Breeder Sticky?

[Vypyrz]

Would it be possible to put a Sticky in the Business/ Classifieds section, where the breeders, who are at least members on this site, could have their names and locations posted. It could be maintained and edited by the Admins/Mods, and would help in identifying and recommending breeders to other members who may be looking for someone close to their locale. The breeders could have their names added or removed by contacting the Admins/Mods via PM, and they could be listed by country, region, state, or however. Just thought I would ask...

[jjsnakedude]

This sounds like a good idea!
x2

[Fallguy]

That sounds like a cool idea.

...But I will be all alone here in S.D.

[Oxylepy]

Great idea. It would also work for the hobbiest breeders who have made themselves known enough through trade/sale of healthy, correctly sexed animals. Personally I think that those of us here who end up getting a good reputation would benefit from this. (I say us because I aspire to be one )

[SlitherinSisters]

I agree. I wish there was one place to find all the breeders by state.

[Kyle1989]

Yeah let's do it

[jjmitchell]

yup awesome idea

[Nate]

I put some thought and discussion in with the rest of the staff and here's our overall thoughts...

It would be an easy list to populate and get going...but to maintain and keep up to date and accurate is probably not going to be an easy task.

Not everyone is going to tell us they've closed up shop. Some breeders quietly sell their collection and vanish into thin air - and it won't always be easy to know when to remove or add a person.

What designates a person as a breeder? What are the standards to be classified as a breeder? Should we also include hobbyists? Joe Schmoe with 2 snakes and his first clutch? Do they have to be a legitimate business? How do we know they're a legitimate business? Quite a few breeders that I, personally, have dealt with aren't even legalized businesses. Just small hobbyists with awesome collections selling great animals.

Furthermore, what gives us the right to exclude you from that list and tell you you're NOT a breeder?

And at what point do we remove a person's name from that list for wrong-doing?

There are a LOT of breeders I can think of that have done less-than-honorable things in and to the reptile community, yet they're still at reptile trade shows and still called breeders.

On the surface, yes - I see this as a great idea, but the reality is you're asking us (as in Ball-Pythons.net and its Administration) to tell you, and the entire community, who is a breeder and trustworthy. A good guy/bad guy judge. That's simply not our job. We don't know who is trustworthy. It's not up to us to determine who is and who isn't. It's up to you, and the community as a whole.

Ball-Pythons.net is a part of that whole, in that we've provided a way for people to give feedback on breeders they've dealt with in the feedback section of this forum. It already serves a great purpose, and that is to find feedback, positive and negative, on breeders...a lot of them being active members on these forums.

Your involvement on any forum gives you the knowledge necessary to know who to purchase from. Recommendations and feedback from others is necessary. Reputation is key.

There's a few too many grey areas with this concept, when you dig deeper into what's involved with keeping it going. I really am trying to think of how we could make something like this work, without dealing with some of the headaches it could potentially cause.

Discuss

[WingedWolfPsion]

The idea didn't appear to be to create a comprehensive list of all ball python breeders, but simply a list of all ball python breeders who are on this forum, and opt into it.

If you simply state that being listed doesn't imply an endorsement, and suggest to people that they should seek references and check into businesses before making any purchases, that should be sufficient to keep it low maintenance. There's no reason BP.net has to be responsible for background checks.

Once a year, dump the list and have people re-apply. If a breeder isn't interested in maintaining their own listing, there's no reason to list them. That would keep the list reasonably up to date.

[Fallguy]

Would this also be able to be cut into a few catagories? Boas, Balls, Corns, Geckos, etc....?

I do like the idea of a yearly dump, and re-application.

Is there a way to do a seperate "Rep" system within the breeders? Something that can be given by a purchaser from, or seller to this breeder?

Sorry for the crazy ideas. It happens when I think.