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

[OCMI_Teddy]

I think this is the right place to post.

I was wondering if you guys could split the Firearms for sale forum into: sub sections, like our the main Firearms discussion.

I.e. Shotgun, Pistol, Rifle and C&R. I think it would make it easier to browse through the classifieds if you've been away for a day or 2.

[kazman]

My only complaint is how quickly I get logged out after inactivity. If this could be configurable or just extend the amount of time I'm logged in that would be great. Say if no activity for 30 min then log me out.

[TaxAnnihilator]

First off, thank you for such a great platform to share ideas, learn, and grow as a firearms owner.

I am involved in several other forums, some not so good, one that I think is one of the best learning forums I participate in.

What I have learned from these sites may be of value here. One of the biggest issues of course is server load and the cost to Calguns. To that end I suggest the following (because using "search" site:www.calguns.net on Google is great, I am almost positive that few use it!):

Create a greater number of sub-forums as several posts have suggested. Browsing the "New To Calguns" Sticky is cumbersome. I would suggest the following forum/sub-forums, of course subject to the greater knowledge of those on this forum!

Firearms Discussions

1. Rifle
   1. General
   2. Pictures
   3. Technique/Practice Tips/Defense (Training, you guns know this better)
   4. How-To/Gunsmithing/Building
2. Handgun
   1. General
   2. Pictures
   3. Technique/Practice Tips/Defense (Training, you guns know this better)
   4. How-To/Gunsmithing/Building
3. Shotgun
   1. General
   2. Pictures
   3. Technique/Practice Tips/Defense (Training, you guns know this better)
   4. How-To/Gunsmithing
4. C&R (Same Sub-list as above, but maybe add, Identification (a 'What is this?" Sub)
5. Rimfire (Same)
6. Reloading
   1. Equipment
   2. Casings/Bullets
   3. Powder/Primers
   4. Ect.

Organization is key to a successful learning environment, especially where there are forces against us gaining knowledge.

I try to think of forums like text books. The main forums are the general table of contents, picking a sub-forum is like looking at that specific section's sub-table of contents.

Thank you for your consideration on this (I will help move posts once the bar exam is over on Thursday)

[Ground Loop]

One topic that would be useful to organize into a sub-forum is "Instruction".

That is, a forum for people who frequently provide instruction, or aspire to be instructors. NRA Certified Instructors, course instructors, self-defense teachers and coaches.

This would be a forum for Teachers to exchange ideas, rather than a forum for mentoring or answering student questions.

One of the strongest actions we, as individuals, can undertake to promote gun rights is to simply take people shooting, and ensure they have a safe and enjoyable introduction to firearm handling. A forum to discuss teaching techniques and issues would be most welcomed.

[rkt88edmo]

Originally Posted by Ground Loop

One topic that would be useful to organize into a sub-forum is "Instruction".

I think that instruction falls nicely under the competition and training forum.

Organization sounds nice, but the opposite force is subforum clutter and dilution of visibility.

If any of those areas gets enough traffic it certainly could warrant its own subforum, but really, how much action would "shotgun gunsmithing" get? And why wouldn't you be going to a shotgun specific or gunsmithing specific forum for that information.

Calguns isn't the one forum for all firearms knowledge.

[Ground Loop]

rkt88edmo: My oversight.. "Competition and Training" is indeed an appropriate forum.

I did look.. and missed it.

[josh_crosson]

not sure if this would where i should put this, but i cant view sent pms. when i click on sent it says i have not sent any. can a mod or owner of the site tell me what is wrong?

[speedracer]

Stop postings of "selling for a friend". You must own it or have it in your possession. Been waiting over 24hours after posting I'll take it with NO contact from the REAL seller or middleman.

[strangerdude]

Gun shop reviews(online too), not just In threads but In It's own designated forum. Also categorize firearms sales by caliber or model, this would make It easier to find what buyers are looking for.

[69Mach1]

A dedicated Kalashnikov forum.

[aplinker]

Originally Posted by 69Mach1

A dedicated Kalashnikov forum.

I've actually been thinking, for a while, we should actually make dedicated OLL forums - specifically AR, AK, and "Other" (FAL, HK, etc)

I'm glad you posted that, so I could agree.

I think it would help a LOT with searching, too.

[dchang0]

I'd love to see a forum for product development (such as new bullet button ideas, new BB tool ideas). It wouldn't get a whole lot of traffic, but at least we'd get all the right minds in the right place, where brainstorming can occur more easily.

The problem for a would-be inventor now is that he's got to search through tons of posts to see if his idea has been discussed before. Plus, because the product doesn't necessarily exist yet, the terms to describe it may not yet be standardized, so his search may be fruitless.

A separate, smaller forum would advance our cause without taking up too much in the way of resources.

[69Mach1]

Originally Posted by uclaplinker

I've actually been thinking, for a while, we should actually make dedicated OLL forums - specifically AR, AK, and "Other" (FAL, HK, etc)

I'm glad you posted that, so I could agree.

I think it would help a LOT with searching, too.

Uh oh. More forums means more moderators. Ready to volunteer?

One for the AK, one for the AR, and one for other. Sounds perfect, except for the "other".

[jmlivingston]

Originally Posted by josh_crosson

not sure if this would where i should put this, but i cant view sent pms. when i click on sent it says i have not sent any. can a mod or owner of the site tell me what is wrong?

It's a setting in your control panel. In your control panel go to "Settings & Options" in the column on the left hand side. Select "Edit Options" - one of them will be to save a copy of sent messages.

[wolfmann]

With Calguns getting so BIG I think its time to split into specific areas.
Its kinda hard to sort all the posts.
Especially the FOR SALE stuff.
Waste of time when you find something only to find its WAY too far away.

I spread the word about this site to all that want to be safe and have knowledge about guns in California.
Now I wonder if I shot myself in the foot lol.


On a good note thanks for being there Calguns,we really need you here for this State.

[TonyNorCal]

How about a personals/dating section?

[kapache]

Well it seems that Calguns.net was down for about one hour this afternoon.

I email multiple times GEOVARIO.COM and no one reply, so I called a buddy of mines that works for the Data center where they are lococated and he was unable to find the server that was down because they where not label.

I say load-balance this websites on a small cluster farm to prevent down time, and to maintain the load to a reasonable percentage.

[freonr22]

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...45#post3244145 they need to get a new clock

ETA posted @ 4:54pm 10/20 and bumped in front of Kapaches post posted @ 337pm

[cal_gunner]

the Time seems to be off. Current posts are 4 hours earlier than current time.

[freonr22]

Originally Posted by cal_gunner

the Time seems to be off. Current posts are 4 hours earlier than current time.

16 hours?

[rynando]

Originally Posted by kapache

Well it seems that Calguns.net was down for about one hour this afternoon.

I email multiple times GEOVARIO.COM and no one reply, so I called a buddy of mines that works for the Data center where they are lococated and he was unable to find the server that was down because they where not label.

I say load-balance this websites on a small cluster farm to prevent down time, and to maintain the load to a reasonable percentage.

Supposedly this site is load balanced and has been for a year based on the date of the following post . . .

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=125825

R

[artherd]

We are LB'd, CGN's servers suffered multiple major hardware failures today, we are back with data recovered, but at 50% capacity on the web front-end. Some slowness may persist until we can bring additional hardware online.

We are looking into the causes of the failures, early estimated indicate cooling related cascade failure.

[freonr22]

I surfed frommy old blacberry just fine @ 8pm and speed seems ok here maybe traffic is lite or you have nice equipment

[artherd]

Originally Posted by freonr22

I surfed frommy old blacberry just fine @ 8pm and speed seems ok here maybe traffic is lite or you have nice equipment

Thanks for the feedback!

We're still at 50% capacity but we do have some sweet gear behind CGN, which we are upgrading all the time as the site expands. Hope to have her back up to snuff real soon now(TM)

[kapache]

When I traceroute calguns.net and I saw the network where you guys are hosted in I was shocked to see calpop one of Downtown LA worst Data center I mediately assume, power, network, D-dos etc something common on there DC.


rynando,

I see that calguns.net main page is cache, so when the forum is down the welcome page will always be up. that explains why the uptime site shows it as it never being down.

[Super Spy]

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.

I have an out of state friend that somehow got blacklisted on gunbroker, I guess he logged on to the site from a friends computer, GB had blocked his friend over a dispute, and I guess had logged his IP address, and now insists he is his friend.....even after providing a copy of his Washington State Drivers License to prove his identity. This is just one story I've heard of gunbroker being unprofessional.

Bottom line is the auction would easily exceed the reach of Calguns and CA.

[rambo]

Originally Posted by Hopi

-A search function that works a little better....more google-like if you will.

-An FFL information forum specifically designed to walk a less-sophisticated FFL through the processes and legalities of commonly requested Calgunner's "special transfers or purchases". Every FFL has an internet connection, but few have the patience to wade through multiple threads in various forums while you stand in his shop or talk on the phone.
This could be backed by the Calguns Foundation with direct contact (email or phone, etc) info if applicable or available.



-

This is a realy good one so very few even buyers are in the "know" on how to get around to get what you want legally.

[rambo]

Calguns could operate as a training center and people with experience in each particular way could voulonteer there time and all money would be donated for time services directly to calguns. Money makes things move and is power....I know our goverment thinks power is at the end of a gun and we think money gets stuff done. Ironic ugh!

[kapache]

Auction will take away the community feel to calguns.net. Most people that sell Firearms aren't gun dealers, they are ether independent people trying to make quick cash or get rid of there unwanted toys.

[rynando]

Originally Posted by kapache

When I traceroute calguns.net and I saw the network where you guys are hosted in I was shocked to see calpop one of Downtown LA worst Data center I mediately assume, power, network, D-dos etc something common on there DC.

LOL, +1.

Sad to hear things haven't changed. I've heard that CalPop has gotten a bit better in recent years but they've still got a very poor rep in the biz. I had dedicated box in there for a short time and pretty much regretted it the whole time I was there.

There used to be some pretty shocking photos of their datacenter floating around WHT . . .

R

[artherd]

Originally Posted by rynando

There used to be some pretty shocking photos of their datacenter floating around WHT . . .

We are not in that building or network. We do buy transit from them in LA (One Wilshire) and have good things to say.

[kapache]

Please do not take this the wrong way, I truly love calguns.net this is my home forum. But according to nslookup you are hosted in calpop.com data center

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: calguns.net
Address: 206.125.47.50


and this is a copy of whois IP



206.125.47.50 - Geo Information
IP Address 206.125.47.50
Host 206.125.47.50
Location US, United States
City Los Angeles, CA 90017
Organization AirlineReservations.Com
ISP AirlineReservations.Com


as you can see AirlineReservations.com is a alias they use to own the IP block that you have.

[kapache]

And this is the router where your servers are located in

CALPOPCOM-I.edge1.LosAngeles9.Level3.net

I am loud about Calpop sucking really really bad is because, I experience from first hand how they destroy many many honest hosting companies.

[artherd]

Luis - calpop as well as GeoVario owns several netblocks in several physical facilities throughout the US and the world.

We have nothing to do with their dedicated server operations - which are in a different net in a different building.

FYI-

[mbp26:~] bcannon% whois -h whois.arin.net 206.125.47.50
AirlineReservations.Com, Inc. AIRLINERES-CALPOP-COM (NET-206-125-40-0-1)
206.125.40.0 - 206.125.47.255
GeoVario Main GEOVA-CPOP (NET-206-125-47-0-1)
206.125.47.0 - 206.125.47.63


Lastly - servers are not located 'in' routers.

I guess I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. Your 'buddy' was not able to find the 'server' because he was in the wrong building, on the wrong network, in the wrong cages, looking at gear owned by the wrong company - and he was looking for a group of servers under a Foundry Networks loadbalancer

[kapache]

Well since you open this announcement and suggestions and you experience a 1 hour down time. I figure mines well be a good calgunner and give you my Professional point of view. But I see that it doesn't matter therefore I have nothing else to say, altho anyone that is IT savvy will agree with me.

you are right Servers aren't connected to routers they are connected to this things named "Switches" I think.

[armandolo]

I'd like to search the "for sale" forum and filter NorCal and SoCal sales. Perhaps the seller can check SoCal, Norcal or both button and the buyer doing the search can filter according to the location.

[Bill92869]

I agree with the previous poster about obtaining search results that are area specific, but that is not the reason for my post. I ask that the settings be changed to allow searches using "words" that are 2 or3 characters long, i.e. XD9, G21, PMC, etc. So many of the items we buy/use/sell are abbreviated, and California is surely the abbreviation headquarters of the World. I have used other forums where this can be done and it really cuts down on wasted time for me and bandwidth for the forum. Please consider this. Thanks otherwise for a GREAT resource!

p.s. I did see the sticky post about using the google search and I tried it, but it is not as efficient as a straight search would be.

[rynando]

Originally Posted by artherd

Luis - calpop as well as GeoVario owns several netblocks in several physical facilities throughout the US and the world.

[mbp26:~] bcannon% whois -h whois.arin.net 206.125.47.50
AirlineReservations.Com, Inc. AIRLINERES-CALPOP-COM (NET-206-125-40-0-1)
206.125.40.0 - 206.125.47.255
GeoVario Main GEOVA-CPOP (NET-206-125-47-0-1)
206.125.47.0 - 206.125.47.63

To be fair 206.125.47.0/26 is being subdelegated to you by CalPop. They "own" the netblock. It's been reassigned to you based on the results of your quoted whois.

R

[artherd]

CGN Search is something we are in process of completely revamping as part of CGN 2.0. It's a rather large effort surprisingly and I don't have an ETA. Anyone experienced in vB, MySQL, Sphinx, etc is welcome to contact me if you have some spare time

[pretz]

"How To Make Calguns Better"? That is a challenge!

Something that would be nice, perhaps attracting or reassuring those who are not into the "gun culture", would be a Mission Statement; something posted in a way that every visitor sees, explaining in a non-threatening and non-confrontational manner what we stand for and hope to accomplish. (Kind of like Ward Cleaver, in all his iconic essence, explaining to Beaver why he should not be afraid of the dark.)

Once a welcoming and inclusive Mission Statement is developed, the next step would be marketing: Cheap ads in cheap places that are cheaply done, to entice the curious, or even force the gun-grabbers into responding.

These suggestions are in line with a problem I see with the public perception of gun owners, and not with the public perception of Calguns. Not long ago, gun owners were seen as mainstream. Now we are seen as freaks.

I suggest that we gun owners reach out to the public by seducing them, rather than "preaching to the choir" or bullying them with heroic and scary statements. "...cold dead fingers!" is a great motto, but it does not draw the ignorant into voting in our favor. How about something like, "Privately owned guns stop crime better than any law!" ?

It seems to me that Calguns is in a position to seduce the public just as effectively as the Brady Bunch. Perhaps the best and brightest amongst us should organize into a group that is focused on the seduction aspect?