Open or Closed, that is the question... [2025-04-18]

[GTA-Airgunner]

Good AFTERNOON Airgunners!  Thank you for being a part of the GTA!

Okay, so I normally post in the morning, but I had a deadline to meet and meetings, so I'm just now getting to today's post. 

I want to start the conversation about how the GTA will be set up moving forward.  It looks like some gates were open to guests and some were not.  Also, some things, like images, had not been visible to guests in the past.  What I want to have happen is the following:

1. Guests, and search engines, can view the basic "text" content of the site.
2. To view images you will need to register and become a member
3. Members will need to login to view images, create topics, and comment.

This is how I always remember the GTA being.  If I'm incorrect, please let me know.  It will take some time for us to go through and reset all the permissions so please be patient with us while we work through it.

With all that said.. The site being open, with everyone able to access the basic data, is critical to our advetisers.  I realize, back in the day, the GTA was not "commercially" oriented.  That all changed before I came on the scene.  It is now a commercial venture which I hope and expect to profit from over time.  I'm doing my best to balance that dynamic.

So My first question really is this.  We want to grow membership. Do you all see an advantage of opening a "members only" section of the GTA?  Should it remain free with ads, or is there room for a small membership fee and the section to be totally ad-free?  These are just basic questions so that I can understand where you all are coming from.

I look forward to expanding this discussion. 

On a final note, next week looks great for filming.  I can't wait to get back out on the range!

Thank you all again for your time and thank you for being a part of the GTA

Cheers
Rick

[airgunaut]

I think what you outlined is fair. It also falls in line with what many other enthusiast sites do, which makes it, er, a competitive policy.

Regarding special status for "upgraded" features, that didn't catch on at another (non-gun) site that I frequented for more than 20 years. When the ads were related to the sport, people didn't mind them at all. Then the site changed owners and the ads were not only of unrelated items, they sometimes were downright offensive.

There were several years in which the original owners ran an online store which some of us, including myself, bought from.

That site changed owners again and nobody can figure out what the heck their involvement really is. Kind of scary--it does NOT appear to be related to the original "vertical market".

At least with this site's changes, it is still an airgun enthusiast's place!

[eeler1]

Seems like there used to be a donation button somewhere. I've donated in the past but haven't what with all the ads I figured we were beyond that.  Or just hadn't thought about it  for a while. 

But, I'm guessing the GTA makes so much from the ads that donations aren't needed.  And if you don't need it, I sure wouldn't to want to pay for access.

On the other hand, some forums are SO ad heavy that it's kind of a turn off for me.  GTA seems to have a reasonable amount of ads, not too intrusive.

One thing I've done occasionally with a small item that someone posted they wanted, is to give it to them like in the pay it forward, even paid for postage, but asked that they make a donation, maybe $10.  I mean, why fool around paypalling for a spring and a couple balls for a vintage benjamin pumper bolt?  I never followed up so I don't know if any actually did make the donation.  I've got probably a drawer full of odds and ends that could be passed on like that. 

The other thing that comes to mind is the classifieds.  I can sell here for free and also have the ability to screen buyers or at least get some idea of their background.  That's worth something, so, while I'd prefer the free version now, classifieds could be part of any pay-to-play.  Maybe require a $5 or $10 donation for a year of access to posting on the classifieds.  Just some thoughts.

[GTA-Airgunner]

Thank you so much for the feedback.

I don't want to get into the financial specifics, but the site has associated costs for services and personelle.  At one point we were going in the hole by a good bit which was being offset by my revenue from AirgunWeb and Dog River Design.  With the dramatic change in the market, that's no longer the case.  I've taken back a lot of that work, mostly content creation, and do it myself instead of paying someone to do it.  Right now I'm not getting anything for what I do on the GTA website or the content I create on behalf of the sponsors.  It all goes towards paying back the note on the site and covering costs. At least I'm not going in the whole like I was.  For me it's all sweat equity at this point.  I hope that as we weather this particular downturn and come out the other side, the GTA will be in a good place to really move forward.  We've lost several sponsors due to the current market and I'm certainly feeling the pinch.  Hopefully we'll get them back and be able to take several steps forward to improve the site.

As for other sites that go ad nuts... As long as I own the GTA, I intend to keep everything relevant to the hobby.  If we have ads, they need to focus on what could make sense to us as members and airgun enthusiasts.  I'm not looking to make any big changes right now.. we just revamped the home page and changed how we organize content.  That's probably enough change for the year. 

Domations were mentioned.  We still get support and welcome that option.  One thing I was considering, for folks who wanted to support the GTA directly, if so inclined, was to create a "GTA Guardian" class member, which would get a dedicated theme that would be ad-free.  Their support would go towards the future migration off the SMF onto a new platform and also help us bring back some in-house giveaways.  What do you all think of that idea?

Thanks again for the feedback.  It's very helpful.

Cheers
Rick

[Blowpipe Sam]

Not sure I understand all of this.  The adds do not bother me.  At least they haven’t reached an annoying level yet.  Most of them are for products I am not interested in so I just tune them out. The private vs public stuff confuses me.  I think the information here should be free for everyone.  I think you should be a member in order to post.  Beyond that I’m of the opinion that the owner of the forum should expect it to turn a profit.  If that means configuring things to suit the advertisers so be it.

As Kermit said “A frog’s gotta eat”.

[airgunaut]

I assume the desire to grow membership is driven by potential sponsors' expecting increased sales of their products.

Maybe it is too much to expect most people to buy more and more airguns. As with bicycles and similar goods, there's a pattern of buying several until the person has what they want, including accessories. At that point, the continuing revenue comes largely from expendible items such as tubes and tires, chains, specialized clothing, etc. With airguns this would be ammo, perhaps commercially made targets, and some parts as they wear out. What other products fill a perpetual need? Maybe those potential advertisers have not been sought as much as gun makers.

There is another thing that can generate revenue for some activities:  experiences, not things. I don't know if there is anything analogous in AG to guided bike tours in prime locations, or all-inclusive birding vacations. The only one I've heard of is guided iguana hunting with AG in Florida.

These thoughts might not apply at all. Just thinking out loud a bit.

[Back_Roads]

 I'm kinda thinking along Pat's lines, GTA used to sell a good amount of swag, so do many youtubers. Some of that swag could be consumables with GTA branding .

[splitbeing]

All txt info should be free for members and non members alike.

Membership bringing the following makes sense to me:
-the ability to post and see images
-access to the classifieds and pay it forward once the member reaches a threshold
-access to any GTA specific discounts once the member reaches a threshold

Current ads do not bother me.

[avator]

All txt info should be free for members and non members alike.

Membership bringing the following makes sense to me:
-the ability to post and see images
-access to the classifieds and pay it forward once the member reaches a threshold
-access to any GTA specific discounts once the member reaches a threshold

Current ads do not bother me.

This...
Sponsors, raffles and swag should pay the bills.
As a member I don't want to feel like a commodity to be sold. And paying admission to be such would be over the top.

[GTA-Airgunner]

Sponsors, raffles and swag should pay the bills.
As a member I don't want to feel like a commodity to be sold. And paying admission to be such would be over the top.

Hey there.  In general I completely agree.  I have no plans to put the GTA behind a paywall.  One point of note. As a for-profit site, we can't run raffles to raise money like we used to.  So that option is off the table.  Now SWAG is something that I'm very interested in looking into.  I'll start creating some artwork and set up a section on GatewayToAirguns.com where we can have a GTA store.

Originally, my "paid member" idea was a way to easily facilitate financialy supporting the GTA for those who wanted to do so. Same idea of Patreon members and Officer's Club members.  The benefit would be the "ads free" theme.   The other concept of creating an exclusive' members only" section was just a thought to see if it made sense.

It will be a bit till I can get to the SWAG idea.  It will probably be after Airgun Expo, but it has certainly been on my radar for a while.

Cheers
Rick

[avator]

As others have said... the ads, as they are, don't bother me a bit. If they did I would just run an ad blocker.

[RichH]

I can tell you that personally I can't stand the sites that when I click on a picture to expand it, I get the message "you need to be registered, blah, blah, blah". That does NOT make me want to join the site, that actually makes me avoid the site the next time I am searching for something.

[avator]

Would you bother registering if you could get everything the site had to offer as a guest?

Are you familiar with "data mining"?  Vetting registered members is a good tool for keeping our registered members safe from these bots.