A Vote to keep this website afloat

[reloader243]

Just a thought...how many members are there on this sight? Who thinks it's worth helping to preserve and help it grow and get better? I belong to several groups of people online that share a common hobby or interest, I'm sure the same as most of you. The one's that I value enough to want to see there when I go to them,for enjoyment, or to learn, or to share what I think,or have some knowledge to share, I prefer to give enough in plain old "bucks" to make sure they are there when I want to interact. I CHALLANGE each of you to put a few bucks in the donation pot, sorta like giving a box of bullets to someone to try....that's about all it takes to keep this going for all of us. I don't have any connection with this site, other than what any of us have, a great place to learn and advance the "little hole theory" .
If the value of a box of bullets is a bit much right now, how about a half a box....?? Pitch in and make this your site to come to. Never had such a great group of people share such a great addiction....Rick Stahl New Berlin, Pa.

 

[ArtinNC]

I always donate to the web sites I go to at the end of every year if I haven't sent it I will with in the next week .
Art

 

[Forum Boss]

Reloader 243,

Thanks for the comment. Donations are doubly important right now, given the fact that Google has dropped us from its ad program. The Google ads were delivering $50-60 Daily--that's a projected $20K a year. Losing Google changes everything for the time being. I was hoping to hire a helper and bring in a video specialist. Can't do that now.

Quantcast says there are 35,000 unique users visiting this site every MONTH. If everyone kicked in the price of a Starbucks cup of coffee each year, it would make a huge difference.

Currently about a dozen guys each month make a donation. If Quantcast is correct, thats .034% of the visitors-- 1/30th of one percent.,1 percent would be 350).

I am studying other sites that have some kind of tiered system, where contributors have access to special discount programs or maybe enhanced content, but I'd like to keep it simple. It would be great if everyone kicked in a buck or two on New Year's day.

 

[IdahoSharpshooter]

Okay, let's say this site is only worth a dollar a week to me...
how would I use a credit card to place a donation/subscription for that buck a week?
One cup of coffee and a crispy creme a month, that's all we ask...

Rich
SW Idaho

 

[bobinpa]

You guys make a good point.... When you make a $$ comparison it makes a guy like myself think, why haven't I done that yet. I've been wanting to donate for a while and with Google doing what they did, "no better time than the present". Plain and simple, I'm here because this is a really good website, so for a buck a week.......I'm in.

All I need is an address, make payable to and the check will be in the mail.

P.S. Never used Google that much, but now it will be not at all, the heck with them!

 

[Mark Walker in TX]

Okay, let's say this site is only worth a dollar a week to me...
how would I use a credit card to place a donation/subscription for that buck a week?
One cup of coffee and a crispy creme a month, that's all we ask...

Rich
SW Idaho

The Donate button about 5 inches down on this screen can "get er done". You do not have to have a paypal account to use this service.

I just went through the process and sent another donation myself, and it took about 1 minute.

 

[JoeDuke]

Made a donation. Merry Christmas!

Joe

 

[jeffreybehr]

Donated tonite. Thx for the challenge, Rick.

 

[RoyinNC]

Just sent my donation.. Thanks for the site!

 

[chuckw2]

Boys,
I go to 6BR at least twice a day for relaxation. Each year I need to be reminded to make my contribution, thanks for this years reminder.


I am very disappointed that such a small percentage of the members make contributions.


Hell if it were not for Gunamonth, Dreever, Cheechako, Catshooter, and you also Paul is would be on suicide watch at my office about half of the day!!!!!

 

[cfsindorf]

I just did my part. This site needs to be kept a live one way or another.

Craig

 

[chino1969]

A great reminder; I just re-contributed.

This site is professionally maintained and deserves our support. The moderator does an excellent job and is to be commended. Alot of people visit, post, argue, trade info., etc. Contribute what you are able, but at least contribute.

Chino69

 

[Ogre6br]

if it wont get anyone into trouble or upset- can i ask why google have let the site go??

is it a new anti gun google policy that we should also be taking action against?

thanks
later
p

 

[Forum Boss]

Google has always had a stated policy that sites will not be accepted if they promote sales of firearms. However, in recent months I noticed Google ads appearing on a number of gun-oriented web sites.

Some of the major gun sites with Google Ads:
Chuckhawks.com
3-gunrules.com
www.nfa.ca/ Canadian Nat'l Firearms Assn.
and many more...

Plus, Google clearly started taking ads from gun accessory vendors and retailers such as Brownells and MidwayUSA. Clearly Google wanted "gun dollars".

So I applied and Google accepted the site immediately. In the past Google had said "no"... but clearly something had changed.

After approving us, things were going well, then I got an email from Google complaining about the "Guns of the Week" page. I replied that this site itself does not sell guns, or ANY firearms accessories for that matter. I included screen shots of prominent gun-oriented sites with Google ads.

Didn't seem to make any difference.

I have to figure that we've been singled out BECAUSE of the attractiveness of the presentation and high number of photos. Or possibly because we have a full-service site with Forum, articles, daily news, video etc. Otherwise Google's black-balling of the site is just arbitrary. Both bigger,higher revenue) and much smaller sites are still allowed to run the ads.

The issue is NOT because we have other banner ads. Chuckhawks.com runs more and bigger non-Google banners.

---

So, you can understand my frustration. I put in a ton of hours to modify the site to fit the Google ads, and now I have to change all those pages back.

---

My challenge is to figure out a way to entice/motivate lots and lots of users to give a little. That way everyone wins.

 

[Link]

I just sent my $ in not much but like they said every bit helps.

Thanks Link

 

[Forum Boss]

Wow,

I want to give a BIG thank you to all the folks who have acted in response to this thread. I am very grateful. Just today, we've had three $100.00 donors and one $200.00 contributor,Thank CS!).

It's hard for me to really express my gratitude. One thing I should make clear--the site isn't about to shut down, it's just hard to do all the things people want--big stories, daily updates, active Forum, new Cartridge Guides, on limited resources. With roughly 20 banner advertisers paying $50/month, you can do the math. The overhead eats up much of that revenue. I work on the site about 60 hours a week. That's why the Google thing was a setback. I think, given a little more time, it could have generated $2500/month. So losing that revenue source is tough.

But we've made it without Google in the past and we'll continue to do so now. The solution will involve a series of efforts--user donations, raising ad rates,justified by our 100% traffic increase this year), and maybe selling some high-end products like scopes. Perhaps 2008 is the time to explore a "VIP" member classification with special benefits.

Anyway, I just wanted to say you guys are GREAT and I really appreciate the support.

There's a word I learned while visiting the Philippines many years ago: "MakiBaka". Literally translated from Tagalog, it means "Spirit of Struggle". But in context, as a call to action, it means "dedicate yourself whole-heartedly--remain steadfast--keep fighting."

That's my motto in this effort and you can count on me to keep putting in the hours. We've come a long way and I anticipate good things for the months ahead--with your help.

 

[bobinpa]

I would like to donate, but I need an address to send my check to...... I don't want to use my credit card so in that case the donate button doesn't help...... Maybe I'm missing something.?.? Please give me an address.
Thank you.

- - -

Bob,

Here you go. My name's Paul and I build the site in California. But Jason does a lot of the testing and handles the checks as his mail drop is more secure.

If you don't want to use PayPal, you can make a check payable to "Jason Baney". Jason handles the direct donations for me. Please mail your check to:

Jason Baney
PO Box 308
Douglassville, PA 19518
__________________

 

[WAMBO]

Done deal, Merry CHRISTmas.
This site deserves everyone's support.
Thanks Paul for all you do.
Wayne aka WAMBO

 

[bobinpa]

Thanks. You guys do an excellent job. I'll be sure and get the check sent ASAP. Thanks again and keep up the good work!

 

[NorCalMikie]

Got mine in. Thanks Paul.:thumb: