850,000 visits isn’t too bad. November and December visits were up 20%. Our traffic and content became too big for Go-Daddy. Migration to another server put us down for a day or numbers would have been higher. This site has always had great authors and researchers. We have approximately 50 gigabytes just in shooting pictures. Not bad for a site that wasn’t supposed to last 30 days We have a software update coming soon. Post often- admin.
With that many visits I wish there were more members posting and it seems there must be a ton of what you call "lurkers" who don't post. I guess I am one of them as I seldom post but I am just cautiously getting my feet wet before putting my foot in my mouth. Do you think there is anything that can be done to encourage more members to post?
I believe that when somebody like “harryone” replies to a post with one of his “scoldings” or “words of wisdom”, it turns a lot of people off instantly. Some people feel threatened, and won’t post or participate. Not sure what his function is on this site. YMMV Jon Reitz
Short Barrel…..great question. We were never focused on having a large number of posters. More focused on getting great writers to get out the facts. We are even more focused on readership. We have some of the most knowledgeable writers in the shotgun world. We have great moderators and techies. On day one, we wanted an open forum that would later serve as a museum of the politics and history of the shotgun sports world. Nothing gets deleted. We have Historians, All-Americans, and just plain ol’Joes on site. The site has 50 Gigs of pictures and has an incorporated photoshop-like program that makes your pics look better. All that has made us too big for Go-Daddy. This is a site that has very little censorship. We have strict mods and nice mods. If you are looking for an argument, you best put on your big girl panties. Strong opinions make the site fun. If you have thin skin you might want to fight elsewhere. We expect to finish with 1.3 million visits this year. Post often.
A good round of name calling is always a good read. What I've always liked about the net is the ability to set at my desk and F**k with people thousands of miles away. Not as good as to their face but still good.
Brad shame on you, you have just brought to light a part of your being that I would have never guessed existed. LOL Dave Berlet