly visiting members have already done that concerning this site. If the cause of that is something that is fixable, then heck, just tell me what that is. But if it is not something that can be fixed, then please tell me what my REALISTIC alternatives are. I am willing to keep this site running as long as it does so in the black and it appears that enough people still find it worthwhile coming here to lead me to think I am not wasting my time maintaining it on my server.

So I am not "giving up" on this site until all the remaining people who still come here stop visiting, to basically prove to me that this site no longer serves any purpose remaining on line.

As should be obvious to you all, a LOT depends on YOU. You all have to show me you want this site to remain. And I am not talking about "Contributing" members at all. I just need to see that the site is appreciated and being used by interested members. Most of the finances running all this stuff is being paid for by FaunaClassifieds anyway, so the "running in the black" goal here is not going to be all that hard to hit.

Anyway, I feel like I am just rambling now, so I'll just shut up..... :-poke:

I appreciate this website, it is the only website that i have found that people post replys too etc... i have learnt alot for this website! :)

Just my 2 cents here, and I already know most of you don't care:

But I am almost 60 years old. I grew up before cell phones became popular. I remember about 25 years ago, almost everybody had a desk top computer at home, or at work (or both) and everyone was a member of some sort of chat room or forum. (I see chat rooms and forums as almost the same).

There is a certain set of rules and etiquette governing such sites, and people today that have never posted on forums before don't understand that.

I use Facebook and I like it. It serves the purposes I have for it. I also use forums, but I understand forums and know what they are.

A lot of folks will see "Cornsnakes.com" and think "Cool, a website for corn snakes and owners" so they come here and join. They post a few posts, go off topic, post in the wrong areas, can't handle criticism, get frustrated, and they move on.

Trust me, you and everyone else here that takes this site seriously are better off "Without" these people. I'd rather be a member of a forum of 15 people that are informed, literate, and capable of operating in a forum, than to be a member of a forum with 27,000 members that act childish, and don't know what they are doing.

As for facebook posts, I see the same thing happening there that I see here. A lot of folks join, post a few posts, and then for whatever reasons you don't see them again. It's not just this site.

The biggest difference I think is: when somebody posts something on facebook, if somebody replies it Pops up on your screen and you see it right away. You don't have to hunt for it. Whereas when somebody posts something here, if somebody replies the original poster can't see it because he/she is too stupid to remember where he/she posted the crap they posted.

Just yesterday for example, a new member posted the exact same crap in 2 different threads. I did my best to help him and gave him what I would consider "Appropriate Sound Advice." He wanted to argue about it and I left him alone after that. My guess is he will leave soon too.

Karl, If Rich limited the registrations to those who actually post, the membership will drop from over twenty thousand to less than 100. If it were my forum I wouldn't let anyone join until they learned how to use the search function. The same questions are asked by new members over and over, when a simple search will bring up many threads on a topic like proper heat. I keep referring new members to Nanci's member blog, and her care instructions, which answers many of their questions. I still try to help, and I know you do too. I notice on this forum that someone will ask a question, and it may have no replies, but if you finally reply there are experts ready to jump in and claim your advice is incorrect. You can understand why there are members afraid to speak up. I think forums are great for sharing ideas, learning new things, developing new friendships, and keeping up with everything in the world of cornsnakes. I hope this forum can continue along those veins for a long time.

I haven’t posted as often here the past few weeks. I have my up times and my down times as far as the forum goes and it has nothing to do with the forum. I spent the last few weeks intensively doing some work at home including completely refurbishing my aquarium.

I always feel guilty about my down times here because there are so few of us that regularly participate. If this place goes away, I will miss it. Facebook is no substitute. This is the best place to talk about corn snakes hands down.

No matter what happens I appreciate what time I have here. Thanks, Rich, for all your work. I’m proud to be a contributor and it is still well worth it to me.

Yes but you must also understand, they are only "Experts" in their own minds. I've been keeping a variety of pet snakes for over 40 years. "I Could go around calling myself an Expert" but I don't. I do know enough though to understand when somebody doesn't know what they are talking about, whether they have 1 snake or 1000.

Don't feel guilty. Your posts are always positive, and we look forward to reading them. We can have differences of opinion, at times, but we are all bound by our love of the corn snake.

Thanks Twolunger. You, Karl, and others who have contributed to this thread are some of many here I count as mentors. No matter how much I have learned, there is always more to learn.

One thing I have learned from having the chance to meet some of the front line researchers in herpetology over the past few years is that we have barely scratched the surface in this field. Thank goodness for the breeders and keepers who still are willing to share their experiences and add to the collective knowledge here.

Just an observation over many years - in years past, kids and adults who were interested in something "unusual" (like pet snakes) had to read up on them in reference books, or in magazines. Chances are, no one around knew anything about the subject for an in-person discussion.

When the internet came along, we kind of treated it the same way, and used forums, etc. as a great source of conversation but also as a reference, keeping archives of valuable information so that people could easily look something up for themselves. Perhaps because we were used to dealing with reference books and continued with that as a model of how to store information.

But I think we've come to the point that people today don't really have to think in those terms any more, since the internet can just instantly give you an answer to your question about your obscure interest at any time. You have a snake question? Just ask it. They "should" tell you the answer right away!

Perhaps this is why we meet resistance when we point out search features, sticky sections, and links to Amazon for the best corn snake books.

Completely different from growing up feeling alone in your interests with no one to ask, and a need to seek out library books and write snail mail letters for information.

I agree, the times have changed. I use the internet often, but don't accept the first answer I find. I may spend hours reading different opinions on a subject. Personally, I find it sad that kids don't seem to be interested in keeping pets anymore. My son sold his pet shop and told me that kids just don't come in anymore. In my area 6 pet shops closed within the past 5 or 6 years. I go into the large pet "supermarkets" to buy dog food and there's not a kid in sight. I go on Craig's List and check out the pets and see many ads that start out "bought for my son or daughter and they lost interest."

Young people are growing up in a different world from what we older folks did. I watched this video a few days ago, and found it thought provoking...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEVi_sntUDQ&t=1093s

I do not use Facebook much, I grew up with forums and prefer them. I joined here around 5 years ago and left because I sold the one snake I had, but now I have a corn snake again and I am very passionate about the species so I came back.

Good on you :)