Members,
In responding to this thread and other inquires regarding the continuance of Gunboards.com and its collecting community that Brent and I started over 20 years ago, we'd like to set the record straight and let you know what has transpired. First off in retrospect, we started down this path to provide a community for collectors that grew from the original Mosin Man website that Tuco started by writing our own HTML code and with a handful of members interested in Mosin's to a growing community that required a separate space outside of the "free" web page that the local web provider gave its members. Back then we decided to host with another service and in so doing took on the associated costs of running "our" own forum. At the start as we grew there were no issues and we (Tuco and I) self funded the web page out of our passion for the hobby and to share a platform to enrich the collecting community for the Mosin Nagant and those that had a passion for
Finnish
and
Russian weapons. This was at the infancy of the web in 1997.
We continued to operate under this principle for almost 4 years until we had grown again to a point that we needed to look at expansion and the safety of our content as the web exploded. To ensure that safety of our new forums we made a decision to own our equipment and maintain our own servers. This was a learning curve and for us both (and painful as we learned as we ran) and many many of you original members will remember our first catastrophe in 2000 when we lost our server to equipment failure. It wouldn't be the first time too regretfully. By that time again we had grown again from our humble beginnings to over 1000 fold. We had to make some decisions at that time of what and how we were going do and how to operate with spiraling costs. Tuco and I decided that we could no longer self fund the site and that the members contributions and support of a select few private sponsors like Empire and North China Arms who where also our friends helping us stay afloat, could be relied upon only so much. We needed to go the route of corporate sponsorship in conjunction with our member support to remain viable and to continue to grow. It was a decision that we staved off as long as we could because we felt that remaining a "mom and pop" operation was the best situation for us and for the community we had grown and that we had "control" over what was put out there. With that decision we also had to have a business plan that was no longer looking out a few months but had to be a few years in advance. We bought multiple servers and equipment and decided to host with a private concern outside of the US to insulate us from anti gun legislation and entities. With the support of the membership and our sponsors- we grew again rapidly and made a decision to expand the platform of web forums from just Mosin Nagants to all surplus weapons of interest as well as sporting arms as you see in our listings today.
By 2005 we had grown once again at least 1000 fold and along with it.. the associated costs which as we all know in life never get cheaper. Our "baby" was now college age and the costs that came with it. Brent and I relied on the sponsorships we fostered to provide the bulk our costs in the site operation and the dedicated members supplementing and safe guarding our future. We relied on you several times over the past 15 years to kep the lights on when times were tough and if it was not for the members who support Gunboards we simply would not be here. Also the amazing help of our dedicated moderators tireless support to maintain our daily quality and content gave us a chance to carry us through tough times when sponsorship struggled. A true team effort. Brent and I honestly felt that we were redefining the way that collectors communicated and interacted in the new "E-age" and the way that gun forums were operated with a community sense and with a sense of family. We have always operated Gunboards as a family community we were proud of. But the sad reality is this forum system and our own success from our humble beginnings of a couple hundred members to a couple hundred thousand also created the formula for our own downfall as privately owned entity. We had reached a point with the competition of advertising platforms that our business plan was requiring more capital than we were able to generate. Our success was always a safeguard or was plowed back into the site to allow us to be bigger and better. We stood as long as we could as the little guys in the face of withstanding large corporate inquires, because it was the way we wanted to remain- privately by collectors. But the end fact was that we had to make some very hard decisions and with the surplus market not being what it was 5 years ago or even 3 years ago for that matter and the explosion of electronic and social media in the past few years. We needed to make some difficult choices on what was best for the community we had built. Do we try to continue to fight the dragon in a slowly losing battle until we bleed out? or do we join forces with them as our ally and continue to operate Gunboard's as we always have?
We choose the later in that we felt that we did not want to close Gunboard's and it just go dark one day but rather relinquish our private ownership as partners and remain as operating administrators in the forums. Simply put, we did not have the resources to be able to fight off the huge big business's involved in the nets ever shifting business advertising scheme. We also as mentioned before had become a rather big fish and bigger fish had begun to take notice of us. We had become a "player" and as such were now a commodity for larger "players". We tried- trust us we tried and we fought valiantly for many years often with nothing more than a stubborn persistence in defense of our members and our goal to remain apart and different. Nothing has changed here other than we are no longer involved in the financial responsibilities of operating the site in regard to sponsorship procurement and management. We were asked to continue to steer the boat with our team as we always have. We did relinquished those financial duties of the site and the uncertainty of the stormy market for safety in a large corporate umbrella. Brent and I and all of the fantastic people that devout their time and passion to making Gunboard's what it is and have nurtured it to grow are still here. We still operate as we always have and still strive to provide the community which is now global- a place to meet, exchange and share information as we always have. For as long as Brent and I are involved with Gunboards.com we will continue to strive to create an environment like we have built over the past 20 years. A place for collectors- by collectors for the greatest group of members that we could have. You.
That's why we made the decision to relinquish our private ownership in Gunboards.com so that we could be assured that what we started so long ago would continue to be around for you- the members for years to come. Its a sad day for us in a way but it is also a relief in knowing that Gunboards will be around for another 20 years hopefully and continue to grow with the outstanding success we have enjoyed over the past 10 years. It was only just a few short years ago that we celebrated our 100,000th thread and our 1,000,000th post. This first few months of the year we have reached over 400,000 threads and celebrate over ,500,000 posts. It is only with your support and participation on the forums that any of this was possible. Brent and I thank you all sincerely for everything that you've done as a member and (well most of you... there may be a few that we aren't happy about...lol) we pledge to continue to work as we always have to make Gunboard's what it is- a place for you as collectors to enjoy and interact with other collectors both domestic and across the globe. We will always be.. For collectors- by collectors. Gunboard's.com will continue to grow and be viable for years to come. Now lets get back to enjoying what we love-Guns!
Vic
Administrator of Gunboards.com
PM
