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*steps up to the podium*
I'm sure most of you have read the rules by now; if not when you signed up then probably on the rules page found in the Community Information section up above. I'm pretty sure all of you know about my goals and vision for this site as well. If not, let me explain.
I started this site with one goal in mind, "To create a community where Northwest gun owners could come together in order to defend and expand our Second Amendment rights". Those of you familiar with goal setting know that after you set goals, you have to ask yourself how you plan on achieving them and the best path to take. I knew that to achieve this goal, to make a community that was so well respected and well organized that we could actually effect laws and legislation, we were going to have to run a tight ship.
Most of you are very familiar with internet forums, and know most of them are pretty relaxed when it comes to what you can and can't do or say. As much fun as it would be to run NorthwestFirearms like that, it cannot be done without jeopardizing my original goal; the whole reason I created this place to begin with.
I'm not sure how familiar most of you are with elected officials and others who control firearm policy, but they're a busy bunch. They don't have time to 'get to know us', but rather a few minutes to browse around the site. If we're as organized as we are in my vision, we'll be able to fill these guys mailboxes with letters at the first whisper of anti-gun talk. I promise you that when that happens the first thing they're going to do is visit this site and find out who we are. With first impressions being what they are, they could literally discount all of us and this website after reading only a couple of posts.
Potential advertisers fall into this same category. Same as us, they have to look after their image. If they see us over here as a bunch of kids, they're not going to want to advertise with us. Let me tell you, advertising is good for you and it's good for this community. Ad money and donations keep this site running, they pay for things like our table at the gun show, our business cards and other marketing materials, the events we hope to sponsor, the contests and giveaways we're planning, and so much more.
While some day I'd like to make a little bit of money to cover the 12 hours a day I spend working on this site, that's not why I started it. I have and will continue to invest every penny of ad revenue or donation money back into this site.
You, as a member of NWFA, will benefit from working to improve our image. Maybe by winning a raffle we hold, paid for from advertising money. Maybe by being able to use your CHL in WA or OR, if we successfully fought for reciprocacy. Maybe because of our good image a lurker decides to join the forum with the deal of a lifetime posted in the classified section, who would have otherwise been afraid of associating himself with this site. If you think about it, the possible benefits are endless.
Now that (I hope) you have a better sense of where I'm coming from, I hope you have a better understanding of why us administrators and moderators have to be the way we are. I'm telling you right now, for the record, I will not let a few people stand in the way of this site achieving it's full potential. Those of you who don't understand where I'm coming from, maybe you don't have a place here.
Those of you who do understand, and who feel like they can get behind me and my goal, we couldn't be happier to have you here, and we hope you don't hesitate to call this place home.
*steps down from the podium*
With that said, we're implimenting a new infraction system to better manage the rules and those who violate them. Each of the rules is assigned a point value, between 1 and 5. If you get 10 points within a certain time period, it will result in a permanent ban from NorthwestFirearms.com. Bans do not 'expire', you have one chance. In the interest of honest and open communication, here are the point values for the various rules:
If you have any questions or comments, we'd love to hear them. Feel free to post them in this thread.
I'm sure most of you have read the rules by now; if not when you signed up then probably on the rules page found in the Community Information section up above. I'm pretty sure all of you know about my goals and vision for this site as well. If not, let me explain.
I started this site with one goal in mind, "To create a community where Northwest gun owners could come together in order to defend and expand our Second Amendment rights". Those of you familiar with goal setting know that after you set goals, you have to ask yourself how you plan on achieving them and the best path to take. I knew that to achieve this goal, to make a community that was so well respected and well organized that we could actually effect laws and legislation, we were going to have to run a tight ship.
Most of you are very familiar with internet forums, and know most of them are pretty relaxed when it comes to what you can and can't do or say. As much fun as it would be to run NorthwestFirearms like that, it cannot be done without jeopardizing my original goal; the whole reason I created this place to begin with.
I'm not sure how familiar most of you are with elected officials and others who control firearm policy, but they're a busy bunch. They don't have time to 'get to know us', but rather a few minutes to browse around the site. If we're as organized as we are in my vision, we'll be able to fill these guys mailboxes with letters at the first whisper of anti-gun talk. I promise you that when that happens the first thing they're going to do is visit this site and find out who we are. With first impressions being what they are, they could literally discount all of us and this website after reading only a couple of posts.
Potential advertisers fall into this same category. Same as us, they have to look after their image. If they see us over here as a bunch of kids, they're not going to want to advertise with us. Let me tell you, advertising is good for you and it's good for this community. Ad money and donations keep this site running, they pay for things like our table at the gun show, our business cards and other marketing materials, the events we hope to sponsor, the contests and giveaways we're planning, and so much more.
While some day I'd like to make a little bit of money to cover the 12 hours a day I spend working on this site, that's not why I started it. I have and will continue to invest every penny of ad revenue or donation money back into this site.
You, as a member of NWFA, will benefit from working to improve our image. Maybe by winning a raffle we hold, paid for from advertising money. Maybe by being able to use your CHL in WA or OR, if we successfully fought for reciprocacy. Maybe because of our good image a lurker decides to join the forum with the deal of a lifetime posted in the classified section, who would have otherwise been afraid of associating himself with this site. If you think about it, the possible benefits are endless.
Now that (I hope) you have a better sense of where I'm coming from, I hope you have a better understanding of why us administrators and moderators have to be the way we are. I'm telling you right now, for the record, I will not let a few people stand in the way of this site achieving it's full potential. Those of you who don't understand where I'm coming from, maybe you don't have a place here.
Those of you who do understand, and who feel like they can get behind me and my goal, we couldn't be happier to have you here, and we hope you don't hesitate to call this place home.
*steps down from the podium*
With that said, we're implimenting a new infraction system to better manage the rules and those who violate them. Each of the rules is assigned a point value, between 1 and 5. If you get 10 points within a certain time period, it will result in a permanent ban from NorthwestFirearms.com. Bans do not 'expire', you have one chance. In the interest of honest and open communication, here are the point values for the various rules:
As you can see, it's not exactly 'easy' to get banned, you really have to work for it. There are, however, certain circumstances when an immediate ban is appropriate, and we of course have the right to bypass this point system if we deem it necessary. Also available to us is the ability to issue a warning, which carries no point value. Chances are good that if you've never received an infraction before, we'll simply send you a warning.1 Point
- Try to keep the classified section clean.
- Your threads should go in the appropriate forum.
- Do not bump a thread more than once a week.
- Keep signatures to a minimum.
- No religious discussion and/or material
2 Points
- The Legal & Political section is to pertain to firearms only.
- The information you enter in your post should be (to the best of your knowledge) correct.
3 Points
- No member of the community can use the website to promote his/her commercial activities/products/services without a Supporting Vendor membership.
- Inappropriate language, images, and conversation have no place on this website.
- Do not abuse the staff.
- Spamming, trolling, flaming, personal attacks, and distasteful material are prohibited.
5 Points
- You violated the Golden Rule of NorthwestFirearms.
If you have any questions or comments, we'd love to hear them. Feel free to post them in this thread.