A "New" Forum in Town...

[John D.]

[quote]Originally posted by Wm. Pete Ebbink:
<strong>As some of you may know, a new Forum is being launched in January 2003 by a few folks that used to reside herein...

Competition is good and it is always nice to find other chat rooms at which to learn.... </strong><hr></blockquote>


Hi Pete..!!

Sorry about the delayed reply, but over the past couple of weeks, with travel and meetings/conferences - I've been out of town more then "in town" [img]smile.gif[/img] ... (And YES - John S. - I will check my private messages after catching up on some of the threads [img]smile.gif[/img] ..!!!

Yep - I knew about the new forum a few weeks back when Mr. Still e-mailed me asking for information about how this site was programmed, what it used, how it worked. I wrote a lengthy e-mail back with some comments, thoughts, what to look for, etc. I guess he got it and he may have even appreciated my time, comments & effort, but never heard anything back.

As for "competition". "Competition" for what? Over what??? See - I don't have sponsor dollars pouring in from banner ads (in fact - do you see a single obnoxious banner ad here in this site?? [img]smile.gif[/img] )- so clicks or posts on this site really don't matter..? I don't sell/deal in Lugers - so I don't really care what sells off this site or not...??? I'm not an author - so I could really care less whose books folks buy...?? In fact - I make the same "revenue" from this site whether one person posts per month or we continue to enjoy the hundreds of posts we have each week... In that way - maybe I'm the worst competitor possible to any new site - as there is absolutely no financial gain to be realized from my end...

And for that - I'm a believer that this Forum is the "right" thing to do - simply for the tone, precedent and information that is freely shared without any financial encumbrances or undertones. If that were not so - there wouldn't be another Forum starting up trying to mimic this site's success... But can they mimic the unfettered pretense? Hmmmm...

For that - I just wonder what the new "Shangri La" is going to offer for differences to this Forum? Will people be "more" civil"? Will arguments/flames not exist? Will there not be any sarcastic replies? Sure - those things occur all the time in any public Forum. Rather, it is how they are dealt with by both the community and the participants that set the tone for that community... So, for all those "differences" - my guess is that Forum will be similar to this. So one would only want to question "why" a few are compelled to set up their own Forum or to set in a competitive light altogether. In short, what is either their gain or their motivation?

I can't answer those comments/thoughts - but any site that furthers the knowledge of these pistols, without being aligned to a hidden motivation â?? might be tremendously beneficial to all Luger enthusiasts.

I guess as I'm just a lousy competitor - for if this site "wins" - I still have nothing "won" from a personal or financial basis. Is that true of the new site? Again, I can't answer that...