Are we wasting our time?

[john]

Re: Jen's question

Two people who deal mainly (probably solely in my opinion) in wild caught animals for profit (one's name begins with A, the other is the main subject of this thread) have been given free publicity here over the last month or so and I really don't like that.

The only case involving non-long term captive wild caught that I am ok with talking about is when someone is selling wild-caught animals that were acquired through a third party and are being re-sold at the same price at which they were purchased. For example, if someone bought 5 animals to make sure they got a pair, and then wanted to find good homes for the rest _without_ making a profit.

I really don't like tolerating other for-profit wild-caught trades, and as they say, no publicity is bad publicity, so shame on you for talking about it here Dave and others .

People keep mentioning Freedom of Speech (Hi Jen!). The users have FOS on this site as long as they're prepared to have their speech deleted afterwards if deemed inappropriate by the founders or the moderators. That's not quite FOS but I think nearly everyone will agree that it has worked out quite well over the years.

 

[jennifer]

One more point from me. While it's true that the consensus from our discussions often comes to "yeah, this kind of sale is shady (or illegal, or unethical)" please consider that most people who READ this site do not post. For every responsible person giving a responsible, informed opinion, there are 10 other people out there saying nothing. And most times, at least one of them is perfectly willing to go purchase the animals under discussion, regardless of our informed opinions.

 

[shaun]

I'm indifferent. It wouldn't matter if the ads were censored or not, as I've never seen an ad on here from a site other than reptibid or kingsnake. If you're seriously interested in purchasing unhealthy wild caught animals, just visit those sites every day.

 

[charlie]

I'm with you on this one Jen - lots of people must come across this site in exactly the same way i did - typing a species name into Google and then visiting the sites thrown up.

For every person who reads through the care information in order to get the right set up for eagerly anticipated amphibious arrivals, there must be at least one other who skims through, just looking for a place to buy (and sod the provenance)

For this reason, however laudable the sentiment behind posting information about dodgy dealers, i think on balance it's better not to. One extra person buying a wild caught animal means an extra one being caught to replace it - not to mention the ones that died in the process

Having said that, i wouldn't have missed the sight of the Giant European Sky Blue for the world!