Redemption
Not so new Member
Most things in life go full circle. People will be back, they always come back. Whether it's the Facebook group fads, people being burned by scam artists or anyother dramas that go on. Mark my words... "She'll be back"
Interesting stuff. I wasn't even aware that the site had changed hands.
Reading this thread it appears to me that Stuart might have what it takes to get this up and running again or at the very least give it a red hot go. Good luck to you anyway mate.
I don't do facebook and as you can see from the handfull of posts in the past 10 years or so I keep my opinions to myself most of the time. When I was breeding and selling animals though I loved nothing better than trying to help new owners understand the needs of their new animal and look after it really well, but I did have an ulterior motive in that I wanted my babies to thrive not just survive. Nowdays I concentrate on trying to take pics of wild critters and finish my bloody book that has been 20 odd years in the making. The hobby is great fun and the passion of most of the people involved is undeniable so we should probably use everthing at our disposal including APS to learn and grow with the hobby we love.
I received my APS subscription notice email today and I wasn't going to renew but I think I will now.
Cheers,
Mike.
Old management were beyond arrogant,
So in that sense it would probably be an advantage to make it clear it's under new management even if it isn't technically something people are entitled to know
Also keeping with that same theme perhaps an update on the look of the site might help differentiate it from the messy past
Perhaps a new colour scheme, logo or forum server platform etc (easier said than done of course),
I think the difference between old and new needs to be more obvious
The feel of the old board is why I stopped visiting,
And only really now seeing it's in New hands and Stu seems decent bloke am I starting to visit regularly again ...but if I didn't just happen to notice I'd still avoid it
Hey Vamp, these are the sort of posts and comments that Stu and the team need to hear to be able to make the site a more enjoyable place to visit, i know by seeing the likes that Stu is reading them and am sure once he see's that more and more of the wonderful APS regulars are coming back he will put into practice the suggestions he see's here (if feasible). It is good to see you and Blackdog back here, looking forward to seeing more........................Ron
Personally, I think charging private breeders to advertise their animals was a massive step in the wrong direction. With fb and the other online classified sites being completely free and reaching a far broader audience it seems counter-productive to be charging for the service, especially at the price it is offered at.
I have been around these forums for about a decade and one of the biggest problems was admins/mods deleting people from the forum because of their own personal problems with members.[/Q
Well said ..... i agree totally. The site must be made free to advertise the sale of reptiles or else we just go to another site that is free. And yes , there were certain Admins that took an instant dislike to certain comments , and no way in hell did they reason or try to compromise - it was just boot you off.
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geeeez ...... i can never do those quote reply things above . lol
tags around selected text" icon at the end of the item bar above, the copy paste the text you want wrapped in between the ]text[ i.e.hope this helps.I think charging private breeders to advertise their animals was a massive step in the wrong direction....................Ron
Hey there hulloosenator, the 1 big prob with advertising on FB and some of the other online classified sites is the fact your add quickly disappears into the netherworld among the myriad of other posts and you have too keep bumping them up which is very time consuming at times, Having to pay for an add in here mostly keeps the sellers honest and you usually get just what you have bought especially if it is 1 of the bigger well known sellers, but each to their own.
the Quote tag thing is best done by using the "wraptags around selected text" icon at the end of the item bar above, the copy paste the text you want wrapped in between the ]text[ i.e. hope this helps....................Ron
A forum for sale area works better than a Facebook page, for sure, but as much as ever there is a reluctance for people to pay for things they can get for free. Back in the day, before Facebook killed the internet, APS was one of if not the biggest online marketplaces for herps in Australia. APS held a strong monopoly and had the luxury of making a profit out of that. For better or worse (I'd say worse, although that's a huge understatement) Facebook stomped on individual chat forums like APS, and the reality is that charging money when someone else holds a monopoly probably isn't the most efficient strategy. Sites like RDU are free, and as a marketplace are even better than a forum like APS. Perhaps a modest fee, or a fee for those wanting to advertise more than a small number of things would be okay, but a good market place is encouraged by allowing free advertising. In itself, that is advertising for the forum; it brings in traffic directly, and people send links to their friends saying 'Hey, did you see this ad on APS? Check it out!' When I was working for the herp magazines, sourcing ads for the classifieds section was hugely important for the popularity of the magazine, even ignoring any revenue. Herpers love to see what's getting around and how much it's going for.
I'm glad to hear about APS changing hands. I have largely stayed off APS for a few years (after being an active member for about 10 years), and will be glad to give the site another go. Best of luck to the new owners and the forum!
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Heh, the quoting function doesn't seem to work as well as it used to!![]()
Sites like RDU are free, and as a marketplace are even better than a forum like APS