What's going on with the site?

[Yamil]

By the way, this is the only AZ site I trust anymore because of scammers, and I know I have the moderation to thank for that. I've had plenty of good conversations and a few meetups because of this site, and each time I'm more comfortable because of my experiences here and the anti-scam tactics used.

Because of this, I want to see this site succeed, but in order to do that it has to be welcoming and available to all. I know it's a fine line, but there are ways to make that happen that I think the community can help with.

We try to communicate with those who break the rules, but some folks don't want to listen or follow rules!!

How should we deal with Scammers?? These people are EVIL and TRUE CRIMINALS!!! Also, if we allow illegal behavior here, we will get shut down, we don't need that either!!

Follow rules, prevent scams and keep it legal!!

[Yamil]

The original post was merely asking about what was happening with the site from an "uptime" perspective. There are plenty of webservers that are antigun, and I generally assumed it's people messing with us that ended up causing the downtime.

I'm not trying to be snarky, I'm honestly asking - how much do you personally pay monthly/yearly directly for this site? In addition, how would you suggest people contribute? I don't even know if there's a way to pay for membership.

In addition, how are site/moderation suggestions evaluated for incorporation?

We don't charge and we don't want to charge, but things cost money, software and hardware.

I don't have the numbers, but there are expenses.

Moderators don't get paid, we do this because we want this site to continue. We do this on our own time.

[Capt. Killingfield]

Rule tweaks for sure. Seen a few guys catch a ban for forgetting something in a sale ad.

that’s not helping being people over.

This exactly!!! Very few posts here without a mod stepping in!!! Worried about scammers?!!! There's another local website with a similar name, just switched around, that gets 20x more traffic and I haven't allowed myself to be scammed once!!!
People buy/sell there with no drama from mods!!! That's why there's no traffic here!!! The mods here don't want you to forget that they are mods!!! And kinda bored!!!!

Ban me, there's no business here anyways!!!

[Yamil]

This exactly!!! Very few posts here without a mod stepping in!!! Worried about scammers?!!! There's another local website with a similar name, just switched around, that gets 20x more traffic and I haven't allowed myself to be scammed once!!!
People buy/sell there with no drama from mods!!! That's why there's no traffic here!!! The mods here don't want you to forget that they are mods!!! And kinda bored!!!!

Ban me, there's no business here anyways!!!

I will help you with that, RIGHT NOW!!

[Yamil]

This exactly!!! Very few posts here without a mod stepping in!!! Worried about scammers?!!! There's another local website with a similar name, just switched around, that gets 20x more traffic and I haven't allowed myself to be scammed once!!!
People buy/sell there with no drama from mods!!! That's why there's no traffic here!!! The mods here don't want you to forget that they are mods!!! And kinda bored!!!!

Ban me, there's no business here anyways!!!

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This is a PERFECT example of what NOSHOOT wrote about!!

A Tire Kicker and a "Undocumented" FFL!! Those who buy and sell guns without an FFL, which is NOT Kosher with us here and with the Government!!

[JRR]

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This is a PERFECT example of what NOSHOOT wrote about!!

A Tire Kicker and a "Undocumented" FFL!! Those who buy and sell guns without an FFL, which is NOT Kosher with us here and with the Government!!

What is a perfect example? I didn't catch any of what you just said from that poster's post.

[JRR]

We try to communicate with those who break the rules, but some folks don't want to listen or follow rules!!

How should we deal with Scammers?? These people are EVIL and TRUE CRIMINALS!!! Also, if we allow illegal behavior here, we will get shut down, we don't need that either!!

Follow rules, prevent scams and keep it legal!!

I don't think anyone here is advocating for allowing illegal behavior. Again, the initial post was asking if the site got shut down by the webmaster.

There are good rules and bad rules. And I've seen mods break "the rules" and never be held accountable for it because they're the only ones holding everyone else below them accountable. It screams of nepotism and sets a poor tone.

[JRR]

We don't charge and we don't want to charge, but things cost money, software and hardware.

I don't have the numbers, but there are expenses.

Moderators don't get paid, we do this because we want this site to continue. We do this on our own time.

This is why I asked, but it sounds to me like everyone (including mods) on this site are participating for free (not that there's anything wrong with that, but it means no one has financial skin in the game). Moderation doesn't have to come with micromanagement though - it can still be fair without being overburdening to the site.

Do you feel like the site in its current state, as well as the attitude of the moderation, is welcoming to new members and consistent with encouraging growth? I don't. I wish I did, but I don't feel like the users here are given the time of day to voice their concerns in a way that it results in changes. If this site is a community site, then it can't have an iron fist ruling class over it without a mechanism to evolve to the needs of the community.

[theAngryMarmot]

Everyone can go buy and run their own servers/pay for their own webhosting services, software etc, instead of complaining how a free site is run.

While you have a point - it is a free site - let us be honest, the owner of this site doesn't have the server and gear sitting in his house to run this place. It is hosted by a third party (easily obtainable via a whois search) and they handle the equipment, upkeep, maintenance, core software, and hardware. It is fairly easy / inexpensive to run a forum these days - especially one with as little traffic as this one. I am not downplaying the effort here - just laugh when someone makes a comment that eludes to it being a expensive/difficult proposition when it isn't (and as I type this I am sitting in my home office with 4 rack mount enterprise grade servers, storage, and gear on a rack - I know how much the kinda of equipment costs.)

I think the more valid sentiment here other than "create your own" would be "don't like it? See ya....."

[Yamil]

I don't think anyone here is advocating for allowing illegal behavior. Again, the initial post was asking if the site got shut down by the webmaster.

There are good rules and bad rules. And I've seen mods break "the rules" and never be held accountable for it because they're the only ones holding everyone else below them accountable. It screams of nepotism and sets a poor tone.

The rules are the rules, you don't like them, I can make the decision simple for you!!

All the rules here are GOOD RULES because they are the rules set by the owner of the group and modified by us the Admins!!

What's an example of a BAD Rule??