I've now had a good read of the last couple of pages, and as I said earlier good constructive criticism is always welcomed and taken note of. Personal opionions are appreciated as well, as everyone is entitled to an opinion, but these are taken for what they are, 'personal opinions'. We know that we have a good grip on where we are going, and this is backed up by our growth. The many emails that I receive from the general public confirm this too.What I would suggest is that if there is a certain subject that you would like to see covered, you need to send us your emails with your suggestions. Don't just talk/whinge about it on a public forum, better still to do something about it yourself. If you keep these species yourself and feel that you have something to offer, then send us your article. Phone us and chat with us about it, send us an email... We're very approachable.
Yes Nick, I did take note of the 'more herping articles', and thanks for your pm. I believe that Troy has already been in touch with you to suggest that you 'put your money where your mouth is' (meant nicely with a smile, not critically), and send us an article about some of your trips every so often. I'm sure our readers would enjoy them.
To dispel a wrong message even before any sort of rumour can start....... Regarding payment of articles: yes we do pay for articles and have had a payment system in place from day one. This payment is either by cash, contra deal for advertising, or product. We have always preferred to use 'Contra deals' with most of our writers and I can assure you that the writers have been better off under the 'Contra deals'. Due to the wrong message that could have been taken in this thread though, we had a management meeting yesterday afternoon and all 'Contra deals' are now gone, effective immediately, so if you have been writing for us under this arrangement, rest assured I'll be chatting with you soon about this. There is no way that we will take a chance on the sort of rumour getting started that we don't pay for articles! It was a huge disappointment for me to read that in this thread.
As has been suggested, this is a thread about Reptiles Australia's demise, not about us. In my opinion their demise was definitely management related. We did our research very well before we launched in September 2008, and we realised that they appeared to be in trouble then. It personally surprised me that they lasted until 2010. Personal opinion!
Don't worry about us. We are going from strength to strength and are always on the lookout for ways to improve.
cheers
Joy