are gun forums losing their alure?

[bannockburn]

I use to spend a lot more time on several different gun forums but time constraints (work, family, etc.), pretty much made it the most beneficial and expedient to go with just one. I choose THR because to me it's the best in terms of collective knowledge, interesting topics, and it's well moderated. I can't speak of other forums (only because I haven't been to them in many years), but I don't think THR will ever lose it's allure.

 

[GBExpat]

Milsurp-oriented Forums are certainly taking a big hit ... primarily because all of the varied & economically-priced (cheap) milsurp offerings that were available in the first ~8-10 years of the new century have dried up.

 

[R.W.Dale]

Other forms of social media may lack the depth of archive of a forum.

But they can make up for it by being very narrowly focused.

Take TC encores for example. I can ask about sizing cases for one here and 90% of the replies will be generic bolt action only techniques straight out of the reloading manual.

If I go to the "everything encore, contender, G2" Facebook group I will get replies from several very knowledgeable enthusiasts about how to measure my breach gap and partial length size to match.

The difference. The Facebook only has people interested in that particular firearm in it.

 

[hso]

I think the greatest portion of the shift is simple competition, as was pointed out. Competition from all the various blogs, newer social media and video sources provides outlets and increases the complexity of the maze to get to the more detail oriented and mature sources.

The other is that there's an overall evolution that takes place where you have a few early startups and adopters, an explosion of new people (both startup sites and participants) and then the inevitable die-off as the expense and effort goes up and the people who put that effort into the sites move on to other things.

THR's strength is that it is intended to be a form of Activism against the gun prohibition forces. It takes the form of providing a robust and mature forum for civil and rational discussion that shows the public that gun owners aren't the threatening misanthropes that gun prohibition forces paint us. It keeps the discussions focused on real information and it looks for reliable information. In the legal and political arenas it stays focused on the firearms related topics and it encourages members to look for solutions and energize members and readers to act in ways that can be successful in protecting RKBA against all the lies and manipulations of the gun prohibitionists.

 

[godale]

i usually take off during summer months between work and fishing. and then family things. still shoot just not on the forums as much. tend to hit it harder beginning in october.

 

[huntsman]

The "old" guys die off and the "young" guys move on to the next shiny object.

 

[IWAC]

When I worked for a large daily newspaper, the rule of thumb was most of the the readership will change about every 7 years. Probably about the same for forums, as well as for other media, like Farcebook, or Twit...ter.
Perhaps sooner, as attention spans seem to have gotten shorter. But, "Social media" seem to have replaced the telephone party line (Remember those?) for information gathering.
Also, you wrote for "The Omaha milkman." Allegedly, he was someone with a 7th grade education, (How they arrived at that, I never understood.) and a short attention span, which is why, using short "attention getter" words ("Prostitute" doesn't grab the attention like "Whore!") we put all the pertinent facts that fit in the first two or three short paragraphs, and the lesser stuff later.

It seems like every so often, a new crop of enthusiasts comes along, many being newly enthused about the whole subject of weapons...long range shooting, reloading, ammunition, knives, swords and thew "new and improved stuff we see all the time in gunzines...asking many of the same questions we all have asked at various stages of our involvement in this "Fine and Pleasant Madness".

Sometimes, the Search function does not work very well, so a lot of the same questions get asked. Some of the "old timers" run into a problem they haven't experienced before, and ask questions, which may or may not produce useful answers.

Some sites have developed their set of devotees, and they don't like newcomers, for one reason or another.

So, hopefully, mature and pleasant sites like this one will continue, for pleasure as well as information.

 

[Tirod]

The quality people who can think and write beyond one liners will stay.

Forums eventually require two skills - passable grammar, and logical thought. A classic example of the first was when smart phones came into general use but the txt slang came with it. LOL, u no? Those who indulge in less than currently accepted levels of literacy found themselves called down for it. And left.

Secondly, forums invite much longer engagement times. The social media is much more like a drive by shooting - you get in and get out. A post, no. You put that up where 500 people read it, and some will parse every word in objection. It invites thinking for a reply, and that takes discretionary time to do it.

With social media they can pop off and be cute, but forums are, well, for adults. We understand it's the long haul. Perspective counts.

Forums do take more time, tho. Did you note the falloff in participation tends to follow the changes in employment? ACA - Obamacare - triggered a change in who is hired full time. There are a lot more younger people working two part time jobs and juggling them takes up more time to fit in their life. They might be getting 24 hours each - or 48-50 hours a week, but no benefits. Home internet service vs a plan phone with youtube all day? You bet - drop the land line and chat in between customers when the boss isn't looking. A lot of people dropped the home internet connection because they simply aren't there enough to enjoy it.

Employment has shifted the playing field for forums, social media works for them because it's a quick in an out with no walls of words or half baked posts. It might be shallow and topical but that's all they have time for. It didn't help their cash flow any that they still have to pick up a health care plan and pay for it when we - in our youth - didn't bother. It's another expense that eats into their discretionary income.

It's no wonder they just use their smart phones and focus on quick incidental contact. Society doesn't give them time, money, and incentive to hook up with a forum as much now.

Just one of the unintended consequences of living in a socialist democracy.

 

[Uncle Nubbs]

I read THR and a few other favorites everyday. I follow along interesting topics but don't post frequently. In terms of research and information gathering THERE IS NO BETTER PLACE TO LEARN than from the experts in the threads.
I find the community on THR the finest in integrity. Very polite debate and helpful for info seekers.

 

[rbernie]

Before web based forums, we all used listserv to chat guns. Before email lists, we used A BBS. Before BBSs, we used the counter of the LGS.

The fact that the medium of choice changes as technology changes doesn't imply that the subject is getting less interesting.

 

[george burns]

Very informative, some things I hadn't thought of, but make good sense. How about adding a line that says what it is, like, a place where you can get answers to your firearm questions. I am just thinking out loud, but since there is no mention of guns in the name, maybe we would get more people if they knew what the forum was?

 

[AR-15Nutt]

Compared to 5 or 10 years ago, it seems like gun forums in general have kind of petered out. The hundreds of posts an guns for sale, have trickled down to a fraction of what they were. Is it a sign of the times?

just my OPINION.., BUT, i visit several "gun forums" and what i observe is the admins/mods are too restrictive of what is posted if it does not adhere to the COC's.., which i believe need modified, i am told we posters should not makes posts/remarks that make us "gun nuts" look bad to the general public, i.e., "gun haters", they already hate us, i do not believe we can offend them as our very existence offends them, most posters i have had private conversations with say they are turned off by too much censorship, therefore the petering out..., as previously stated.., just my OPINION :banghead:

 

[vamo]

I would say one thing is there is no real movement of gun rights in either direction over the last few years. No restrictions will pass this congress and no expansion of rights will ever be signed by this president (though it will be filibustered in the senate before it ever gets a chance to be vetoed). So yeah, politically theres not much to discuss and atleast here gun politics seem to drive the majority of the posting.

Disclaimer: yes I realize there have been executive actions, court decisions, and changes at the state level, but nothing huge.

 

[SuperNaut]

just my OPINION.., BUT, i visit several "gun forums" and what i observe is the admins/mods are too restrictive of what is posted if it does not adhere to the COC's.., which i believe need modified, i am told we posters should not makes posts/remarks that make us "gun nuts" look bad to the general public, i.e., "gun haters", they already hate us, i do not believe we can offend them as our very existence offends them, most posters i have had private conversations with say they are turned off by too much censorship, therefore the petering out..., as previously stated.., just my OPINION :banghead:

Since there are plenty of other places you can go to voice your unvarnished opinion, the market will sort it out.

 

[GAF]

My thought is that the gun forums that provide the best product are going to stick around for a long time and the rest will die. The market place at work.

 

[SKILCZ]

With respect to sales, THR's buy/sell/trade forum used to be busier. However, online sales have boomed and are on local forums, manufacturer forums, state organization forums, online retailers, GunBroker, etc. THR used to be one of the relatively few venues for online private gun sales, but now there are tons of venues.

 

[C0untZer0]

Forums are much more useful than the social media formats.

Especially when people are conscientious and they tag their threads, the forums are much easier to find and retrieve useful information from than Twitter, Reddit, Facebook or blogs.

Just to air a pet peeve of mine - I really don't like it when THR forum members start a thread here and the entire content of the post is simply a link to a video on their YouTube channel.

That does very little to add to the store of knowledge contained in this forum. At best it turns THR into a redirect, at worst it is people using THR to increase views on their YouTube channel.

 

[ilbob]

Compared to 5 or 10 years ago, it seems like gun forums in general have kind of petered out. The hundreds of posts an guns for sale, have trickled down to a fraction of what they were. Is it a sign of the times?

Might be that there are other options for selling guns these days. Might be that the Obama gun banning that pushed gun prices so high has petered out so prices have come back to normal levels so people are not trying to sell them as much.

these things come in waves. people have only so much free time to spend on the Internet and really how many times can you read the same answers to the same 20 questions?

it is like the survival forums. how many variants of bug out bags are worth looking at?

there is also the problem of over moderation that is endemic on so many forums. the owners want their message heard and nothing else so they nudge out those who don't agree with them. forums get really boring when it is 99% "me too" posts. there is a considerable amount of that going on here as well, but at least the owners are very upfront about it so I find it unoffensive. Other places make a pretense of being open to a lot of viewpoints but really aren't.

I don't post much at AR15.com but they seem to have plenty of posts on just about everything. I don't think they are going downhill at all. But they encourage a certain level of anarchy there that tends to keep it fresh, allowing posts on just about anything.

when you narrow your focus a lot like THR and some other gun forums have done, there are only so many posts that there are that are interesting.

 

[Wyatt]

I think there are many factors at work! Move to social media and heavy-handed moderators are two of the main ones IMO.

I don't do Twitter or Facebook, so I have no experience in that arena, but moderators walk a fine line and many times they are buzzkills for no reason. I totally support censoring posts/members who are rude or engage in personally attacks. I enjoy reading this forum, but the closing of topics does get old. Most times it's not because of rule violations, but because moderators say the question has been asked before and it seems if they don't have an interest in the topic, then they are quick to shut it down. It gets frustrating because asking a similar question that has been asked before hurts no one and sometimes you get another take on an old topic. Sometimes you just wanna spend a few hours unwinding and read new posts, even if it's another "what caliber for bear" thread.

If it's all about fear of lawsuit or questions asked previously, just make it read only.

That's my take on it and the reason I mostly just read threads instead of posting too often

 

[joem1945]

Huntsman post The "old" guys die off and the "young" guys move on to the next shiny object."

I think he has a valad point. Perhaps as they age they will see things in a different light.

 

[ilbob]

I think there are many factors at work! Move to social media and heavy-handed moderators are two of the main ones IMO.

I don't do Twitter or Facebook, so I have no experience in that arena, but moderators walk a fine line and many times they are buzzkills for no reason. I totally support censoring posts/members who are rude or engage in personally attacks. I enjoy reading this forum, but the closing of topics does get old. Most times it's not because of rule violations, but because moderators say the question has been asked before and it seems if they don't have an interest in the topic, then they are quick to shut it down. It gets frustrating because asking a similar question that has been asked before hurts no one and sometimes you get another take on an old topic. Sometimes you just wanna spend a few hours unwinding and read new posts, even if it's another "what caliber for bear" thread.

If it's all about fear of lawsuit or questions asked previously, just make it read only.

That's my take on it and the reason I mostly just read threads instead of posting too often

FB and twitter was not as big a deal 5 or 10 years ago. I suspect some people who might otherwise be posting on forums maybe spend more of their free time there these days.

I don't especially like closing off threads but they do get off topic sometimes, or stray into unapproved thought so the moderators don't have a whole lot of options but to close them.

 

[CoalTrain49]

Yes.

I'm a computer generated entity. My creator is gone.

 

[larryh1108]

IMO, the influx of newbies has dropped because the other forms of social media has taken their time. There is only so much "free time" in a day and now you see the faces of anyone under the age of 40 plastered to their phones. Also, those young people who have an interest in the gun world now go online and play the shoot-em-up games which they play for hours on end into the wee hours of the morning. That leaves little time to go onto a gun forum to read, learn and soak up experiences shared by the community.

Those that do venture onto these types of boards and try to use their abbreviated words and slang find out real fast that the English language is the preferred method of writing here. Personally, you can keep the Facebots, Tweety birds and Insanegrams out of my world and I'll be very happy. The youngsters can keep it all to themselves.

 

[huntsman]

Before web based forums, we all used listserv to chat guns. Before email lists, we used A BBS. Before BBSs, we used the counter of the LGS.

The fact that the medium of choice changes as technology changes doesn't imply that the subject is getting less interesting.

Now I'm feeling old because I remember those

 

[Sunray]

"...10 years ago, forums were new..." Yep. And so was the Internet as we know it. First version of IE came out in 1995 as an add-on to Win 95. No high speed internet then either. Dial up only and a lot of areas, Stateside and here, still have dial up only. That's why picture sizes are important.
Some forums are being taken over by the inhabitants of 'the universe of social media' too. Certainly not all of 'em, but there are some where being over 40ish and experienced isn't appreciated. Often ridiculed as well.
"...average age of the posters seems to be..." That too. We're retired, semi-retired or unemployed and nobody wants us. Worse when you're a 60 plus year old computer tech. snicker.
"What's the best gun/cartridge/reloading kit..." Is the question these days. Along with the "What should I buy?", "I bought this for my wife but she doesn't like it." and "The UN is coming." snicker.