Can we have a frank discussion here?

[Chuck]

As for the organization and the forums... it occurred to me years ago that the two are related but not "one." It seemed to me long ago that the forums had many "loud voices" and the organization (whoever those actual people were) paid very little attention to the forums at all and seemingly had very little interest in anything (ANYTHING!) discussed on the forums.

About that ^^^, a couple things:
A) I believe that is much different here in 2017 than it was in say 2009 or 2011. I believe this is due to the work of guys like Chuck, Morne, Mgal380, Jake, Jedi and others whose names escape me but are no less important. I believe the time & energy they spend on the forum AND discussing organizational business is extremely important to the (seemingly large number of) people who have a need to have a voice in something they support.

My very first coordinator meeting I invited your buddy gaspode to come speak to us, and the gist of his message was that to the members, the forum IS OFCC. What happens on it is a direct reflection on us as an organization, and words written by leadership is taken as gospel, by the members. This very thing makes me hesitant sometimes to express my OPINION, and I am much more guarded in my posts than I used to be.

B) as it happens, I'm not that kind of people. While I realize fully that this -is- a grassroots org, and OFCC and the political issues OFCC deals with are both important to me, neither crack the top handful of things that require my time, passion and energy. God bless retired guys, actual lawyers and folks that exhibit obvious above average intelligence AND the charisma and ability to present good ideas to others, especially to lawmakers.

Why am I a Patron member? Because I'm a laborer by trade and I clock 55+ hours a week. That I can give some cash and maybe some activity on the forum and a little handloading advice is a way that I can (hopefully) help. No, I cannot get to the State House, I have about 90 mins before and after work when I'm not actually at work or commuting. I have children also. I post almost always at slow moments in the middle of my chaotic work day.

I also support this organization for two big reasons-- because I feel that I owe them for PAST accomplishments in the State of Ohio and because I trust their drive and direction on future accomplishments here in Ohio.

That trust is important, and I thank you for it. We try to set our agenda based on what our members tell us, for example, repealing notification, HB 142, is a direct result of our members wanting it. If OFCC hadn't gone searching for a sponsor, that bill wouldn't exist today.

I am sure that I most certainly have NO CLUE how to best accomplish the things that OFCC accomplishes. And I also don't know the best way to "sell" the organization and generate interest in OFCC. And maybe I'm a jerk (been accused of it before, don't care about the critics enough to argue any critics) but when I hear posters that cry, whine or complain about this organization... usually I just chuckle. Awww, look... someone's having a tough day.

Y'know what else?! My posts are TOO DAMN LONG. Who in their right mind wants to read all of that?!

We are always looking for better ways to "sell" our organization, along with better ways to accomplish our legislative goals
As always, we are looking for input, from everyone

[Chuck]

I've been a paid member for several years and haven't posted according to the site information that is not correct.. Several times that I have had problems with the site I have gone to contact us and have NEVER received a reply.
IMO it's a site for a few and when things were going good didn't really care about anyone other than the "Good Old Boys"

One of our more recent changes is that I now receive "contact us" emails.
Anything addressed to info at ohioccw.org comes to me. Please don't sign me up for spam, there's enough already that goes to that address

[Chuck]

This too. Bigotry and belittling others for having a differing viewpoint shows a sincere lack of ativity in brain matter in my opinion. Stating why parties disagree, the basis for the arguments, facts, outcomes, and more importantly, what the other side might actually have right, can do wonders. It gives a perspective on what others are thinking, feeling, why, and accepts that the world is grey scale, not black and white.

Heck, my wife and I are at total opposite ends of the gun rights spectrum. But you know what? At the end of the day our goals are the same - less lives lost, less injuries, less crime, and less fear. Imagine that.

I've been a paid member for several years and haven't posted according to the site information that is not correct.. Several times that I have had problems with the site I have gone to contact us and have NEVER received a reply.
IMO it's a site for a few and when things were going good didn't really care about anyone other than the "Good Old Boys"

You're the person we're after; a supporter, but something goes wrong and you ask for help. The unpaid volunteers don't always coordinate who is going to help whom and it gets lost in the cracks. You don't get the help and can't post or receive messages or other services that we get to enjoy.

Let's hope Chuck's thread clears some of these misconceptions and actual problems up.

YOU are the kind of person we're after too.
I know that once upon a time you had a site supporter badge under your name

How can we get you back?

[Chuck]

Between work, kids and their activities, my responsibilities to my church, and trying to find time to spend with my wife, many things have been placed on the back burner.

Sadly the decision came way in regards to OFCC due to the slanted moderating that I've witnessed in these forums. Some of the moderators, coordinators, etc. sometimes have their ways about them that just make people not want to participate.

I would recommend to some that instead of coming of as no-it-alls that you take the time to listen(read) what others are trying to say.

Lastly the amount of anti law enforcement and immature comments I see anymore makes the threads less appealing to myself.

Please do not increase the moderation even more. This is a gun related/second amendment related forum and the more conservative side of the isle is always bowing down to the liberal side in both politics (house and senate) and on the forums and frankly I'm tired of it. I find the moderation on this forum heavy handed enough, it doesn't need more. I know one of the rules is to not criticize the moderators but you did ask, so please don't banish me.

One guy wants more moderation, the next guy wants less. Neither appears to pay dues at the present time.
My question is, what can we do to get you back?
Is moderation of the forums the reason you don't buy a membership?
I really want to know

[BEAR!]

I never said I wanted less moderation just not more.

I used to be a site supporter and I also worked the OFCC table at a couple of gunshows with Meanstreaker.

My reason for not paying for a membership is money. Fixed income and every month that income buys less no matter how well the government tells me the economy is doing it isn't for me.

[Chuck]

I never said I wanted less moderation just not more.

I used to be a site supporter and I also worked the OFCC table at a couple of gunshows with Meanstreaker.

My reason for not paying for a membership is money. Fixed income and every month that income buys less no matter how well the government tells me the economy is doing it isn't for me.

I understand

[schmieg]

Ole Grizzly, What solution do you have that the moderators could do through the TOS or deletion?

I ask because I am one of the "all or nothing supporters of the 2nd amendment", but I don't consider myself fierce or loud.

One type of response I have seen since I've been a member of someone new to the forum says something that has already been hashed out before, whether months or years earlier, often results in a harshly worded response.

An example that comes to mind was if someone asks whether they should call a business to see if they're posted. If you are new to concealed carry, and grew up in a liberal household where Time and Newsweek were considered normal balanced publications, you would have no idea about the ideological war being fought on both sides of cpz's. If mods see people piling on, I do not recommend censoring or shutting down conversation, but instead post something acknowledging the legitimacy of the question and answering politely and factually why that would be a terrible idea. Then maybe pm the person inviting them to a meet n greet or fun n gun.

Basically once you make up your mind so firmly on something that you are unwilling to listen to another point of view, or take questions as attacks, or answer an innocent question with years of venom from prior experiences, you have become part of the problem rather than the solution. The mods could balance things out, by addressing questions politely and pm'ing both the OP and the aggressive posters to work the problem from both sides.

Over the past few years, we'd get a new poster, who asks a few questions, gets flamed once and you don't see that person again. I think as mods there needs to be better understanding of the "need to be heard" mentality of millennials, rather than letting a seemingly dumb question go unanswered. Also potentially a one time reminder email is sent to new users who haven't posted for a few months.

There are no easy answers, but if someone is new to an argument, ethos, or lifestyle, and they actually ask about it, I think responses could be a lot more polite.

Do you see this STILL going on?
I'll admit some years back it happened quite a bit, but I thought that sort of thing had mostly gone away by now.
You are correct in that it WAS a problem, one that was in my "fixed" column
If you see it happening again, please either report it or send me a PM about it

Report it and jump in to support the new guy.

[carmen fovozzo]

I'd like to know what frank thinks about this...

[schmieg]

I'd like to know what frank thinks about this...

Frank Discussion is not a member of the forum.

[carmen fovozzo]

I'd like to know what frank thinks about this...

Frank Discussion is not a member of the forum.

OH.

[Javelin Man]

I'd like to know what frank thinks about this...

Frank Discussion is not a member of the forum.

OH.

-IO!

[Javelin Man]

YOU are the kind of person we're after too.
I know that once upon a time you had a site supporter badge under your name

How can we get you back?

I kept having trouble with purchasing said supporter membership. I just got done doing it and it only took me 45 minutes. Is Paypuke still upset at gun sites?

In any case, I'm a member again! Two more years in a row and I can vote.

[Chuck]

YOU are the kind of person we're after too.
I know that once upon a time you had a site supporter badge under your name

How can we get you back?

I kept having trouble with purchasing said supporter membership. I just got done doing it and it only took me 45 minutes. Is Paypuke still upset at gun sites?

In any case, I'm a member again! Two more years in a row and I can vote.

Thank you!
It took me WAY too long to get my son-in-law and grandson registered for PITP
I know what you mean

And yes, paypal is still VERY anti-gun

[JediSkipdogg]

That's true. Several forums that I was very active on 3-5 years ago I seldom visit anymore. I think part of it is the migration from computers to smart phones. It's very hard for me to read online forums on my phone...

Site admin (Jeff?) may want to consider installing the Tapatalk plugin for phpBB. Makes posting and reading forums from smartphones much easier.


https://www.tapatalk.com/download_phpbb.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can pass this along, but as I'm sure many of you are aware, things tend to backlog up around Jeff, and I can't do a darn thing about it

I can address some technical items with regards to the forum/website. Unfortunately, Jeff (any myself sorta) are very against Tapatalk. If one reads their agreement to what you allow when you link your forum to them you give up a lot of security measures. Also, our website for memberships and forum are sorta linked. We would possibly lose that ability if we linked the two. Granted, all this was heavily researched about 2-3 years ago so something could have changed, but security of our users and their info is our top priority and linking our forum to a third party software pretty much guarantees we lose all that security.

YOU are the kind of person we're after too.
I know that once upon a time you had a site supporter badge under your name

How can we get you back?

I kept having trouble with purchasing said supporter membership. I just got done doing it and it only took me 45 minutes. Is Paypuke still upset at gun sites?

In any case, I'm a member again! Two more years in a row and I can vote.

Unfortunately it's the way it is because of making sure renewals and such are processed correctly. Do you remember your membership number? I doubt many do and that is one reason why the email address is the key and pretty much the only thing in the online world that people will easily remember. We can't do it by names or else anyone could search and see who our members are. Nobody knows member ID numbers, so that is out. That leaves email and once you get the password and email worked out to log in for a renewal, it should be pretty easy.

As for PitP and other events, not sure why those are hard at all since I don't believe any account is needed to register for those. So it should be no differently than purchasing something from say the NRA store.

[schmieg]

As for PitP and other events, not sure why those are hard at all since I don't believe any account is needed to register for those. So it should be no differently than purchasing something from say the NRA store.

If we would implement the one suggestion above that members would be charged a lower price for FNG and PITP and other events than non-members, this statement may change.