Question about this site

[hotbiggun42]

Wasn’t it more active? What changed?

[titsonritz]

More active than what? Changed how?

[hotbiggun42]

Well, I went into the manufactures forum and there are 8 manufactures listed. I’ve been away from this site for a while but I thought it was much more active.

[SomeOtherGuy]

Wasn’t it more active? What changed?

Something like this?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=emb_logo&v=ShTVpGuzk1M&app=desktop

Much of the base here came from wanting to identify quality equipment and training, and avoid the cheezy fanboy aspects of TOS. The site has been successful at this, to the extent that there's not that much to add.

The US civilian firearms industry saw an enormous leap forward from c. 2004-2012 in terms of quality and options for all kinds of semiauto and military-derived guns. All the easy improvements were made in 6-8 years and the pace of improvement has slowed down dramatically. Some things that were thought to be huge leaps have ended up being kind of mediocre (FN SCAR), overhyped and commercially unavailable (Magpul Masada / Bushmaster-Remington ACR, R.I.P.), etc. There are still ongoing improvements in pistols, but they are very incremental - none of the new pistols are dramatically better than a Glock 17 from 1990. Optics are another area of continuing improvement, but many of the major advances, like reliable 1-6x scopes and tiny pistol-sized RDS, have been around now for 5-10 years or more.

For the last two years ammo has been scarce and many people have had other distractions.

There's also a generational issue. A lot of the site's base are military and recently out of the military, many from GWOT type assignments. Obviously this peaked from 2002-2008 or so, and apart from Biden's shameful rout it's been relatively quiet. A lot of the never-in-military users of the site got into shooting around the end of the AWB in 2004, and 17 years later they are that much older and have other activities and priorities in life.

This remains a great site for intelligent comments on the relevant areas, but there just isn't much new stuff happening in the core AR-15 and carry pistol aspects. 99% of questions a person might have can be answered by doing a search.

My 2 cents.

[AKDoug]

Manufacturers and firearms influencers have spread out into other forms of social media.. FB and Instagram are where most of them headed. There's a deep hatred that I understand about FB and Insta, but there is no denying that the reduction of traffic of this site (and other firearms forums) is very closely reflected in the increase of firearms discussions on FB and Insta; despite those social media providers actively trying to control firearms related discussions.

[prepare]

A lot of Mil, LEO, and even civilians quit social media because it can be used against them.

[ABNAK]

Much of the base here came from wanting to identify quality equipment and training, and avoid the cheezy fanboy aspects of TOS. The site has been successful at this, to the extent that there's not that much to add.

The US civilian firearms industry saw an enormous leap forward from c. 2004-2012 in terms of quality and options for all kinds of semiauto and military-derived guns. All the easy improvements were made in 6-8 years and the pace of improvement has slowed down dramatically. Some things that were thought to be huge leaps have ended up being kind of mediocre (FN SCAR), overhyped and commercially unavailable (Magpul Masada / Bushmaster-Remington ACR, R.I.P.), etc. There are still ongoing improvements in pistols, but they are very incremental - none of the new pistols are dramatically better than a Glock 17 from 1990. Optics are another area of continuing improvement, but many of the major advances, like reliable 1-6x scopes and tiny pistol-sized RDS, have been around now for 5-10 years or more.

For the last two years ammo has been scarce and many people have had other distractions.

There's also a generational issue. A lot of the site's base are military and recently out of the military, many from GWOT type assignments. Obviously this peaked from 2002-2008 or so, and apart from Biden's shameful rout it's been relatively quiet. A lot of the never-in-military users of the site got into shooting around the end of the AWB in 2004, and 17 years later they are that much older and have other activities and priorities in life.

This remains a great site for intelligent comments on the relevant areas, but there just isn't much new stuff happening in the core AR-15 and carry pistol aspects. 99% of questions a person might have can be answered by doing a search.

My 2 cents.

Good description. Just like me personally, the AR has peaked some time ago and other shiite comes up in life. In fact, firearms in general have peaked for me in that I feel I have what I need/want and unless it's something really special I'm good.

The GD forum has it's moments but folks here conduct themselves in a decent manor, and exceptions to that rule aren't usually around very long. This sure as hell ain't BARFCOM, and I like it that way. The mods here also actually READ posts to discern who might be right or wrong in a dispute.

Tech info here is reliable, of course with differing opinions which can be sorted out if you use critical reading skills. Screaming "This XXX carbine is a piece of shit" doesn't fly here unless you have a modicum of proof. Again, it ain't BARFCOM.

[Averageman]

Good description. Just like me personally, the AR has peaked some time ago

This; after figuring out the best of the AR and the Glock your pretty much good to go.
I still go back and reread, or read new stuff, but it's not changing that much.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

I think the time frame that SOG laid out is the truth. The interesting thing to me is that after the AR gear revolution, the long range guys picked up from there- $500 FFP scopes, rifle chassis, lots of REm700 footprint actions, ballistics calculators, cheap range finders, options for factory match ammo.

Frankly, the AR won, and in some ways we’ve entered the ‘FAQ page’ level of answering questions. Add in the changes in platform preference for younger people.

[SteyrAUG]

Frankly, the AR won, and in some ways we’ve entered the ‘FAQ page’ level of answering questions. Add in the changes in platform preference for younger people.

Yeah, that's a big part of it. The info is all there for the most part. The only stuff being addressed is current production this or that.

GD is of course the clubhouse at the range. Mostly just shooting shit and socializing.

Every now and then somebody in a tech forum will ask a question that I actually know the answer to and hasn't been answered 100 times already. Also a lot of us never made the leap to bookface and twit so we are keeping the porch light on.

I still do all my internet biz on a desktop and not a phone so it's probably a good thing. I can't type fer crap with my thumbs. We are kinda like what newsgroups were when message boards started. But I'm fine with that.

Funny enough my AR revolution began back in 1983 and then it was AR-15s and 1911s that were the twin supremes. Jeff Cooper was still the final word on most things combatives. Some people were trying to talk about the Mini 14 as the ultimate fighting carbine, but if you owned a SP1 you knew better.

We all thought AKs were mythical firearms that could do magical things but that is because nobody actually owned one, that didn't happen until 1989 for most of us. Cheap surplus ammo kept us strung out on the format as a viable "alternative" until the first ammo shortage in 2008. Never saw anything like it before, now it's just another regular cyclic event.

Mid 80s I grabbed a Glock 17 and a SIG 226, I've replaced the SIG twice, Glocks are fine but SIGs get the trigger time. I will never shoot my Glocks as well as my SIGs, but I'll probably always own some Glocks. They are kinda my 1911s, I have them but don't shoot them often even though they were both supposed to be king of everything.

[Bulletdog]

My thoughts echo the others. I started reading this site in '08. I had a friend show me "the chart" and help me get the AR stuff all squared away. My first was a LMT lower with a BCM upper. That gun has functioned with 100% reliability through many classes, years of practice, and thousands of rounds. Added several others since then with the same reliability and hassle-free shooting enjoyment. Got started with Glocks in the mid 90's. My old 226 sits in the safe.

I'm all set in the firearms department. Got an assortment of tried and tested ARs, Glocks, bolt guns, and shotguns. Don't really need anything info or help there, but its nice to know that I can get experienced based intelligent answers here for any questions that do come up. I enjoy the GD to stay up on current events, and hear it from people who tend to share my POV of the world.

[markm]

There were a bunch of guys that left all at once years back. They went to some weird bacon survival forum where they all goofed on Costa a lot and just had some weird inside jokes going on.

Another factor was that new members used to get their hands rudely smacked for not searching on a topic that had been covered previously. This was dumb in my opinion, because there's not so much going on where we can't revisit a topic again. So those guys would leave because they were treated poorly.

[tgizzard]

Another factor was that new members used to get their hands rudely smacked for not searching on a topic that had been covered previously. This was dumb in my opinion, because there's not so much going on where we can't revisit a topic again. So those guys would leave because they were treated poorly.

I actually took said hand smacking as a learning experience. This forum has been a treasure trove of useful information. Was always into firearms before coming here, but I’ve gotten truly squared away by using the knowledge base on here. I’ve also saw others say it, don’t have any social media outside of here so GD has sorta become my source of interwebz discussion base on current events as well.


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[markm]

I actually took said hand smacking as a learning experience.

I get it when guys make zero effort to search. But I'd see threads where I had something new to add to the subject but couldn't because it was locked.

[SteyrAUG]

I actually took said hand smacking as a learning experience. This forum has been a treasure trove of useful information. Was always into firearms before coming here, but I’ve gotten truly squared away by using the knowledge base on here. I’ve also saw others say it, don’t have any social media outside of here so GD has sorta become my source of interwebz discussion base on current events as well.


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I had a transition stage where I actually had to "figure out" the environment without much positive assistance. I still don't 100% understand what a "professional" GD topic might look like but I eventually understood what they were going for.

When somebody said we are trying to NOT be TOS that got me most of the way there. There was the famous "made fun of my rifle and now I'm doing DOS attacks" incident. I admire the "only quality info - zero derp shit" forum goal and it had to be frustrating as hell to get conformity in the early days which probably resulted in lots of hurt feelings and guys who might have been ok getting run off. But it's better than devolving into glocktalk or something like that.

Also it's easy to say "use the search" feature but I can tell you from experience that it takes awhile to eventually find all that damn info and a lot of the times it's 90% of everything you need. I get they are trying not to have 87 threads all titles "which are the best BUIS for me" but you have to allow a balance and that is probably more difficult than it sounds.

It was sad when a fey key SME people left, I really enjoyed getting excellent info firsthand with real world explanations of "why" but whatever happened happened. The overall membership is now in possession of a wide knowledge base and that is probably the most important feature of this forum now.

[donlapalma]

I feel guilty for not striving towards a sticky level post since I've been here. For me, this forum excelled in that area: folks who put in the work and posted their work for the benefit of other members. I feel like it's been a long time since we've seen that kind of work. Many possible explanations have already been posted as to why.

I do miss that content and maybe it's not too late for me to try and achieve that level of contribution.

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[SteyrAUG]

I feel guilty for not striving towards a sticky level post since I've been here. For me, this forum excelled in that area: folks who put in the work and posted their work for the benefit of other members. I feel like it's been a long time since we've seen that kind of work. Many possible explanations have already been posted as to why.

I do miss that content and maybe it's not too late for me to try and achieve that level of contribution.

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Let's not forget that ImageShake and PukeBucket devastated most of those threads.

[donlapalma]

Let's not forget that ImageShake and PukeBucket devastated most of those threads.Yes. Very true.

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