Future of the Forum

[DDGator]

Hello all,

You may have noticed the forum was down for a bit this week.  Tech Guy got everything rolling again and there was no data loss.  However, we have identified a few things that need to get done on the tech side.

This forum started on May 19, 2004 -- over 15 years ago.  That is a pretty long time for any Internet forum.  Our current stats show there have been 92,632 posts in 8,828 topics by 3,104 different members.  All in all, there have been well over 30 million page views.

We also created a great on-line community of like-minded folks who treated each other well.

However, with Rohrbaugh out of the business for over 5 years now, the interest in the R9 has waned.  We are down to a handful of visitors each day.  New members are few and far between.  I've had to manually approve all new members in recent years because we get hundreds of spam-member applications every month. 

So the question is...  What now?  We need to invest a bit of money into the infrastructure to keep this going.  Is there any appetite for continuing?

I would even be open to transferring control (or maybe even ownership) of the domain to someone else if there was an interest--but it would realistically have to be someone capable of handling the technical aspects of hosting the forum on their own server.

So what does everyone think?  Where do we go from here?   At what point is the forum just not viable anymore?

Thanks,

-Duane

[ECR]

Good Afternoon All,

Yes, after the sale of Rohrbaugh Firearms Corp. to Remington Arms Corp. in January of 2014, we all knew this time would come. We at Rohrbaugh did something no one else was able to do:
 
In the history of the NRA, we became the first company to “come out of nowhere” and, within the first year of production, became the NRA (Shooting Illustrated Magazine) “Handgun of The Year” for 2005!  That was quite the accomplishment for a new company. Through the years we introduced different models to add some spice to the fold. We always did our best for the industry to the best of our ability. We would work one on one with many folks here to make “one-off” pistols for them. We had a blast frankly in doing just that. Times change and we move on. But our family has always enjoyed that we were the first “World’s Smallest and Lightest 9mm Pistol”. . . . . and they were “Made in The U.S.A.”!  You know what they say about that:  There’s only one number one, or first. You may have noticed all of the other “Big Companies” the very next year after we came out in 2004 that they all copied our design to varying degrees. Mostly the slide design, which allows for easier carry than those large “square” slides like the other pistols of the era. Rohrbaugh changed all of that and now most pistols incorporate that slide design feature to different degrees to achieve easement of pocket carry. We loved the “copying”! You know what they say about that:  It’s the best form of flattery.
 
So, we may be becoming the next Bauer Automatic Pistol in that sense, and so be it. Karl and I have retired at this point. Yes, we still have the R45 design available as Remington did not want that pistol; they had Para-Ordinance and their 1911 version. While our R45 will never come to fruition, we at least made our mark with The Rohrbaugh Firearms R9 Series Pistols in 9mm and .380 acp. . . . . . and we are darned proud of it too!

Whatever happens here with The Forum, I will always remember you all as having trust in our design. YOU were all the pioneers of a fresh design in deep carry pistols! The rest, simply followed us.

Like “They say”:  There’s only one number one!
. . . . . and those of you that own one!? . . . . . You have it!

Please . . . . .  All of you. . . . . Take care of yourselves and your families and friends, for they are what matters the most in this world.

Peace to you All.

I’m around if you need me.

Best Sincere and Respectfully Regards to You All!

Eric C. Rohrbaugh

Co-Founder / Vice President / Assembler
Rohrbaugh Firearms Corp.

[DDGator]

Thanks, Eric.  I didn't mean to make this sound like a eulogy... 

I would be remiss not to say that Eric and Karl were instrumental to the foundation of the forum.  I did not want to do this without their blessing, so I asked.  They took a chance and trusted me to be the very unofficial voice of their brand.  It has been, and remains an honor to call them both friends.

[tracker]

All of us R9 owners and enthusiasts owe a great debt of gratitude to you, Duane, Eric, and Karl for initiating and continuing this extraordinary forum of very collegial members. It has been a very informative source of information for not only the Rohrbaugh Pistols but much more. I would support a move to keep it alive and well.

[PhilZ]

It sounds like a lot of work vetting the new members.  Would you be open to help with that process?

[PhilZ]

Duane, if you do decide to close the forum, it would be great if you gave us enough time to sift through the old posts and save some of the historical data to a site like Wikipedia.  I’m thinking things like models and special models, slide markings, updates, quantity of model X produced, grip types, ammo recommendations, etc.  Even things like ECR’s recent post on why they went from R9s on the slide to R9

[DDGator]

No decisions have been made and there is no rush.  I'm just want to have the discussion about -- where does this ultimately go? I'm totally open to ideas.

[cargaritaville]

There are very few guns that I keep in my safe that I will never sell. One is my Rohrbaugh R9S Stealth, New in the Box, one of the last ones made. Every day I check in to this fine forum in the morning and in the evening. I look forward to it. I can't even begin to imagine all that I have learned about these works of art. The members on this forum are the smartest & the classiest guys that could ever exist on a forum. It has been managed by a class act of an Administrator, Duane. I think that the time maybe has come for Duane to share in the management and to share the costs of this forum. I'm sure that there will be no shortage of volunteers. I would love to help any way I can. I would hate to see this forum disappear.

[johnny]

   With what Tracker and Cargaritaville mentioned here I ditto that a million times You put a lot of work into this forum over the years Duane.I sold my R9 not too long ago,along with many pins,springs,etc.As Eric knows I was contemplating selling it awhile back,but didn't. Our lives change,we get old,our circumstances and priorities change.Duane when you kind of brought that all up a few months ago,it made a lot of sense to me.We have all seen it coming,It wasn't the emperor's new clothes,the time has probably come.
           A lot of great members and conversations.but not having my R9 anymore,my heart isn't into it like it was for a long time.
         If it stayed up and running,I would still follow it,at times.
                                                                                                  These are just my thoughts and feelings,
                                                                                                       johnny

[backupr9]

The emergence of this topic is certainly not unexpected. This is one of the three gun forums that I follow daily when possible, but for quite a while now when I visit I find that there are no new posts, or that the posts are mostly people selling their R9s. I see more posts by members here on the Seecamp Forum than on this one. I can’t help but feel that the Rohrbaugh forum deserves something better than dying a slow death.  I agree with PhilZ that we need to archive the Forum’s data and history.  Should we then “go out with a bang”...an announced and planned celebration, then shut it down?  I find myself conflicted.
John

[MikeInTexas]

Duanne, I appreciate your letting us into your house.  This forum is one of the few I have any interest in due to drama and content.  Feel it's populated by adults as opposed to some others that are popular.

If the future less than bright for us here, is it possible to migrate it to another forum?  IIRC you are a major player in another specific firearm forum, could this become a part of that and lessen the work and financial load?

Your work and dedication is appreciated.

Let us know what we can do to help.


.

[wildmanwill]

I have always enjoyed this forum and continue to visit it almost daily.  I would like to see it continue (and the past posts and knowledge therein contained preserved), so having said that count me amongst those who wold be willing to contribute both time and funds to see it continue. 

[DDGator]

Thanks, all for the kind words.  This has been a labor of love, and I am proud of all it has been over the years.

Like you all, I would hate to see the knowledge here lost.  I don't know if there is a way to make it available and host it in a read-only format as a potential option?

My time commitment is not a huge deal, although it is a factor.  The board doesn't take much moderation any more--certainly not like it used to.  .  However, there is also the required time and attention of my lifelong friend, Tech Guy, who continues to be indispensable to me, but who never even owned an R-9.  I have to lean on him for all the technical aspects and hosting.  The forum software is pretty robust, but does not run without some attention.

I don't have a relationship with any other board Admins at this point.  I don't know if "combining" our data would be possible -- probably only if they run the same forum software.

I will talk with Tech Guy to get his feelings.  He is more indispensable to the forum than I am.   

This is not really about money.  I paid the out of pocket hosting costs through 2021 from contributions here.  The forum can certainly keep running until that time, barring any unforeseen technical issues.  I'm just wondering what happens then?

[Griff]

I also would like to add my thanks for your work and dedication.

Thank you,  Sir Duane!

I wonder if there might be an opportunity to continue/expand the forum by adding another complimentary interest?

Something that rhymes with Rohrbaugh?  ;^)

Griff

[backupr9]

Rombauer???