Let's reminisce: How did you find this web site?

[admin]

I know some of you have been on from the very beginning when I started the ".com" version back in 2003 when it looked like this:

​

Then, I updated the .com site in mid-2006 and it looked like this:

​

Then, in September 2009, my life was such that I didn't feel I could dedicate the necessary time and effort to keep the site going well and traded away the web site ownership to a couple guys who wanted to continue it and help it grow.

Seems like it went OK for a few years like that on its own momentum and then things gradually started to go off-the-rails several years later. A lot of the maintenance appeared to have stopped (no site or code updates/patches), backups [apparently] weren't done anymore and some time in May or June of 2018, the .com site crashed and since they did not have any good site or database backups, everything was lost. A lot of great data and knowledge was permanently gone, unfortunately. As part of the transfer from 2009, I passed all assets to the new owners, so there was nothing I could do to help. Regardless, the owners said the site would be back "soon" and put up a holding page.

After it was apparent that the ".com" site wasn't ever coming back, some of the old guard reached back out to me to ask if I'd start up another site. The owner of the .com site wouldn't sell the domain back to me, so I bought the new ArizonaShooting.org domain in late 2018 and in early 2019, got the .org site set up and running:

​

Most recently in early 2025, we left the phpBB board format I'd been using since the very beginning and moved to a Xenforo BB and have landed where we are today:

​

So, regardless of when you came to ArizonaShooting, how did you find the site? Google search? Invite from a friend? Mention on another board? Something else?

Have you shared this site with anyone else? I have some tools to make it easier to share (here: https://www.arizonashooting.org/account/referral-tools/ and here: https://www.arizonashooting.org/account/invitations) and we have a contest going on where you can win a free membership or a free AZS t-shirt for referrals: https://www.arizonashooting.org/referral-contests/

 

[Suck My Glock]

Been here since nearly the beginning. Was looking for an online classifieds section better than Facebook. (Yeah,...we used to be able to advertise private transaction gun sales to each other on Facebook before the commies got all uppity and chit.)

 

[Winmagbill]

Found the site during the Great ARfcom Exodus.

 

[tripletap]

2005 when it was pretty fun on the discussion forums

 

[stomp442]

Been here since 2006ish I guess. I don't remember the first version of the site but I remember the 2nd version well. I believe I was referred to this site from over on CouesWhitetail and visit regularly since.

 

[Razai]

Came aboard with Bovenzi and Vellcrow from day one. “Found” it because I was (and proudly still am) friends with you. Love this place.

 

[Abbey]

I've been here since 2006-ish also. I don't remember exactly how I first found it but I work in tech and spent a lot of time "on the internet" so I participated in a lot of forums back then.

Going through a busy phase at work, I wasn't on the site regularly in 2018. So when I went to check the old site and it was dead, I googled and found this new one.

Loving the upgrade/reboot. It's hard to keep sites updated & secure, but I still prefer specialized "web 1.0" forums to web 2.0 platforms like Reddit.

 

[baja]

Going by admin's chronology I signed up somewhere between '06-'09.
No clue how I found it, probably from an internet search.

 

[sonofbp]

Pretty sure I came over when I heard about the site from a friend after the arfcom tonk bs escalated and someone called Ed Sr a raftmonkey and bans started flying around lol
Entertaining times, maybe 04-05ish if I remember right
Still have a hoodie with the AZS logo on the front and a migrant border crossing image with a mag light over it on the back.

 

[BigTub]

follow on to DELW's site.

 

[EarlCordova]

Why wouldn't the owner of the .com site wouldn't sell the domain back to you?

AFAIK he has done nothing with it.
Does that mean he lost whatever money he had into it ?

 

[EarlCordova]

... someone called Ed Sr a raftmonkey and bans started flying around lol ....

Too bad I missed that.
However he did ban me during that time because I had a bunch of ammo for sale that he wanted,
but someone local had already spoken for it and I told him he was next in line if the first guy backed out.

 

[admin]

Why wouldn't the owner of the .com site wouldn't sell the domain back to you?

AFAIK he has done nothing with it.
Does that mean he lost whatever money he had into it ?

Not sure. I've tried on multiple occasions to get the .com domain back, including using a 3rd party service to try to broker a sale (no response). The .com owner does keep renewing the domain registration - no idea why. At this point though, the only value of that domain to me is as a redirect to the .org site. Even if I got it back, the site would remain .org. Frankly, at this point, I don't even know who owns the domain. I don't even think it is the guys I originally transferred the site to; I think it has changed hands since - but that's what I heard. No first-hand knowledge.

As far as losing money - no way - the site owner(s) should have made out really well, based on the ads they had running and how long they had the site going before it took a dump. Speculation on my part; I think that was his primary motivation though: get as much revenue from advertising, while spending as little as possible on the site (maintenance, upkeep, etc). I will reiterate that I don't know any facts or have inside information after I transferred the site, so all of this is pure speculation based on what I could observe.