Please, please, please fix this site.

[TrappedinCalifornia]

Your own post has you shooting down the idea as we haven’t reached that point yet in your estimation even after losing 90% of users and over 2 years of the current situation. So… yes. Kinda like you dismissed it several years ago, and a few times in between. Thanks for the evidence of what I am talking about.

My post doesn't 'shoot down the idea.' Instead, it says we haven't reached that point yet, alluding to the idea that such a point might turn out to be inevitable; depending, not so much on impatience, but on the 'unworkable' nature of the type of fix desired. Opinions vary among the members however. Likewise, as I indicated and/or alluded to, that is ONE of the options, not the entirety of them.

It's your post which is indicative of the problem; i.e., that many want something 'different' than what has been. Such an 'archiving' is indicative of the methodology being employed by the 'other' site where one can only contribute to threads for a short, specified period and edit their posts for an even shorter period. On the other hand, this site has allowed protracted access and posting to threads. In short, it's a tradeoff and that tradeoff has not been deemed 'acceptable' as of yet.

Just like the statistics you cite. There's actually no way of knowing how many actual users the site has 'lost' during this epoch. Simply because someone isn't active or actively posting doesn't mean they've been 'lost' in that the vast majority weren't active on that basis to begin with. I grant and have granted that the traffic loss has not been inconsequential. But, neither have I lost sight of the whole picture in a desire to push something different.

As I have noted before, particularly with the 'other' site actively pirating members and sponsors, coupled with the problems, it's a 'shaking time' for the site, something which virtually all organizations go through at one time or another. What is required is patience to see what 'shakes out.'

[Imageview]

Site traffic is measurable and easily checked publicly. My numbers were not hyperbolic.

[TrappedinCalifornia]

Site traffic is measurable and easily checked publicly. My numbers were not hyperbolic.

We're kinda speaking past each other.

You're talking about 'users' and I'm talking about 'members.' Users always will be a fungible number, whether the site is working correctly or not. Members are more indicative of regular and repeat users. The former can simply happen upon the site and the latter deliberately visit the site. In a sense, it's the members who actively utilize the site and what it offers whereas users are hit and miss as to whether they benefit from what the site has and whether they benefit the site beyond raw 'traffic.'

Do you have a way to ascertain members or differentiate between user and member visits, bearing in mind that even not all members regularly sign in? I'm not talking about pointing to the Users vs. Member numbers at the bottom of the page in that those numbers are simply snapshots and vary widely.

One of the reasons I ask is that Google AI declares the following at the moment...

Calguns.net experienced 110.15K visits in January 2026, marking an 18.87% increase in traffic compared to December 2025. Users are highly engaged, with an average session duration of 09:46 and an average of 5.29 pages viewed per visit.

Key Metrics (January 2026):

• Total Visits: 110.15K
• Monthly Traffic Growth: +18.87%
• Average Visit Duration: 09:46
• Pages per Visit: 5.29
• Bounce Rate: 47.82%

So, according to Google, traffic is increasing and users are considered to be highly engaged.

Meanwhile, the 'other' site has higher rankings in certain respects. Yet, the question becomes how much impact the 'newness' of that site has vs. the 'problems' this site has. And... Oh... Wait... Also according to Google's AI...

As of early 2026, Calguns.net remains a major hub for California firearm enthusiasts, though it has faced significant technical issues, leading some users to explore alternatives.
Traffic and Ranking Data

• Ranking: Similarweb has shown the site, or related comparisons, in the top 200 range (e.g., #194 in its category) in recent analysis.
• User Location: The overwhelming majority of traffic (over 97%) comes from the United States, followed by small percentages from Canada, Jordan, and the UK.
• Activity: Despite reports of being down or slow frequently, the site still hosts thousands of active topics and posts.

Key Contextual Factors

• Technical Issues: Reports indicate the site frequently times out, has slow loading times, or experiences "504" errors, causing some users to move to caguns.net.
• Migration: The site underwent maintenance and migration to new servers in April 2024 to address these issues, with ongoing "fine-tuning" reported later in the year.
• Marketplace Importance: Despite the technical problems, it is still considered a premier site for California-specific private firearm sales, with a mature, long-standing, and highly utilized classified section.

So... Even with all the problems, this site is still holding its own when it comes to statistics? How does that fit the narratives which are spun?

What I'm getting at is that you have to be careful with statistics and how they are cited. It's just like we've actually had some come and point to the bounce rate being indicative of X, Y, or Z. Okay. But, is this or that statistic/metric the whole story or only a piece of it? Are we assuming we have 'better' statistics to look at than Kestryll or that Kestryll isn't paying attention to the statistics? Again, does the 'other' site currently have an intrinsic advantage given its 'freshness;' meaning, in part, that any rise in the rankings might be attributable to how 'new' that site is by comparison rather than simply meaningful vs. raw traffic. Right on down the list.

[OlderThanDirt]

I am able to log

[OlderThanDirt]

Logged on again!!! It’s a fooking miracle!

[skeeter149]

i love this site. I can't complain cause no matter how bad it gets its still hands down the best option with the best folks. I ain't saying its perfect but ill rock with y'all till it's gone forever.

[The Gleam]

I am able to log

ExLax?

---

[OlderThanDirt]

i love this site. I can't complain cause no matter how bad it gets its still hands down the best option with the best folks. I ain't saying its perfect but ill rock with y'all till it's gone forever.

C’mon, that other site has participation trophies!

[OlderThanDirt]

ExLax?

---

No, cutoff before I could finish typing.

[compulsivegunbuyer]

Stick a fork in it, it’s done.

[OlderThanDirt]

I don’t hear Lizzo singing, yet.

[Kyle1886]

Well I know what happened when LA POLICE GEAR redid their site in 2018, all purchases from purchasers prior were lost, meaning no record of warrantied items. Keep an invoice? Sure but useless when it fades to a blank sheet of nothing. Yes it happened.

To this day, my purchase record is "0", yet I had purchased many items for 10 years prior to 2018. NOT complaining, just stating a fact.

I would really hate to see the same fate befall Calguns. MAKE CALGUNS GREAT AGAIN !!!

Kyle

[calif 15-22]

I don’t hear Lizzo singing, yet.

I heard she is too busy "Checking the Logs" 😉 Just kidding . . . sort of.

[k1dude]

I don't mean to jinx things, but I've been able to get on this site for 2 days in a row with no downtime that I'm aware of. Did they finally figure out what was wrong?

Edit: Doh! I spoke too soon and jinxed us.

[DrjonesUSA]

I'm still willing to help! I'll donate all my time & services - whatever it takes.