A new legal fund?

[PweShay]

If and when you have a fund for that I would LOVE to donate!!! I was a in a situation that has cost me Tens of thousands of dollars... I would like to be the first check writting!!!!!!

[Mtbkski]

Guys, the reality is that PAFOA receives little money from its members. Look around the threads for the green names of folks who have donated something.

Dan has said that, if it were not for the donated hosting and bandwidth, that the forum not be able to continue. Those charges would be between $1K and $2K per month, every month.

I support the type of fund you are talking about, but I think you are overestimating the financial solvency of PAFOA.

How many members do we have? If we could get everyone to just donate $5.00 We would have a nice chunk of change to get started.

But alas. Your right. It is hard to get people to actually donate. Even if it is just $5.00.

[gbrown221]

I have donated to this associatin in the past and will gladly donate for this cause.

paypal or check I am in for 25.00 dollars.

to rwilson:

spoke with Jon and he is interested in helping with any of the above cited issues but as you stated in your earlier post -- none of us know what types of actions we can take until we hire and attorney.

I agree with all the other posts: Government must be held accountable for their actions and their blatent thumbing their nose at the law.

Greg B.

[doug]

The reality is if this was anything other than a gun forum, we would already have Google adsense incorporated into the site to generate revenue. We are planning on opening a very small area of the forums up to Firearm related site banner ads.

We are running a banner for Sebatistian's Snowflakes in Hell blog at the moment to get some idea of what potential advertisers can expect with regards to clickthrough rates. Once we know that we can begin to draft a rate card which is basically an advertising menu.

Fortunately we're not in a pinch or a rush. My webservers have plenty of overhead, and there is really no need to throw money away on webhosting.

So back on point, a legal fund is a great idea, but I think we need to roll out paid memberships first. (and I don't mean forum memberships, the forums will remain free.. I'm talking about PAFOA memberships with annual dues)

[wboggs]

I agree with all the other posts: Government must be held accountable for their actions and their blatent thumbing their nose at the law.

Greg B.

I totally agree with you but dont hold your breath too tight. Six years ago (and it's a very long story where I am totally innocent) a City of Pittsburgh Cop threatened "Next time you dial 911 you dont know what will happen to you if you tell anyone what I did to you". Well I turned him in (since I hear a good potential for a death threat in that) and the Office of Municipal Investigations, Citizens Police Review Board, FBI, Department of Justice and 2 politicians to date are ignoring the threat even though when I dialed 911 when a neighbor threatened to kill me and my dogs (welcome to city living with drunks and drug dealers as neighbors) one drug dealer has a regular cop visitor) it took 5 hours for the police to respond and in six years no burglary, no theft, no nothing has been investigated by police; not one law has been enforced at my address and government will not do anything about it (and that was only one of three life threatening situations the cops dragged their feet on). When I complained to OMI and the CPRB, they said it was none of my business how they conducted their investigations. Noooooo, there's no corruption here in Pittsburgh.

See why I speak so highly of Pittsburgh? The current Mayor, the past two Mayors and current and past Police Chief refuse to even acknowledge my calls or many letters complaining of excessive waits for police when I dial 911 in the wake of that threat.

So in Democrat Land Pennsylvania, dont get your hopes too high when complaining to government about government.

[wboggs]

The reality is if this was anything other than a gun forum, we would already have Google adsense incorporated into the site to generate revenue. We are planning on opening a very small area of the forums up to Firearm related site banner ads.

We are running a banner for Sebatistian's Snowflakes in Hell blog at the moment to get some idea of what potential advertisers can expect with regards to clickthrough rates. Once we know that we can begin to draft a rate card which is basically an advertising menu.

Fortunately we're not in a pinch or a rush. My webservers have plenty of overhead, and there is really no need to throw money away on webhosting.

So back on point, a legal fund is a great idea, but I think we need to roll out paid memberships first. (and I don't mean forum memberships, the forums will remain free.. I'm talking about PAFOA memberships with annual dues)

I'm gain Doug and again I will plug Sebatistian's Snowflakes in Hell blog; there's good stuff there guys. It will get your pro gun blood boiling but good. It has inspired me to write a letter or two.

[doug]

well, perhaps I should clarify a bit about clickthrough rates. (CTRs)

When potential advertisers are considering whether or not they'll run banner ads here, they will want to see CTR percentages.. which in a nutshell is a ratio of impressions to clicks.. It's a general gauge of how much our traffic is worth.

If his banner gets 100,000 impressions in a day, and generates 1000 clicks, that is a 1% CTR, and is considered low. On the other hand, if the banner gets 100,000 impressions a day, and generates 25,000 clicks, then the CTR is 25% and very good.

We simply do not know what the CTR of our Banner spot is, which is why we're testing with Snowflakes in hell. Once we get a general idea, we can draft a rate card accordingly.

[jtkratzer]

Well, using a blog as a gauge for click through rates isn't telling the whole story about advertising. It just shows who's interested in that blog.

Put up something like a supplier of firearms accessories, holster makers, ammunition, reloading supplies...whatever. If it's things people will actually use, they'll see better rates.

My suggestion would be that if you're struggling to find people willing to pay for banner ads, give them a couple of months free to try it out with the understanding if the click through rates reach a minimum average level, they'll begin to pay whatever the agreed rate is. If not, they can politely decline.

There are a number of corporate sponsors on another gun forum I'm on and they get quite a bit of business from the forum.

Not only is there an audience willing to buy, the word of mouth from the forum is ravenous.

[Frenchy]

The problem with a fund is it is money spent before you know where it is going, Who would hold this “fund” and how would PAFOA be accounted for it.

The Idea of the forum even the webpage is to help gun owners, I am sure Dan has plans for this in the future, but for bow, would it be putting the cart before the horse?

Greg’s fund was spontaneous, He said his piece, people where upset by it and decided to raise a fund, it was fast and furious. It also generated a lot of interest because Greg is a good member here. Mind you there where a few that thought it could have been a Christmas scam. Being so close to Christmas, some of us have large hearts and some one could have taken advantage of this.

You will notice there where a few people right after who said they had legal troubles, and they got no or little response. Some even said that they needed an attorney with out asking money and that was passed on… Dan talked about raising money for some one who was in need; again this caught people’s interest because being robbed just before Christmas is just sad.

I think before we start thinking about funds, we need to think about adding to the Admin, like maybe a secretary, some one to administer the funds and bank info. Possibly a group of investigative minds who would research the info before monies where given out.

You have to realize, every time the members are polled for money, it is money that could go to the PAFOA group, even on each members table in the manner of food. We all sacrifice some thing when we send in some thing, be it money or auctioning off things we have.

Believe it or not, there are members here who might not have to put on their tables every night… Some people have medical expenses, or financial hardships. I been there, I know others have also. We can’t just give, give and give. Some times we need to recuperate and rethink what is most needed.

The idea of having a Straw man in its self sounds nice, but it is illegal to do in PA. You can’t create an occasion to fund for, the person who is being funded has to have a need before and without knowing he will be funded for it to stand up anywhere. Could you imagine the fiasco caused, if the judge was to hear that a group got together to create and fund some one, to have the government or even a city council brought in to court? The mere idea is laughable; it would serve the members of PAFOA no good and possibly discredit us all.

Just my .02 here, but I think if you have money to send, it should go to PAFOA, God provides (I know I said this to Dan P. once and he did not much agree) but He (God) does, and if and when some one is in need again like Greg was, we should count of that statement, because most here who believe in God know how this goes.

When PAFOA was looking for a lawyer, Dan said he would be satisfied with any lawyer to make the papers up and get us the .ORG status. He said he figured on a $ amount, and I said I would pray on this, 2 weeks later, He has a lawyer, the Lawyer cost much less then he had planned, and to boot was a lawyer who not only did .Org but also a gun owner if I am not wrong.

So the first donation I will do to this “Fund” is a prayer. This way when the need arises and I am sure it will, God will provide for us.

[rwilson452]

Thanks, Frenchy for dragging us back on topic.