Ideas for growing SouthwestFirearms.com

[Dunerunner]

Oh, here's one. Keep the spammers of the forum. If you want to have a viable platform for gun enthusiasts to discuss firearms, dudes selling women's purses should be introduced to the Ban Hammer!

 

[BigDaddyDMD]

Agreed. Auto-bot spammers will kill a forum very, very quickly.

 

[asparagustasty]

I'd be down to have a more of a verification system to show that the classifies are indeed legit and not scams. Maybe like some sort of Verified Buyer or Verified Seller after a transaction some other verification to show we're real people and not just scammers would help increase confidence of anybody browsing this site to participate. Like maybe if I can attach a CCW or an FFL0X or something, it would help out a lot.

Also maybe like some optional membership fee so it's like a proper gun club? My local club charges like $10 a year but we know we're all legit people. Finally, maybe some meetups for shooting or sort of like that? Could def use a few more 2A contacts to go shooting with.

Idk just spitballing here since I've been part of a couple gun clubs/orgs/groups that have a wide geographic following and it's worked.

Best,
Darren

 

[Belevolk]

This is a hard question. A lot of the people I know and who I have recommended that they join are scared as hell about their name being on a "gun site" I lurked for a long time before becoming active as I am. I am retired and have more time than members who are working. I try to find articles that interest me and post them here. Most get little to no response. I understand that it will not stop me from forwarding information I see as relevant. Same basic issue as other sites that I have belonged to for decades.

I do not go to gun shows any more as the loons in Pima County allowed a film crew into the show and they filmed everyone that walked by. The film crew was stopped from going into the barns. Besides the gun show prices are so high and never anything I want or that will fit me. Small guy 5xlt shirts fit.
When I was in Maricopa county I went to the fair grounds and bought $4 grand in in ammo. I was stopped by 4 police officers before I got my truck loaded. Only one officer was polite and asked if I shot that much. I explained I was able to be at the show on the first day and my friends were not. I did sell the officer 1000 rounds of 9mm for a small profit. The guys inside were out already. Now I own reloaders and make my own.

I trust management here. Especially when I found out that the site removes the geo cashing info from pics posted. As much as Arizona is a 2a state it is still a subject "not spoken by gentle people" no matter what their beliefs.
I for one will disappear into the ether if numbers of my CCW are required for this site or any other unique number that ID's me. My father was a Judge in Iowa and resisted all forms of firearm licensing. Being we owned a farm we had the right to hunting and fishing permits on our land that were free. He did not like the idea of filling out the forms. Yet he owned the property which was public record. His arguement was what happens to that list if it falls in to the wrong hands. This was in the '60's

 

[asparagustasty]

This is a hard question. A lot of the people I know and who I have recommended that they join are scared as hell about their name being on a "gun site" I lurked for a long time before becoming active as I am. I am retired and have more time than members who are working. I try to find articles that interest me and post them here. Most get little to no response. I understand that it will not stop me from forwarding information I see as relevant. Same basic issue as other sites that I have belonged to for decades.

I do not go to gun shows any more as the loons in Pima County allowed a film crew into the show and they filmed everyone that walked by. The film crew was stopped from going into the barns. Besides the gun show prices are so high and never anything I want or that will fit me. Small guy 5xlt shirts fit.
When I was in Maricopa county I went to the fair grounds and bought $4 grand in in ammo. I was stopped by 4 police officers before I got my truck loaded. Only one officer was polite and asked if I shot that much. I explained I was able to be at the show on the first day and my friends were not. I did sell the officer 1000 rounds of 9mm for a small profit. The guys inside were out already. Now I own reloaders and make my own.

I trust management here. Especially when I found out that the site removes the geo cashing info from pics posted. As much as Arizona is a 2a state it is still a subject "not spoken by gentle people" no matter what their beliefs.
I for one will disappear into the ether if numbers of my CCW are required for this site or any other unique number that ID's me. My father was a Judge in Iowa and resisted all forms of firearm licensing. Being we owned a farm we had the right to hunting and fishing permits on our land that were free. He did not like the idea of filling out the forms. Yet he owned the property which was public record. His arguement was what happens to that list if it falls in to the wrong hands. This was in the '60's

Hmmm, I've actually had a rather ironic opposite but also kinda weird interaction, albeit with the AZ border patrol. They saw my stash of like 4k rounds of 7.62x39mm, amongst other calibers in the back of my SUV (I'm a big fan of milsurp SKS's and shoot a lot with my buddies). They asked me to open the crates I had loaded them in. Once they saw it was ammo, they sent me along my way, citing that they were more concerned I was using the crates to smuggle prohibited/illegal pets around that may endanger the local wildlife if let free.

With that said, I do agree with you that in general, I tend to feel a little more uncomfortable talking to AZ LEOs compared to other states, sometimes just for random inspections. Definitely been randomly ID checked before for no apparent reason (I'm definitely waaaaay older than 21) and they never said why they did it, tho tbf they did let me go afterwards without too much harassment.

 

[Whisky Tahoe]

I'd be down to have a more of a verification system to show that the classifies are indeed legit and not scams. Maybe like some sort of Verified Buyer or Verified Seller after a transaction some other verification to show we're real people and not just scammers would help increase confidence of anybody browsing this site to participate. Like maybe if I can attach a CCW or an FFL0X or something, it would help out a lot.

Also maybe like some optional membership fee so it's like a proper gun club? My local club charges like $10 a year but we know we're all legit people. Finally, maybe some meetups for shooting or sort of like that? Could def use a few more 2A contacts to go shooting with.

Idk just spitballing here since I've been part of a couple gun clubs/orgs/groups that have a wide geographic following and it's worked.

Best,
Darren

Verification for classifieds starts with talking to the seller.
Most scammers won't talk on the phone or meet FTF so you can flush them out that way.
Another method is to request a custom photo. This will flush out someone who is selling something they don't even have.

Finally don't be bullied by an uncooperative seller or fall for a sad story. If they won't talk or send you photos, that is enough to warn you there will be trouble.

If you feel you are dealing with a scammer, let Joe Link know. He can look into it. We had someone join the Northwestfirearms.com forum to try and sell M1 Garands for a very reasonable price. Too many problems with reasonable requests led to these people going away. Even if a seller isn't a scammer, if they won't meet reasonable requests, you can keep looking.

Some forums use their membership tiers to enable classified privileges. Others require time on the forum before enabling classifieds privileges. Joe has done a very good job balancing the requirements here. However there is always room for improvement. In our current forum setup you don't automatically get feedback after a transaction. There is nothing more frustrating than to be accommodating and polite for a transaction then get "Ghosted" with no response for feedback requests. Some of it could be a lack of understanding. Regardless, an improvement that made feedback expected and more automatic from both buyer and seller would go a long way to helping people figure out how to do it.

Meetups might be challenging but it is still a viable goal. A lot of people prefer shooting outdoors at unofficial ranges. I haven't had much luck finding such places and people guard their "spot" for good reasons. I just invested in some steel targets that I look forward to taking out at some point. That is one of the reasons some people don't like official ranges as they tend to restrict what you can shoot at to just paper or their steel.

Online competitions/events do more to eliminate the geographical limitations. A goal would be to getting people to participate and posting their results to get more dialog. 22LR for example has a large following and clubs are already hosting matches where members post their targets. Even if it is only a few members starting, making it open can lead to larger participation.