Future of the forum

[Tarrin]

I feel like this forum is at a crossroads. Viewer discretion advised, brutal honesty to follow...

My dad started this forum in 2005 because of his passion for shooting, and his love of the new 204 caliber. I remember his excitement when the first member signed up. It quickly blossomed into one if the nicest communities I've ever been apart of. The help, advice, and wisdom is shared easily here. I am not a social person, don't even have a facebook. I haven't posted here very much, but I feel the value of this community.

It's no secret participation on this forum has tapered. This has caused me to start thinking about cost vs. benefit of this site. Rick from Oregon has introduced some ideas about 'rebranding' the site. I'd love to hear more feedback on what that would look like, I'm ready to put in the work if that's the direction we want to go.

Something like this could raise the benefits column of the cost vs. benefit. But, here are the costs as well...

2005 was a long time ago. The world has changed a lot since then, and some changes have affected this forum. In February 2021, google realized this site encourages the use of super dangerous weapons and has pretty much cut off all monetary income from ads. Right now, the ads on this site make less than a nickel a day, which doesn't even come close to paying for itself. This is not complaining, but keeping this site hosted has come out of my pocket, and has been well worth it to keep this site possible. However, as the participation on this site has tapered, this has been something to think about. On its current trajectory, I imagine there is some point in the future where it isn't worth keeping this site up anymore?

This site requires a lot of time to upkeep. One of the unsung heros of this forum is skipper. I handed off a 'time load' on him a few years ago, and he has been keeping up on it like a champ. He has invested a lot of time keeping things running, and keeping dangerous scammers/hackers out. We all owe him thanks, let alone for the awesome shooting competitions he hosts. His opinion on the future of this site is big here.

This was a long rant. But where does this leave us? If there is desire out there to keep things going here, and start banging on all cylinders again, lets fire it up. But if there are only few who see the value in this community anymore, we might have to take a hard look at the future.

Thanks for your time,
Tarrin

[Tom Kat]

I think tying this forum into a sister site, or another form of media would boost membership and participation. Build the membership, broaden the brand. Sell some logoed gear to off set your costs-

[Rick in Oregon]

I just spent ten minutes typing five paragraphs in response, and when I hit "send", it said the site was not available and all my work went "puff".

So instead of retyping all of what I tried to post, my primary takeaways:
* If ALL .20 caliber variants were to be included, more shooters would look here.
* With the advent of the 20 Practical, 20 Tactical, 20 Vartarg and the like, "more" is certainly better.
* The interest in the 204 has peaked. Why not include more twenties?
* How about a re-naming contest from all the members here for the new/improved forum title?
* Interest in the twenty caliber bore is now documented. Why not use that for the advantage it offers here?

It's my hope this forum survives, but it will take some effort from all who visit here to make that happen. So what say the rest of you here?

And lastly, a sincere thank you to Tarrin who's been keeping the forum alive. Without his efforts, we'd all be on the net somewhere else. Let's try to not disappoint him.
Thank you Tarrin!

[skipper]

I'm in favor of breathing new life into the forum. Back in 2006 when I first joined, this forum was very robust. It was fun just too logon and see what had transpired overnight.

If we expanded to include ALL centerfire cartridges less than .22 caliber that would open up all sorts of new ground and interest may grow. Getting more gun/reloading related adds might help offset costs. Forum gear would help as well. Since the center of a shot hole isn't caliber specific, contests could be opened to ANY caliber. We should have a forum naming contest!?!

I'm going to keep on doing what I do as long as this forum still exists in whatever format.

[Tom Kat]

All of that is true. But there needs to be an active push to recruit new members. Who shoots these small calibers? Mostly guys our age. We need some young bloods in here, they are all in love with the 6.5 creedmore

[WesF]

Gentlemen, first & foremost I would like to thank Tarrin & his dad for starting this forum! Without this site I doubt that I would be as passionate about shooting this awesome caliber & pursuing "Skippy" and his friends. Unfortunately the rising costs of the shooting sports, travel to conduct "flying lessons" for Skippy as well as maintaining an internet forum have all become prohibitively high.
All that being said, my opinion, for what it's worth is that including the other 20 caliber rounds could very well increase traffic on the forum. With the inclusion of the other 20s it shouldn't take too long to see if this effort has increased traffic.
It is my hope that this forum continues to support the shooting sports, specifically the 20 caliber rounds for another 18 years and beyond! Unfortunately, with the aging of participants in our sport as well as demonization of our sport, participation has dropped off drastically! It's up to all of us to do what we can to keep our lifestyle alive & well.
Just my 2 cents.

Wes

[Rick in Oregon]

Wes, very well stated sir. Excellent feedback.

[Bill K]

Wes. You are 101 % on the money. Bill K

[Bill K]

Well, I have not seen a forum naming contest posted yet, but if it were, my entry would be a very simple " The 20 Caliber Club" . What say, some of you other members ?

[skipper]

How about "Small Caliber Central"? Not particular to any specific caliber.

[Bill K]

That would be a good one also, are we keeping it too 20 calibers or other small one's. i.e. 17 or 224, .14 ?

[Rick in Oregon]

How about "Small Caliber Central"? Not particular to any specific caliber.

That would work, Skipper, as it would include everything from .17 to .22 caliber.
Maybe we need a poll to choose a name, fire it off to Tarrin for consideration and see what happens.

(A while back, Brad Schwartz of ReloadingTools.com had his forum named the 'Small Caliber Club', so we should avoid that moniker.)

[Bill K]

I forgot Brad's site name. Heavens how could I, I have a 20 SCC, due to him.

[Tom Kat]

How about "Small Caliber Central"? Not particular to any specific caliber.

This is a good idea. It has wider appeal.

[SecretCode]

Another Thank You and Half to Tarrin for keeping this Forum alive and going. I haven't been a member long but did lurk for a few years before I joined. Learned so much from other members even if I was never directly in contact with them. My fault for not signing up earlier when I first found it. Learned so much and loved all the different views I get to see of the country and world for that matter while keeping the common denominator of the 204 and blasting varmints!


If Todd had not already coined the Terrific Twenties that would be my vote but alas I do understand that it's not an option. Will keep my thinking cap on for something catchy and memorable.