A couple of ideas to kick around

[son of the revolution]

Just had a couple brain farts I thought I'd toss out there to get slapped around

Whats everyone think of a once a year " Annual PAFOA Dinner / Fund Raiser " . And by that I dont mean the normal OC or other "smallish " get togethers . I mean with 16,000 members , Im sure we could generate enough interested parties to justify a full blown first class shindig . Hotel Ball Room , open bar , appetizers , cartering , dancing , socializing , door prizes /raffle , etc .

My gun club down in Florida had one every year and it was a fantastic success . I've also been to a number of the Friends of The NRA Dinners , with similar enthusiastic participation .

Maybe some sort of awards for Post of the Year , or Best Contributor to The Org , or any number of other titles . Kinda like our own little Academy Awards , without all the liberal spewing .

With enough interest , Im betting we could probably even draw some pretty heavyweight speakers to the event as well . Maybe guys like Mas Ayoob or similar pro gun writers /commentators to do book signings or such . I mean the possibilities for drawing a crowd are pretty limitless .




The other idea was somewhat more scaled back/simpler , and could pretty much be run with the resources already in place . Similar idea to the " Awards Dinner " but on a monthly basis , administered by mods , or possibly by a vote of the members . Voting could be restricted in any number of ways in order to try to avert ballot stuffing or any other attempts at rigging the results . Prizes could be a piece of PAFOA Gear ( T shirt , Hoodie , whatever else is offered at Cafe Press ) , or maybe other things from the business owners that are members and wish to donate prizes of some sort . Or maybe " Pro Gun " DVD's and the like , stuff from the History Channel , Tales of the Gun , etc .

Topics for monthly contest could be stuff like post of the month , best gun porn pic of the month , most helpful member , etc ?? Again , pretty much whatever topics would cover the most common areas .

My Jeep Club , also in Florida did something like this , and it generated quite a bit of enthusiasim and renewal of subscriptions , not to mention driving and expanding membership .

Maybe something like a Monthly Contest of some sort sounds kinda chintzy and not worth the effort , but I think people really do appreciate the ability to get a little bling for their participation and efforts . JMO

[JDePietro]

Your enusiasm for this place is refreshing, your goals and thoughts sound wonderful and grand, however I feel as though your intentions fall victim to a misunderstanding of what the PAFOA is and its current roll in our society.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding Dan's intentions so take what I post with a grain of salt. Dan and Doug and all the staff here at the PAFOA are wonderful people that take a lot of time to ensure that the members have enough bandwith, categories, and civility to enjoy their stay here. They ride a very fine line between respecting free speech and allowing harmful material. They make sure the codes run well and the threads and topics match the criteria of the board. They do all this and more behind the scenes without anyone realizing how much time they spend. That time however is a donation they make on behalf of us. They do not get paid or compensated, rarely does anyone acknowledge their sacrifice, and I don't believe Dan or Doug really ever expected it to bloom into what it has. In their eyes this was suppose to be a forum. A place for people to come together and share information and insight about guns and PA. The membership here has turned this into a rally point, a meeting place, an events callander, and a pseudo militia.

My conclusion is that your request is of time, and unless PAFOA becomes a for profit .org that employs people with monotary compensation this can only be a dream for the future and maybe not one shared with the staff.

Keep your powder dry and your actions lubed.

-Josh

[danp]

Basically what JD said.

I never believed that PAFOA would grow at the rate it has.

Early on I decided to move PAFOA in an activism-related direction, but the simple fact of the matter is

1. I run pretty much everything on my own, and volunteers can't always help.
2. I have a day job, I have to do this on nights and weekends
3. We don't make enough money for me to shift to working for PAFOA even part time

Until those things change, our growth into being more than a forum will be steady, but slow.

With all that said, I think we are more influential than most people realize. We have a huge mailing list and can mobilize quite a lot of people to write letters and make phone calls. This fact has been noticed by many, including those in Harrisburg.

We have to be patient, nothing worth building is built over night, it will probably take years.

[jmiro]

Basically what JD said.

I never believed that PAFOA would grow at the rate it has.

Early on I decided to move PAFOA in an activism-related direction, but the simple fact of the matter is

1. I run pretty much everything on my own, and volunteers can't always help.
2. I have a day job, I have to do this on nights and weekends
3. We don't make enough money for me to shift to working for PAFOA even part time

Until those things change, our growth into being more than a forum will be steady, but slow.

With all that said, I think we are more influential than most people realize. We have a huge mailing list and can mobilize quite a lot of people to write letters and make phone calls. This fact has been noticed by many, including those in Harrisburg.

We have to be patient, nothing worth building is built over night, it will probably take years.

I have some questions regarding this mailing list you speak of. Are you talking literal or figurative? I ask because If I have a question I am sure others have the same one. So could you please elaborate on this?

[son of the revolution]

Ok , of course it's certainly understandable that everyone volunteers an extraordinary amount of time , for a worthy cause they believe in . I'll concede that maybe an annual " Dinner " might be overreaching , at least at this point . I personally dont think it would be as difficult to pull off as may appear at first blush . Im confident that a " committee " of volunteers , dividing up the tasks into manageable parcels , could put it together with a minimal invasion on already hectic personal schedules . Of course the " debute" would be the hardest to pull together , but once a successful one was executed , each successive year would have a template to follow , and many of the resources already " in the pipeline " .

As far as some sort of monthly contest for the forum , I see that as even less demanding . How much time would it really take to post a write up about the idea , see if the majority likes it , kick around the format ,etc and implement it ? Again , a select group of trusted members , always reporting to and answerable to supervision and approval , could do this fairly simply . Yes it may take a few months of working on it to get it going , but I wasnt suggesting just starting it next week or something . Even if it took 6 mos or more to " debute" it would still be worth the effort long term .

All I was really trying to start by mentioning either of them was to gauge overall response to the ideas , which seems to have at least some sort of tacit support ,even if luke warm , based on the replies thus far .

I posted it in the " members " thread first , so it was less cluttered and less likely to devolve into a 40 page thread going around in circles , without really accomplishing anything .

May I humbly suggest the mods/admins discuss the possibilities of at the very least the Monthly Contest idea , and if the consensus decides its merely a good idea , that a formal topic thread be made to the general membership to gauge enthusiaism ? In other words , without committing to anything at all , if the mods/admins/Dan P at least agree the idea ( s) are worthy in theory, then that would mean taking it to the general membership for feedback , and ONLY then , if the positive interest was there , would we actually start laying the groundwork needed to implement one or both ideas , without commiting to a specific and finite timeframe .