The experiment in site management that failed.

[Niner]

I tried to see if I could coax guests to post by requiring membership in the message board to read the forum material. Much of what is here goes back 20 years and shows the progression of milsurp collecting in a timeline that isn't easily found elsewhere on the internet. Some of the information here may be hard to find now days considering the drying up of surplus rifle supply and lessening interest due to a number of factors centering around availability. The changes in the site did bring in new members at a rate of four or five a week. However, the new members weren't posting and so it was all an experiment that produced no positive results for keeping the site afloat.

I've changed the forums back to the way they were before in that anyone can read any post again in any of the long standing forums.

I've also made joining simpler. Instant access where before there was a moderator approval process. The capcha has been modified as well.

[DuncaninFrance]

Onwards and upwards then Robert!

[Josh Smith]

I tried to see if I could coax guests to post by requiring membership in the message board to read the forum material. Much of what is here goes back 20 years and shows the progression of milsurp collecting in a timeline that isn't easily found elsewhere on the internet. Some of the information here may be hard to find now days considering the drying up of surplus rifle supply and lessening interest due to a number of factors centering around availability. The changes in the site did bring in new members at a rate of four or five a week. However, the new members weren't posting and so it was all an experiment that produced no positive results for keeping the site afloat.

I've changed the forums back to the way they were before in that anyone can read any post again in any of the long standing forums.

I've also made joining simpler. Instant access where before there was a moderator approval process. The capcha has been modified as well.

I wondered what happened; why this became pay-only.

It's not just this forum. Most forums are losing members to X.com, Facebook, Reddit, etc. The gratification is more instantaneous.

[Niner]

You don't have to pay anything to look at this site. Never have. You don't have to pay anything to be a member and post things. This site asks for no money at all. You do have to answer a question in the capcha if registering for the first time that any milsurp fan should be able to answer. I've tightened up the questions a bit to cut down on the spam not generated with an intelligent AI scammer tool.

If you ever see anything on facebook or X or the rest that you found interesting and want to go back and find it again a month from now good luck. If you saw something you wanted to look at again on this site ten years ago you can probably find it in the search feature.

You are right on one thing......social media of the look at me sort packs them in regularly...and I've amused myself making facebook posts regularly myself. However, nothing of any import that I've ever posted on a facebook page is likely to be found again as it has fallen off the end of the conveyer belt.

[Josh Smith]

So Niner, are you wanting to drive traffic here? What is your goal?

[Niner]

Obviously there are very few new posts here now days. It's unclear who is looking at the site at all. Sometimes, strangely enough, there seem to be days where hundreds of people are looking at it at the same time when I login. However, since the hundreds aren't saying anything they all could be some kind of spambots looking for a place to post something without requiring passing a member quiz and finding it a hard nut to crack.

The site took a deep dive back when it was corrupted by a messageboard freeware self destruction event. By the time the site was righted the people had left and, at the same time, the milsurp world of "affordable" and plentiful milsurps had dried up completely.

The site stays today because it costs little to keep it here and I like to keep the old posts to look back on now and again. I don't mind saying I have enjoyed keeping my camera hobby writeups in one place as well.

I don't expect to drum up any following at this late date. I've mentioned the site to people I know but they could care less it seems. However, I just renewed my dot com ownership for another couple of years and don't worry about what the future holds.