June 29, 2020, 09:22 AM
parabellumThe future of SIGforum
Given recent events in my life, now is the perfect time to broach this subject. For those of you unaware of what I'm talking about, please take a look at my
Dear Diary thread.
Most regulars here know that this forum is co-owned by lbj and me. For the last five years or so, lbj's presence in the forum has been scant due to health reasons and in order for him to spend as much time as he can with his family. When praise is given to SIGforum, I am the primary recipient, but without lbj, SIGforum would have a much more difficult time staying afloat. This Social Strata platform is not inexpensive. One day, lbj will be gone and the forum will be mine exclusively and we shall continue on for as long as I live. But, as this past week has demonstrated, I am all too human and therefore can disappear at any time. What happens, then, to SIGforum after the two of us are gone from this world? Does its existence cease with ours? The faithful amongst you should take heart and read on.
One possibility is that hosting fees cease to be paid and the forum goes offline. Then, when the domain name registration expires and is not renewed, the domain name would go back to the domain registrar, to be snapped up by whoever pays the fee. This will not happen. More about that in a moment.
Another possibility is that the forum gets sold by me if I should become infirmed and unable to continue its operation. Let's talk about this for a minute.
Last September, I created a thread entitled
Mass shootings, media conglomerates, and SIGforum. That particular thread dealt with my rationale for the prohibition in this forum of posting about mass shootings. Germane to our present discussion is the following excerpt from that thread:
quote:
I want to give you some perspective about how news is being provided to the American public. In 1983, 90% of the media was owned by
50 companies. Today, 90% of the media is owned by
6 companies.
Take a look at this chart from fortune.com, posted one year ago :
Media ConglomeratesWith each passing year, 'choice' becomes more illusory.
Take a look at that chart, gentlemen. Eye-opening, is it not? There's even more to it than that, though. On a smaller scale, the same thing is happening to the so-called "new media", of which SIGforum is and has been a part for twenty years. Most of you are not aware that there are companies crawling the web, buying up forums such as ours, consuming them like huge, voracious monsters. They care not one single bit about firearms or the shooting sports, nor the grand American heritage of these things. America is unique, with the citizen-soldier and his musket being the core of the reason this country exists. But, these companies do not care about that. What they care about is turning a profit. They look at web traffic stats and see that some forum or other is busy enough to be worth their time to make a purchase offer, because the sufficiently-high web traffic means revenue via ad space. We might as well be a discussion forum for mountain bikes or vintage cameras, etc. If one of these companies were to acquire SIGforum, the owners would ruin this place. Most of those who care about SIGforum would leave eventually. New members would move in- strangers to the forum's history. Standards for acceptable member behavior would be lowered, because if you ban someone, they'll likely not hang around, and then the forum owners would miss out on those one-hundredth of one cent ad revenue clicks. They can't have that, can they? No, sir. It's all about the bottom line. At the weekly board meeting, they might say "What do they talk about in that STIGforum thing? Guns isn't it?" It saddens me to no end to think of that happening to this place.
A substantial portion of gun forums have already gone through this. The original owners have tired of maintaining their respective forums, have become bored with the entire affair, and are sick of paying bandwidth fees. Once they receive an offer from one of these companies to purchase their forum, they jump at the chance. I can't condemn them for doing so, even though I do have the urge to call them sellouts. As Marcel Dalio said in
The Rules of the Game,
"Everyone has their reasons."Over the past four or five years, SIGforum has been solicited for purchase repeatedly. None of these companies contacts you once only. Each of them has sent multiple emails asking if we are interested in selling. Most of these, I simply ignore. For the more persistent ones, I do respond. My answer is the same each time and shall always be the same.
NoIf they persist after that, I do not repeat myself by again saying 'no'. Some of these companies seem to be under the impression that my refusal is intended as an entry into negotiations, so, when they email me once again, I tell them "Do not contact me again". At least one of these companies is not based in the United States. To me, it seems fundamentally wrong for American gun forums to be owned by some foreign interest.
They're not getting this place, gentlemen. Let others be consumed and changed into caricatures of their original selves. Let others have their own voices silenced, to be replaced by the voice of corporate America. SIGforum will not suffer this fate. I say to you in all seriousness that I would rather have this place cease to exist.
So, what, then, is my plan?
Forum administrator LDD will become the forum's owner. LDD has been absent from the forum for many months, having been in school for a new career and having embarked upon that career. I've always said that real life takes precedence over the virtual world, and LDD has been working very hard- long hours, irregular schedule, the works. However, I did have a phone call with him earlier this week, before I entered the hospital. The decision to leave the forum to LDD was made by me several years ago but I needed to confirm that he still had the desire to carry on. I'm delighted to say that he does retain his passion for this little corner of the world wide web and he will be returning to the forum as time allows. As of this week, LDD now has full access to all controls for this forum and I will be demonstrating to him many things, perhaps the most important of which is the registrant screening process I use. Each and every application to SIGforum is screened by me. Not a day goes by that foreign scammers try to pick the lock to this place, but it just so happens that there's a gigantic shark that swims these waters who devours these crooks the moment they dive in.
LDD is a very intelligent, capable man and obviously is someone whom I trust completely with this forum. You guys, too, should trust him. He will not abandon you, will not lead you astray. When LDD speaks, I am speaking. When you speak to LDD, you are speaking to me. Once lbj and I are gone, give LDD your support. If you do this, SIGforum shall continue to exist-
independently, without any corporate influence- for many, many years to come.
June 29, 2020, 09:35 AM
ggilePara, thank you for this update. It's encouraging to know that this forum will be left in good hands in the event the unthinkable happens.
June 29, 2020, 09:36 AM
hudrSounds like a plan.
A good plan.
A plan that I’ll give a hearty
Huzzah!
June 29, 2020, 09:37 AM
280noslerGlad to hear there is a succession plan in place to keep this place going on the straight and narrow!
June 29, 2020, 09:39 AM
ridewvVery clear and I thank you Para and obj.
June 29, 2020, 09:39 AM
Sig2340quote:
Conglomerates
FUCK'EM.
Thanks for the vision to develop a plan for the inevitable and to then tell the members of the plan for the inevitable.
And your process for vetting? I think the fed.gov should adopt it. It might mean fewer Ames, Hansens, and Walkers.
June 29, 2020, 09:40 AM
h2oysSigforum is my absolute favorite place on the internet.
Very glad to hear "she" will live on forever!
June 29, 2020, 09:43 AM
feersum dreadnaughtYour efforts are appreciated.
Any potential to establish a "sustaining member" option? I'll speak for myself, but expect many here would gladly kick some $ on a monthly or annual basis...
Freedom is not free. And that is ok. I'd kick in to help keep the proverbial lights on.
TANSTAAFL, for those that read Heinlein...
June 29, 2020, 09:44 AM
chellim1Three cheers for Para and LDD!
Hip-Hip-Hooray!
Hip-Hip-Hooray!
Hip-Hip-Hooray!
June 29, 2020, 09:44 AM
2AdefenderLong live SIGforum!
Thanks for sharing the plan, para.
June 29, 2020, 09:45 AM
SIG4EVAWhat you guys have created has been truly unique and special. I could sing praises, but you've already heard them ad nauseam. I've been much less active due to life, but I can always come here to destress and have a slice of sanity. No one wants to come to terms with mortality, but I applaud you and lbj for doing so, for all of our benefit. Thank you Para and LBJ, for doing what you do. Thank you to LDD for being willing to carry the torch when the time comes.
June 29, 2020, 09:52 AM
WarhorseVery generous of you Para, and I too am glad you have found someone willing to pay all the bills to keep this site afloat, if something were to render you unable to carry on. Although for the life of me I cannot understand how you, or anyone else for that matter, can afford not only the bandwidth, but the time it takes to run this place we all enjoy.