TGO David

I'm kind of tempted to do this, actually. Yes, but I've also seen it implemented properly where the SME's had a ton of humility about them as well. If we couldn't pull that off here, I'd kill the idea in a hurry. No fear of that. I wanted honest feedback and I'm getting some really good contributions here. Again, if we implement it properly there's not much danger of it becoming a popularity contest. Still, I've got a lot of thinking to do still. I'm seeing some flaws in my plan that need to be addressed ... and even then I'm not sure any of these changes will translate into great improvements. I didn't mean to imply that but I can see how it may have been read that way. However there are undoubtedly clear cases in point where someone has asked a fairly serious question only to receive good advice that was lost in the noise of a lot of really bad advise. I've tried implementing iTrader here again as recently as two weeks ago. It's still very, very buggy on vBulletin 4.x and I don't have much hope of it improving. ... At any rate, I'm not going to do anything just yet. As I said I've got a lot more thinking to do.

I'm almost done stuffing envelopes and hope to be mailing them out tomorrow. It looks like I may have between 30-50 left over but I need to double check and make sure that everyone who pre-paid receives theirs before I sell any more. Thanks for being patient.

I've been toying with some ideas lately that I think could improve the quality of information provided on TGO and further elevate this community above the status of just being a cool place to hang out and talk about firearms, to a community where you can hang out and talk about firearms and get good, solid, no BS information. Frankly, as we continue to grow in size I am becoming increasingly concerned about us going the way of Arfcom or Glocktalk in terms of signal to noise ratio. If you've spent much time on those sites, you know that they started out as brilliant sources of solid information and then became so popular that the pool of knowledge became diluted. There is so much random nonsense and utter farcical bull-feces on those forums now, that a person who is new to the community has precious little chance of identifying the true experts from the "mall ninjas" who have zero practical experience and just parrot what they read last month on some other forum. Sadly I've seen an increased instance of this happening on TGO where patently bad information was given out or someone regurgitated what they read somewhere else as an answer to a question, and further contributed to the propagation of yet another gun myth. Things like "stopping power" in a handgun, or why a Glock is better than an M&P or why you should trade in your gas impingement driven AR's immediately because they are doomed to fail. So here's what I am thinking about doing. Tell me what you think. It doesn't mean I'm going to base my ultimate decision on popular vote, but I promise I'll take the constructive comments under advisement. My Brilliant Plan: First, I am thinking about doing away with post counts entirely -- or at least as far as the regular members will ever see. Post counts for some reason equate to experience in the eyes of some folks, and they are an absurd matter of pride to others. I really hate post counts because they mean nothing more than the fact that a person has spent a lot of time on a forum. I've spent a lot of time working on crap in my garage at home, but that doesn't make me a car. The same holds true for post counts being an indicator of someone's knowledge or expertise. I'd like to get rid of post counts so that people don't weigh the value of a person's comments based on how many other comments they've made. Second, I am thinking about setting up a designation for members who have demonstrated themselves to be Subject Matter Experts in certain disciplines. This isn't a popularity contest where the cool kids are nominated by me or the staff, it's just a simple fact of the matter that when certain folks speak about certain subjects, the rest of us would be wise to shut up and listen. For example, if Tony at Secret City Weaponeers has a whopping 200 posts to his name and takes it upon himself to tell us how to make our own Kydex belt loops for his holsters, we should probably freaking listen to him as opposed to some random guy who has 20,000 posts to his name but his only credentials are he stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Right? Wouldn't it be nice to have folks on TGO who are recognized as experts in certain things? SURPRISE! We already do! The problem is they either tend to be quiet about it or their posts are lost in a sea of noise from people who haven't really got any practical experience backing up their often-incorrect opinions. It's my hope that by designating folks as SME's (based on real world resumes) we will help identify the people who really ought to be listened to when they talk about certain things. Just a thought. I'm also thinking about using a feature of the vBulletin forum software that I have resisted the urge to implement here thus far. Namely, Reputation Points. I haven't quite figured out the procedures for this, but I would implement it in such a way that it wouldn't be possible (or at least not easy) to abuse it for the sake of stupid popularity contests among cliques. I would want it set up so that maybe the Staff and the Subject Matter Experts could add positive reputation to members who contribute valuable posts. Everyone would be able to see each other's reputation points also. That way we all kind of know what a person's career here at TGO has been and whether they are a good apple... or not. Perhaps as members gain positive reputation, that advances them towards becoming Subject Matter Experts themselves. It seems like a good way to keep track of the folk who constantly contribute solid information to the community. Another angle of Reputation Points is that they can swing negatively as well. So if a person comes onto TGO and starts posting all sorts of completely inaccurate information, tarnishes the reputation of firearms owners everywhere, makes a complete ass of themselves, etc. that person could be awarded negative reputation all the way up the point of the forum automatically banning them for being worthless drains on society. Anyway... just some thoughts I've been having lately and surprisingly enough they are similar to what some other folks that I've talked to recently have been thinking as well. And again, none of this is to create popularity contests on TGO... it's all about providing the best information we can to our members and ensuring that we don't become yet another useless waste of your time on the Internet. Thoughts?

Finished and did Christmas with my family this past weekend. Christmas Day my wife and I will have her family over and just relax and enjoy each others company.

Schweeeet.

Ok, that makes a little more sense. Still seems really unwieldy. Is it light enough that it makes more sense to go this route than to just put taller sights on your gun and run a smaller, fatter can?

It's no small coincidence that the parallel between the two was drawn though, do you think? At some point it becomes obvious that while the two individuals may indeed be two individuals that we're just deciding upon degrees of extremes.

I'm going to assume that nothing bad was meant by this, nor did they mean to intrude. It's not as though they are trying to advertise their shop and frankly we've probably got some unemployed folks on TGO who could really use a job. Let's just run with things as they are.

I don't see the irony. I also don't see Voldemort as a law abiding citizen who has been repeatedly maligned by the police. What I see when I look at his case is someone who is using their firearm and carry permit as a prop in his quest to get rich quick. Carrying a firearm for your self defense is serious business. It's a responsibility that is not to be taken lightly. Voldemort doesn't exhibit the normal traits of a person exercising his rights in a responsible fashion. My opinion of him is that he's a narcissistic opportunist looking for the fast track to easy cash at the government's expense, holding out hope that a judge and jury will find him innocent and award him lots and lots of taxpayer money to soothe his poor little injured soul. If he was the patron saint of responsible handgun carry being wronged by the government, don't you think that the NRA or some other champion of the Second Amendment would have rushed to his aid by now? Frankly I'm sick and tired of people mistaking what is happening to him as somehow indicative of how The Man wants to treat the rest of us. It's not. He got the confrontation he was looking for and is now just waiting for the payout.

I did a little research. Mr. Glock30Owner is pretty much who I thought it was. He's banned. Again.

I built mine as a Mod 0. I've tinkered with the idea of converting it to a Mod 1 but really don't have a reason to at this time, other than just to sink more money into it. I like the Mod 1 look though.

???

I would assume that the range is open any day, as I've never seen anything to the contrary. If someone has a way of contacting Charlie, perhaps they could check with him and find out.

Anyone interested in getting together for a "polar bear" shoot the day after Christmas over at the CHMR (Owl Hollow) outdoor gun range?

Maybe you missed the point of the thread. The OP was asking if anyone knew what these were. Since you're an expert, that was your cue to explain.

Colostomy Bag. "Keep your hands off of my ****"

A very important question.

I'd go for the Savage.

Okey dokey... time for the lock.

Generally yes.

No need to wonder, I'm a self-confident prick in person too. Now that just leaves one of us with questions.

Interesting. Looks about as useful as a piece of 2x4 hanging off the barrel of your gun, but interesting.

WTF suppressor

Yep.

This thread, while amusing, is starting to lose any redeeming value it had once. Guy, I really hope to meet you at one of the middle-TN shoots soon. I'm a horrible judge of character on the Internet so maybe I'm wrong so far.