All,

In a recent PAFOA staff meeting, one point that came up regarding our site is an increasing amount of arguments and tension, many of which are over topics unrelated to firearms or firearms law and politics. One of the places where many of these arguments originate is in the News forum. Given that much of the news that IS related to the forum often also finds its way into the following forums:

  • The Lounge
  • Political Wasteland
  • Law & Politics -> National
  • Law & Politics -> Pennsylvania


it seems that there's some overlap that can be eliminated, and in doing so hopefully keep discussions more on topic. In addition, the overlap is evidenced by often seeing duplicate postings to the News and above fourms, which then require staff to review, close, or merge the threads in question. As a result of the this we've decided to close the News forum, effective immediately.

Since there are some threads in the News forum that are active, the transition plan will be as follows:

  • As a general rule, all News threads created or active within the last 30 days will be moved to the Lounge (with redirects from the News forum), so that discussions can be found and can continue uninterrupted.
  • The OPs of any of the above threads (created or active within the last 30 days) can request via PM, post report, etc. that their thread(s) be moved to one of the above forums. All requests will be reviewed, and if the topic fits into the requested forum, we'll move it.
  • For the remaining threads, the News forum will be closed but accessible for approximately 30 days so that threads can still be read.


Hopefully this change will reduce some of redundant traffic, and also cut down on arguments, trolling, etc., especially with subject matter not directly related to our core discussions here at PAFOA.

Any questions, let me know.