What is the benefit of becoming a paid member?

TheWallrus

TheWallrus

"the good must associate;"
Charter Member
Benefactor
Joined
Dec 17, 2016
Messages
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Cary, NC
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Hi. I was just asked this question today and realized I could not answer it intelligently, or at least in full. (Not everyone finds "being one of us" as compelling as we might hope.) ;-)

Having a place that listed all the benefits is probably a good way to get others interested in joining. I realize the answer may be fluid, but it can be updated as the benefits change.
Maybe we should even have a link/forum/category(?) on the main page. If not, having them listed here would at least offer a reference point.

Some people will only get here due to the Classifieds and may not look very deep into other areas. My thought is that if there was something on the main page that caught their eye, they would at least look at what the benefits were. Knowing them may make the decision more enticing.
 
The obvious reason is that paying a membership helps to keep the lights and servers on. This stuff isn't cheap and if you're getting value from it, then a couple dollars a year is a reasonable price to pay.
 
What Tim Just said. We like to think that we have a very good place for 2A people to hang out. And, not only 2A things but a little of everything can be found here. Things like cooking, hiking, camping, motorcycles, weather, you name it, it's here. You also have at your disposal the knowledge of a wide variety of topics and people more than willing to help other members.
Sure, you can get all of this without being a paid member. But when you pay for a year or a lifetime, you are helping to make sure that you always have this place to hang out. This site is not about making a profit, it's about keeping the site up and running.
We think that our membership, vendor, and sponsor fees are a very good bargain. We hope that you will, too.
 
Forum member discounts from some of the vendors. @gunbelt posted we would have first chance at his blem belts. More buying options in the BST than being relegated to one (or no local ones in my case) LGS. Members posting good deals in the Hot Deals forum that others may not otherwise see. . Generally up to date info on 2A information be it politics, etc. Now, you can get these things without being a paid member, but for the price you will not find a better bargain related to firearms. By the way, I received my belt from Gunbelt today in the mail and it is awesome.

https://www.carolinafirearmsforum.com/index.php?threads/the-new-pics-of-the-wife-thread.4848/unread
 
I also discount/reduce things I'm selling to paid members. Heck sometimes I'll only post things for sale in the members forum.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
The number one reason I stay engaged here is because this has been the greatest and largest group that I have ever been associated with that was tied to so many common interests. The sheer levels of knowledge and experience in things that interest me is astounding and I depend on what you all provide to help me have a balance in life. @Geezer 's post more accurately describes the variety we can enjoy here along with many other things.

I've also known many of the members here for enough years to help me understand their desire to have a really nice forum hangout with nice features, accessibility, and performance. Those things are the same things I want as well so it was easy for me to join the other owners in working together for a common cause............Carolina Firearms Forum. This latest forum software upgrades was just one of the many steps required to provide that for everyone that clicks on our site..........paid or not. We owed that to our sponsors, vendors, members, and even those who just lurk and browse and would not settle for anything less.

There is much more involved than the obvious expenses required to keep out site running at optimum levels and no one person on our staff would selfishly try and take credit. That's just who we are. We sincerely enjoy what we do and will continue our efforts to grow the forum to its fullest potential because the shooters' community deserves no less than our best. Many long hours have been spent working out all of the technical, legal, and structural requirements to get us to where we are today after @toddje initially took the first leap of faith and others followed. Trust me when I say that many long hours day and night continue to be invested in just the technical building and tweaking of the forum here.

I'm sure that we'll be able to post more of the benefits of being a paid member for others to read but in my case I never gave it a second thought. Please know that I'm truly humbled to be a small part of this huge group of members who make up this great hangout.

Cheers
 
We'll need to come up with a list.

All the above for sure. Add to that, no advertising except from the sponsors, no data mining of your stuff to sell to the highest bidder, and best of all you get to vote on how the site is run, and maintained.

More storage for pictures and the sizes of the pictures is larger.

More pm'so at one time and more that you can keep.

Custom user titles.

Of course special banners ;)

What else y'all think would be good?
 
I have been following this same bunch of losers for many years now. These are my people. They understand the 2A and the the duties applied to us of the US Constitution. Though we may individually be disimmilar in many ways, we are bound to the ideals of the document in our daily lives. These men and women support their beliefs in reality with actions over words. They get that words are meaningless without actions. To stand with friends of a common resolve is worth my money, my time, and my friendship.

Most of these folks I have never personally met, but reading their opinions have affirmed my already deeply held ideologies. So why would you join and spend money with this bunch of misfits? Because they are best deplorables you are going to find. That my friend, is better than the fifty bucks blown at a movie for some actor who hates your existence. But you spend your money however you like.
 
fieldgrade said:
I pay so they won't post those nekkid pictures I sent Geezer.
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But we never promised you that we would not post the pics in the Platinum Section. :D
 
Chdamn said:
@B00ger and @Burt Gummer arent allowed to hit on paid members.
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81846253fe2e119f0d89efd0fdeffc47.jpg



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Guys, maybe you didn't notice, but I am a charter member. I do see the value and have contributed. (I also paid to help with the GRNC sponsorship.) You don't have to recruit me. If I had more money, I would do more.

However, there are some specific benefits of joining this site. (Member Section, Badge, Custom Title, extra pictures, vendor discounts) Is that all of them? Do you not think having them listed is a good idea?

Many of the things you listed are auxiliary benefits. While important, they are often not tangible. As an example, many of the things you said about joining this site was also said about the "other" site. We see what good that membership is now.

I am just trying to help this site grow. If we want a mentality that it is a privilege for others to bask in our greatness, then the site will grow accordingly. However, if we would like to be enticing for others to want to be here, we may want to approach them in a more informative and apparent way.

My goal is not to convince anyone to join. It is however to provide them the correct information in order for them to make an informed decision. If we build the site "right", the "right" people will want to be here.
 
Like I said, you're correct, we need to make a list.

The shit said at any other site was obviously not the truth, and we got to find out that WE apparently were the product.

That's not going to happen here, I can guarandamtee that.
 
Brangus said:
But we never promised you that we would not post the pics in the Platinum Section. :D
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That's different. To date, no one has figured out the password or secret handshake to even get IN the Platinum Section.
Who all knows what the heck we'll find in there.
@Chdamn slathered in molasses sitting there in a lawn chair in his birthday suit.
 
BurnedOutGeek said:
Like I said, you're correct, we need to make a list.

The shit said at any other site was obviously not the truth, and we got to find out that WE apparently were the product.

That's not going to happen here, I can guarandamtee that.
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BOG, I was writing my previous post when you posted yours, so I had not seen yours when I posted it.
Thank you for what you said earlier and here.

I am not trying to judge this site based on the other one. I just wanted others to see the difference between tangible benefits and auxiliary ones.

Look, I joined CSC looking for a local place for BST. However, while I was there, I got to digging around and learned a lot about the people on it. I spent many sleepless hours in the middle of the night reading everyone's' takes on guns, politics, movies, cars, and women, just to name a few. I realized that it was not just a swap meet, but it was a community that also had a swap meet.

I became a Member of CSC because I wanted to be a member of the community. When that community left, I followed it to here. I wanted to remain with the people and I did not flinch to spend to help get this place established. (To lay the truth bare, my donation for the GRNC membership was part of my Christmas present from my wife. I asked her to spend it on you guys instead of myself.) I am not looking for a kudo, but I want everyone to see that I am truly cognizant of the value of the people here. If my health allowed it, I would try to be involved even more. I have enjoyed each person I have met from here and would love to meet you all.

That said, many people were like me in the beginning, just looking for a swap meet. If I can help us reach them, I will consider myself a contributor.
 
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I agree that there should be an obvious place where all the benefits of this place should be apparent to any visitor. To make folks want to donate to the "cause".

It should be obvious but sometimes it isn't. Folks are too self absorbed in their own world to realize how nice a place like this is.. A place where we are 2A specific but where literally ANY topic usually results in at least one professional in the field. At the least, somebody recommends a link to "the" place to find anything. I love this community. Showed up here as soon as the great members of my last favorite 'net hangout told me about it, after it fell apart.

I chase the community, not the standing.

As our incredible adminsrators/moderators here worked there asses off to bring this site and indeed our vision of a forum we could be proud of to life. I, honestly waited with bated breath and money in hand to happily support my favorite virtual place to spend time.

I'd have donated and given everything that was offered once the way to do so was finally set up. Lucky me, the same week I discovered I'd have some nice, expensive medical bills show up just before.

Someone with much better language skills surely must make it obvious what a great place this is. As soon as my newly discovered health issues are covered. CFF is literally the first expenditure I will use my "fun fund" on.


Hahaha just realized this is my 100th post!
 
Brangus said:
There is much more involved than the obvious expenses required to keep out site running at optimum levels and no one person on our staff would selfishly try and take credit. That's just who we are. We sincerely enjoy what we do and will continue our efforts to grow the forum to its fullest potential because the shooters' community deserves no less than our best. Many long hours have been spent working out all of the technical, legal, and structural requirements to get us to where we are today after @toddje initially took the first leap of faith and others followed. Trust me when I say that many long hours day and night continue to be invested in just the technical building and tweaking of the forum here.
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I appreciate that fact. However, I must offer another perspective. Since December, I have offered multiple times in multiple ways to multiple people that if I could be of any assistance with this site, all they had to do was ask. I have yet to have one person ask me to do something or even what skills I could offer. I take no offense other than for it to be thrown at me that work is being done about which I know nothing. It appears to me that whoever is working all those hours wants to be because they sure aren't asking for me to help them.

I do appreciate all the "many long hours" that have been spent by others. However, maybe if the work was shared by more, there would be less work for one to do.
 
All paying members get at least a 20% discount from my website prices. But you need to order by PM here or call me. Plus I only charge actual shipping to paying members & sometimes even free shipping.

Curt
www.fatboybelts.com
www.twofoolsleathergoods.com
 
Brangus said:
And you will become a very happy man. :D
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Yeah I've been putting it off because I like to see stuff in person first. But I've seen enough about them now that I know they are good to go. :)
 
Here's why someone should become a paid member: it's not free for these guys to run this site, you can get your money back with 1 transaction in the members only BST as they typically offer a discount to paid members
 
Forget the trinkets and discounts. It's the personal satisfaction you'll feel, because it's the right thing to do.
(supporting this band of misfits):rolleyes:
 
Brangus said:
There is much more involved than the obvious expenses required to keep out site running at optimum levels and no one person on our staff would selfishly try and take credit. That's just who we are. We sincerely enjoy what we do and will continue our efforts to grow the forum to its fullest potential because the shooters' community deserves no less than our best. Many long hours have been spent working out all of the technical, legal, and structural requirements to get us to where we are today after @toddje initially took the first leap of faith and others followed. Trust me when I say that many long hours day and night continue to be invested in just the technical building and tweaking of the forum here.
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TheWallrus said:
I appreciate that fact. However, I must offer another perspective. Since December, I have offered multiple times in multiple ways to multiple people that if I could be of any assistance with this site, all they had to do was ask. I have yet to have one person ask me to do something or even what skills I could offer. I take no offense other than for it to be thrown at me that work is being done about which I know nothing. It appears to me that whoever is working all those hours wants to be because they sure aren't asking for me to help them.

I do appreciate all the "many long hours" that have been spent by others. However, maybe if the work was shared by more, there would be less work for one to do.
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Hi @Brangus

I want to post an apology to you for my response above. I was feeling defensive in the moment and latched-on to your comments.
I had/have no reason to question you nor the efforts of the staff. I sincerely apologize to you.
Please know that my only intention in starting this thread was to try to make this site a better place for everyone.

Kind regards, Paul
 
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