Open Letter - how can we make Calguns.net better?

[SkatinJJ]

Originally Posted by offrdmania

I greatly enjoy using Calguns everyday. Other than the recent raffle, in order to contribute to the site you had to dig deep in order to find where to help out. I would like to see a contribution section, specifically contributing to keeping the site going. Set it up with levels of contribution. The lowest level, say $10 gets a badge under their user name that pops up like an permanent avatar saying "contributor". With each level getting a little better perk. 10, 20, 50, 100, 500. A few ideas could be, pay 500 and get one sticky post in the classifieds per month so that your WTS stays on the front page until it sells. Or maybe with a 100 donation you get access to bold or highlighted type on your headline. Whichever level you contribute you will also have access to the perks of the levels below it.
This would be a great way to keep money flowing in for upgrades and keeping the servers running strong but at the same time giving a calgunner reason to donate and take pride in a webpage that we all love to use everyday.

Two things, the first is that I missed it too. At the top of the page beneath the ads, beneath the "CALGUNS.NET" logo and the beneath the next line is the first row of places to go, in the center is "Donate to the Calguns Foundation". I only caught it due to a new message that went up mentioning it and felt a bit silly at the time.

The second thing is about the badge for the level of donations. I can donate money all year long and not contribute as much as some of the posters do with their legal insights, points of view and other ideas. I feel that some of the most important donations to this forum have been made by the hard work of those who continue to question the authorities whenever possible.

If something like that would be added, I would like to be able to turn mine off as it doesn't matter to me that someone else sees how much money I've been able to sneak past my wife.

Good luck, and good Calgunning to you.

[mroels]

Is there any way to allow for polls to be added to threads after they are already active? As of right now one must PM a mod to get this done as there is no option for the original post or replies to include polls.

Thanks

[jmlivingston]

Originally Posted by SkatinJJ

At the top of the page beneath the ads, beneath the "CALGUNS.NET" logo and the beneath the next line is the first row of places to go, in the center is "Donate to the Calguns Foundation". I only caught it due to a new message that went up mentioning it and felt a bit silly at the time.

I highly encourage donating to the Calguns Foundation, but just note that the CGF is a separate entity from the calguns.net discussion forum. The Foundation is a non-profit corporation (paperwork still pending?) while calguns.net is privately owned by Kestryll. Just to make it more confusing, Kestryll is a part of the foundation.

John

[ghideon]

Is there any way to exclude (on a per username basis obviously) areas of the forums you don't want to see when you click on the New Posts link?

[Mike A]

Don't have any suggestions for improvement. But I will say that Calguns is the only place I have found in Southern CA where you can find and buy used guns at a reasonable price from reasonable people. Thanks!

[Moonclip]

Originally Posted by Mike A

Don't have any suggestions for improvement. But I will say that Calguns is the only place I have found in Southern CA where you can find and buy used guns at a reasonable price from reasonable people. Thanks!

You have been lucky, lol. I run in to many disreputable sellers/buyers and see insane pricing here a lot.

One thing I have always wondered, how do you avoid getting neg feedback if you have a sale item posted but you don't want to sell it to someone on your ignore list or past problem people and they post I'll take it 1st?

I have saved PM's from flakes to show mods if necessary if this becomes an issue. Would that be good enough? I really would not rather sell to certain members here.

[wilbur46]

An instruction "sticky"???

I look a lot, and reply occasionally. I even post.

I've got a WTB post from last spring that I would delete (If I could figure out how).

[ghideon]

Originally Posted by N6ATF

I think someone said you have to PM the mods to ask for them to block forums for you at present.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...,73,93,107,106

The above excludes most of the private sales forums, the ADD forum, the off topic forum. Cuts down the noise for me.

[N6ATF]

Aha! Thanks. I'll modify it to my specs.

[Vectrexer]

Here is a suggestion from another user from the Like / Dislike thread.

Originally Posted by Vacaville

Likes:

3. Lack of a basic Calguns dictionary. All the acronyms and terms that are used that a newbie can't figure out. Things I had a hard time locating were Bubba, UOC, TAN, FUD, bullet button, troll, necropost, etc (search for Bullet Button - you'll get a lot of entries, but it's near impossible to get a definition). Yes, all of this can be found through research, but it is very distracting and takes you away from what you were reading at the time.

Good one. This should be a menu item the same as the CA AW ID Interactive chart. Great for newbies and for definitions on areas of gun usage that are out of my normal interest.

I volunteer to start the Dictionary and Acronym list of you need someone to manage it. CG.net get a benefit of a Dictionary and I ge the benefit of learning during research.

[hoffmang]

Originally Posted by Vectrexer

I volunteer to start the Dictionary and Acronym list of you need someone to manage it. CG.net get a benefit of a Dictionary and I ge the benefit of learning during research.

Put it on the CGF Wiki: http://wiki.calgunsfoundation.org/index.php/Main_Page

PM artherd for an account.

-Gene

[Librarian]

There is now a page to put the dictionary on

http://wiki.calgunsfoundation.org/in...s_and_Acronyms

[inkedshooter]

+1 to keeping the forums and all the subsections more organized.

Other suggestions.... make people fill out their profile completely before posting in the for sale/want to buy sections.

A rants and raves section would be nice for members to thread crap all they want, even though it may get out of hand...

[N6ATF]

Please...

1) Eliminate the extraordinary lag time after you click "send report" while reporting posts. At present it acts like it just freezes up, but I was accused of reporting posts multiple times when it didn't seem like even a single report was successful.
2) Make the daily e-mail notifications to subscribed threads get sent again.

[CaliforniaLiberal]

Originally Posted by Vectrexer

Establish a California Firearms auctions board to suck away business from Gun Broker. Income for CG and Kali gun friendly at the same time. Plus GB's forum management is a joke.

Oh Yeah!! +1! on a CalGuns Auction.

And I also second the suggestion for a Newby Information Section/FAQ/Wiki, but don't forget there will always be new folk wandering around asking the same old questions. Some just find it easier to ask than to go look it up themselves. Did you ever ask your Mom or Dad how to spell a word and have them tell you to go look in the dictionary? I hated that.

And the Section for Air Guns! That would be awesome.


And once again, Thank You to Kestryll for providing this most excellent Forum for the benefit of all of us. Playground monitor is often a thankless job.

CL

[UBFRAGD]

And the Section for Air Guns! That would be awesome.

No it wouldn't. Airguns will be the only gun an American can have if we don't continue the pressure in the fight for our 2nd Amend. rights.......let's not participate in furthering a childs' toy/training aid.........I think adding an airsoft section would diminish the seriousness of CG AND attract even more juvenile members.......guns are for adults.......

[JC Smith]

Originally Posted by UBFRAGD

And the Section for Air Guns! That would be awesome.

No it wouldn't. Airguns will be the only gun an American can have if we don't continue the pressure in the fight for our 2nd Amend. rights.......let's not participate in furthering a childs' toy/training aid.........I think adding an airsoft section would diminish the seriousness of CG AND attract even more juvenile members.......guns are for adults.......

Airsoft "guns" ARE toys, not what I would call airguns. Perhaps I should have said "Adult Airguns." Anyone who enjoys fine firearms will also enjoy quality airguns.

[augusto faria]

i agre with what's being said below... becareful not to dilute the seriousness of the real reason this forum exist... i agree that there are some really nice air guns, the are over priced toys... just my 2 cents...

Originally Posted by UBFRAGD

And the Section for Air Guns! That would be awesome.

No it wouldn't. Airguns will be the only gun an American can have if we don't continue the pressure in the fight for our 2nd Amend. rights.......let's not participate in furthering a childs' toy/training aid.........I think adding an airsoft section would diminish the seriousness of CG AND attract even more juvenile members.......guns are for adults.......

[JC Smith]

Originally Posted by augusto faria

i agre with what's being said below... becareful not to dilute the seriousness of the real reason this forum exist... i agree that there are some really nice air guns, the are over priced toys... just my 2 cents...

That's an interesting point, but I don't think including adult airguns would dilute CALGUNS any more than some of the other forums. Everyone on here probably has at least one defensive firearm, for serious business, but I'd bet that most of us also have some guns that are... well... adult "toys." That is we have them for recreational purposes only, to play with. If you enjoy a nice heavy barrel with a high-powered scope you probably don't have it because you want to go into the sniper business. You can have almost as much fun in your back yard with an accurate airgun. Set up a few dozen spent 9mm cases at various distances and get some inexpensive, fun practice. Check out Peter Capstck’s article on mini sniping from the October 1984 Guns & Ammo. It’s available online at http://www.minisniping.org/articles_petercapstick.html. There’s a place for adult airguns in the world of shooting.

[ADAM]

1 love the gun broker idea we need one for cali to teach em a lesson
2 if posting out of state must ship to cali or dont post
3 location must be mandatory

[N_S]

One forum I spend a lot of time on had a few nifty features like an image search that brings up from most recently posted to oldest all images that were posted on the site. It made finding things that interest you that much easier and made moderating easier too because if someone posts a shock image or something it's easier for moderators to notice.
Another nifty feature was a ticker. It showed all posts that were being made as they were being made so it was a nice way of seeing which threads were the most active.
There was also a log that showed all moderator activity. Moved threads, name changes, thread locks, bans and the reasons for these things. It was all automated, dated and in chronological order. Helped clear up many confusing situations.

Unfortunately the forum got overhauled and none of these features made it into the system that currently stands.

[ripcurlksm]

1) I tried to post a vimeo video and it wouldnt work-- it would be nice if we could embed any flash video type.

2) Also for the iTrader, it is something that is done extra it seems after a sale-- is there a way to require all responses on the "For Sale" forum so that they can make a commitment through the iTrade system before purchasing?

On the other hand I have purchased and sold a firearm in the past 2 weeks on CG and all went smooth. Good folks on here it seems.

[diginit]

Make it better? Give each member a $20 Remington gift certificate for their birthday. Mine is coming up soon..... LOL!

[inkedshooter]

Seems like alot of new members are posting copies of posts in the for sale forums. Some forums require that you contribute some posts before posting a for sale add in the market place. It'd be nice if it was also like this, that way people could see how the forum funtions/flows.

[WokMaster1]

Just my $0.02 here. I would love an official statement/letter from the "right people" that lay to rest all the myths & FUD about California gun laws. This info should be stickied & reference for all FFLs in & out of state.

The "right people" are also legal reps for the NRA regarding California gun laws. Why can't the NRA sanction this statement so it has the credibility & no one can poo-poo it?

[sorensen440]

I would like to see a non gun politics sub forum so that I can ignore it.

[freonr22]

it would be nice, when you refresh a page, it automatically goes to the bottom, so you dont have to rescroll down, i know you can set your options to erad the newest post first but...

[N6ATF]

Originally Posted by sorensen440

I would like to see a non gun politics sub forum so that I can ignore it.

Me too, except all politics these days seem to be gun related.

[264charlie]

Guys, How about a Product review section.

[gunboat]

How to improve -- Limit the posts to text and eliminate all the meaningless quotes and self promoting adverts taking up tons of space -

[freonr22]

i kinda like the viewing format, its easier on the eyes than tfl for instance

[AlexBreya]

so far its all good, but if you want to make it amazing, we need palm trees. not sure how you would do it, but it seems to make everything better...

[MAILMAN187]

Originally Posted by AlexBreya

so far its all good, but if you want to make it amazing, we need palm trees. not sure how you would do it, but it seems to make everything better...

+1 man

[bigboarstopper]

mabye make a new section all about the department of fish and game. things like new rules and regs. peoples experiences with game wardens. suggestions for new rules and reasons to dissolve others.

[avidone]

I know this has probably been beat to death, but I really liked how the old buy and sell forum was set up regionally. It was a great time saver to be able to selectively look at items for sale in ones own local area.

[gunboat]

Buy and sell -- It would help to have a time limit on ads --An automatic expiration date -A week to 10 days seems long enough and no bumps! Also a removal when sold - You wade through a dozen comments only to find the item was sold a week ago -- my ha-penny gb

[xxdabroxx]

I think it is wrong that certain mods get ban happy, and seemingly ban people who have differing views than their own. It should take two moderators to ban any one person for a temporary length of time. It should take three moderators to ban any one person permanently.

This is directly related to Booshanky being banned, i feel that he was wrongfully banned and the banning should be removed.

[jmlivingston]

Originally Posted by xxdabroxx

I think it is wrong that certain mods get ban happy, and seemingly ban people who have differing views than their own. It should take two moderators to ban any one person for a temporary length of time. It should take three moderators to ban any one person permanently.

"Certain mod's get ban happy"? Interesting comment.... Seriously, which mod do you think gets ban happy? If you don't want to say publicly, send it to me via PM.

I don't think we really ban that many people, and when we do ban people they've usually had multiple warnings - and some have even had numerous temp-bans! If the reason for a ban is borderline, it's usually discussed among the moderators. Anyone being banned has an opportunity to email Kestryll (CGN's owner) and discuss it directly with him if they think they've been unfairly targeted.

Something to remember is that the warnings aren't public, so you won't hear about them very often. Almost always the post they make that gets them in trouble is removed, so you won't see that either.

John

[DirtSailor]

I haven't looked over the last 12 pages, but... fix the Search feature!

I can't find anything!

[xxdabroxx]

Well if its Kestryll's forum, then i guess what he says goes, and i retract my statement. However, i still think banning Booshanky was uncalled for.