Suggestions/?'s

[XTPHP1]

I've got a couple suggestions. Since this is a Texas site and being that Texas is so large how about sub group? Like North Texas, South Texas, Central Texas, West Texas, East Texas? If you post up a little town I have no idea where it is.

NFA Section? May not be necessary because so many other sites have it.

Brand specific sub group. For instance, Glock, HK, Sig, in the pistol area. Same for Rifle. As the site grows it will be hard to keep up with topics that vary so greatly.

COC? Whats the code of conduct? In other words, sites like HK Pro are crap for dialog. Great for reference on HK products but they have Nazi's as moderators that make up rules as they go along. It is a dying, if not dead forum. If the mods here are a bunch of pansies that can't take criticism or are easily offended by strong opinions then I need to know. No reason to waste bandwidth with intense discussions that is fair, only to have a mod wave his "ban stick".

I'll think of more crap and questions that I have as the site grows.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

Hi XTPHP1. Thanks for registering, and thank you very much for posting about those MG shoots! I completely forgot to check arfcom's regional sections about that sort of stuff.

At the moment, the website is in it's infancy. We do plan on expanding, and I do like the idea of multiple subforums for different regions of the state as well as different firearm classes etc. We probably won't be adding these sub sections for the time being until we have a larger number of registered members and more activity on the site. It is definitely an excellent recommendation though, and we are certainly headed in that direction. Bear with us, we'll get there soon.

As far as moderation goes, rest assured strong opinions are not a problem. All of the current mods/admins have pretty thick skin. Though, at the same time we want to keep the site clean, don't want any personal attacks on people, no inappropriate content posted (child pron or other obviously illegal/bad content), etc. Also, we will not be strict about punctuation, grammar, spelling, etc however we encourage everyone to try and keep their posts legible. We just don't want things to turn into some of the car forums out there where complete threads turn into teh uber 1337 $p3@k hAxoRz as this website is intended to be a bit more mature than that. We will expand on these rule sets as we go. We want to keep things as laid back as possible without descending into anarchy. XTPHP1 you have made some excellent suggestions. Should anyone else have any others, feel free to make them known.

 

[Texas1911]

I've got a couple suggestions. Since this is a Texas site and being that Texas is so large how about sub group? Like North Texas, South Texas, Central Texas, West Texas, East Texas? If you post up a little town I have no idea where it is.

I've been really thinking on this idea, and I'm a bit concerned with one aspect. When you separate into various areas you are going to get less connectivity with the state as a whole. Meaning people in Austin will stay in the Austin forum and never venture out. I've seen this happen consistently when I was a moderator on a forum of 100,000+ people.

I think ultimately the site will move to this just out of virtue for the members being able to track what is going on in their locality. However we will need alot of active members before I transgress in that direction.

NFA Section? May not be necessary because so many other sites have it.

My future goal is to integrate with larger organizations such as the NFA, NRA, IDPA, etc. This will come at a later time when we have more members.

Brand specific sub group. For instance, Glock, HK, Sig, in the pistol area. Same for Rifle. As the site grows it will be hard to keep up with topics that vary so greatly.

This is similar to the above response regarding regions. I don't want to get so finite with the forums that people live in one or the other. I want people to get to know each other and to experience different things.

This is unlikely to happen simply because there are national forums to support brand loyalty. My brand is Texas.

However, I do plan to break down the Pistol section into subsections such as revolvers and semi-auto initially. I can further divide the sections as demand rises.

COC? Whats the code of conduct? In other words, sites like HK Pro are crap for dialog. Great for reference on HK products but they have Nazi's as moderators that make up rules as they go along. It is a dying, if not dead forum. If the mods here are a bunch of pansies that can't take criticism or are easily offended by strong opinions then I need to know. No reason to waste bandwidth with intense discussions that is fair, only to have a mod wave his "ban stick".

I'm very lenient. I don't mind discussion, even political discussion, so long as it remains civil. I won't stand for people trying to tear each other apart. My emphasis is that tempers and guns don't mix, especially when we are talking about a local forum.

I believe in discussing and resolving issues rather than banning people. If I ban someone it's because they simply cannot respect other people.

I'm going to work on a COC tonight.

I'll think of more crap and questions that I have as the site grows.

Thanks for the insight.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

NFA isn't an organization Alan. I know it was a typo but, I had to.

 

[Texas1911]

If it's in reference to the other NFA, the National Firearms Act. Then I will alter the Texas Legislation forum to read simply: Legislation. That will cover the national and local level of legislation.

I just made a Class III forum as well.

 

[zembonez]

I'll think of more crap and questions that I have as the site grows.
http://app.onlinephotofiler.com/images/A_7/2/2/0/20227/85x6hxl_c2526.gif?v=5d65[/IMG]

I think a lot of the suggestions you make are things to come. They will become important as our membership numbers grow. Alan is going to get a baptism by fire!

I wonder if the girl in your sig pic ever shot another rifle?

 

[XTPHP1]

Politics Forum

How about a national and local political forum section? Places to discuss the national and state/local political people and a place to get information about candidates? There is a good artilce in the in Dallas Observer on Obam (the one yard politician) but I'm not sure where to post it. So here is a link to it.

http://dallasobserver.com/2008-02-28/news/obama-and-me/1

 

[Texas1911]

How about a national and local political forum section? Places to discuss the national and state/local political people and a place to get information about candidates? There is a good artilce in the in Dallas Observer on Obam (the one yard politician) but I'm not sure where to post it. So here is a link to it.

http://dallasobserver.com/2008-02-28/news/obama-and-me/1

Currently it's reserved to the Off-Topic, as we expand and get more people I will migrate it into it's own forum.

 

[Formula-95]

i think you should up the posts per page to 25. just so theres not so many pages to flip through just for 10 posts.

 

[zembonez]

i think you should up the posts per page to 25. just so theres not so many pages to flip through just for 10 posts.

I'm with you on this one. Even 15 would be better.

 

[Texas1911]

i think you should up the posts per page to 25. just so theres not so many pages to flip through just for 10 posts.

User CP ---> Edit Options ---> Scroll Down ... Number of Posts to Show per Page ---> change "Use Forum Default" to anything up to 40.

 

[zembonez]

Excellent! I hadn't seen that. Thanks Alan.

 

[chevydeerhunter]

This suggestion is pretty far off(hopefully not!), but paid supporting memberships to get access to VIP sections of the forum. I assume Alan knows more than anybody how much it costs to keep this board running and I'd be more than happy to pay to be a member or to donate to the cause.

 

[Formula-95]

User CP ---> Edit Options ---> Scroll Down ... Number of Posts to Show per Page ---> change "Use Forum Default" to anything up to 40.

sweet!

 

[Formula-95]

how about more than 4 pics per post?

 

[zembonez]

This suggestion is pretty far off(hopefully not!), but paid supporting memberships to get access to VIP sections of the forum. I assume Alan knows more than anybody how much it costs to keep this board running and I'd be more than happy to pay to be a member or to donate to the cause.

I would also join at a premium membership level that unlocks forums that allow a litle more freedom of expression. Many probably would. My Jeep forum and the Nissan forum I belong to have such a thing. I think we need to get to the 500 member point to think about adding features - but that is just my take.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

As far as I understand from discussing it with Alan, that is part of the future plan Chevydeerhunter. We definitely need many more members, a lot more activity, etc before we reach that point though. So far things are progressing nicely.

 

[Texas1911]

I'm still debating the whole premium member thing. Mainly since it alienates people and promotes more active members to remain in the private forum. It's a double edged sword. However I can tell you it will not be happening any time soon.

 

[Texas1911]

how about more than 4 pics per post?

I just changed it to 10, alot of default settings to change as people run into them.

 

[XTPHP1]

Unless this site has a bunch of members and a lot of really good content along with info other sites just don't have, I agree it is a double edged sword. I can't stand memberships. Only one site do I pay but I get a lot of good info from it. The paid area isn't all that great anyway.

HKPro was my favorite site of all for years. Then they came out with that premium membership crap, and I was a member since 01, and still never went for it. Now all they have are Nazi moderators. I can't stand the site anymore. If you don't bow down and pledge allegiance to HK then your posts get deleted. The site is dead as far as a forum goes. Topics never move, and content in discussion are the same thing over and over. How many times can you ask why the MP5 doesn't have a bolt hold open device?

This forum is far to new and doesn't have anything to offer yet to be seeking memberships now IMHO.

I'm still debating the whole premium member thing. Mainly since it alienates people and promotes more active members to remain in the private forum. It's a double edged sword. However I can tell you it will not be happening any time soon.