Last night’s post Pro-Tip: Concealed Means Concealed (Especially During Threesomes) was not universally well-received. Shark jumping was mentioned. A general degradation of quality was decried. TTAG’s commenting policy prohibits meta comments as they distract readers from the subject matter raised by the post, lower the tone and bum me out. We invite readers to send comments about TTAG’s editorial stance or style to [email protected] where they will be addressed directly and promptly. That said, we operate under the assumption that a single dissatisfied customer represents many more. So . . . let’s hear it. How are we doing? What sucks and what works? More of what, less of what? No holds barred (here). Both barrels. And thanks for caring.
How come my computer works fine til I get to TTAG? It slows down and freezes so often some days it’s more hassle than it’s worth to come here.
And what’s with the “commenting to quickly” deal? Aren’t we supposed to comment?
There’s a lot of clunky ad code on the page. We’re working on getting that under control, and it’s something I discuss with the other editors whenever the opportunity permits.
Yeah, last time I did a network profile (F12) on your site it downloaded a huge amount of ad content, more than any other website I could find to compare it to.
Try comparing it to The Blaze next time , same issues . I have add blocker installed on mine and I think that’s why I get booted so often . Way to much double scripting ?
Seriously Nick.
TTAG is the only site that REGULARLY crashes my browser at work. If I was able to run all the adblockers and script blockers I wanted, it wouldn’t be an issue, but that’s not really an ideal situation for TTAG either, if everyone coming here is blocking all the ads and scripts because of performance issues.
Every other website I go to manages to, if not get at right, at least not have adcode so terrible that it makes IE10 self-destruct.
its not “clunky code”, its garbage and OVER HEAVY ADS that track the user EVERYWHERE.
I have to triple clean my cache / cookies every time I come here, and that’s less and less, duo to the terrible writing and editing, as well as because I am a snick f the snark as… UNNECESSARY ETHNIC BULLSHIT DELETED
YEAH, YOU CAN TAKE THAT ELSEWHERE -MATT
Ditto. Now prepare to have this whole page deleted. Nobody that works here can afford to have their terrible ad policies and horrible computer crashing exposed. Too hard on the revenue stream. That’s also why they’re so heavy on all the click bait, like threesomes and daily questions. I do find that the pages are a lot more stable if you just lurk, and don’t comment. So I foresee a restart in my immediate future…
The daily question, I like – they may not just be their questions, but those posed to them by readers. I submitted one that was recently posted, specifically asking that it be raised to the community at large, as I wanted broad feedback on it. I mostly avoided commenting on the comments, as what I wanted and received was food for thought.
So its ok for your editor-publisher to post HIS hypocritical ethnic crap but it’s not ok for us peons who pay his rent to comment on it.
When it’s done in a pejorative manner, it’ll go. You make sure to let me know the next time you see RF post something that’s denigrating to some race or ethnicity, and I’ll edit it too. I won’t hold my breath.
Does a TTAG writer linking to sites that promote the destruction of Israel and that “9/11 was an inside job” count
Example? Context?
I’ve banned the whole site from my statewide network. It’s kind of disgusting how bad it is. Truly the worst I’ve seen of relatively mainstream sites.
Adblock Plus changed my life! Download it, and let it change your life here too.
AH SEEN IT, TOO!
Seriously, though: Adblock Plus is a wonderful little piece of programming. Get it and love it.
Adblock plus and Ghostery
Yes, AdBlock is a nice little tool, but the freezing issue still happens sometimes. It also doesn’t matter which browser or even operating system I use. Yes with adblock it happens more rarely, but it still happens and it’s going on my nerves.
I got adblock, but I am now running into an occasional problem where I access the article from my mailbox and as soon as the window opens i get a message that “internet explorer has stopped working”. Then the page closes, re-opens, and then the message pops up again, close, re-open, and eventually I get a “website restore error”. Happens occasionally, no particular pattern, I can return to the same article later on and it will open just fine. If i move to firefox to open TTAG, then i run into slow loading, intermittent keyboard, etc.
I can’t guarantee anything, but Chrome works for me without a hitch. It does require its own version of Adblock, though.
I have the same problem, quite frequently. I reported it to the management here, and their reply was that I should change my internet browser. In other words, they don’t think my problem (yours too) is worth fixing.
Belated thanks to Lucas for the suggestion, but I’ve tried Chrome and don’t care for it. Belated note to Bob: Today things seem to be working fine. You?
It kills safari on the iGadgets stone dead.
It works fine on my iPhone 5s
?
I read the site nearly exclusively on my 6+. One major upside is no auto play videos. Downside is the chintzy adverts that come up thanks to Taboola. I’d rather not share the site with others when they are going to wonder why I’m looking at links proclaiming how to get laid with 61 girls despite being short and broke.
How about a Chat room where we can ask questions For you guys to answer I’ve got a couple of good ones lately.
There is a forum
We’re working on a system that would provide that functionality. And the forum sucks, I know it, and I keep trying to fix it but it keeps getting worse.
Glad to hear it. I really like the gun reviews and product reviews Because unlike most Pro gun magazines, You guys give actual negative feedback as well.
I agree about the gun reviews .
I think some of the problems with the conservative web sites is NSA .
Good morning Utah .
“How about a Chat room where we can ask questions For you guys to answer I’ve got a couple of good ones lately.”
Or just e-mail to [email protected]…
Thats just funny right there. Got to love an honest man lol.
Nick,
I’d be more than happy to help with the forum and management of it as well as helping some of the issues that have been persisting for a while at it. I just need access to the backend to fix the e-mailing issue and clean up some other stuff.
If you would like to bring the forum back, I’d be more than happy to again volunteer my time for that. I still think there is a lot of potential there.
Nick, there are ads on the page that get into rotation and crash browsers. It can’t only be me because it happens on my main personal system, my Surface tablet, and my work PC.
I have to wait the minute or whatever until the offending ad goes out of rotation before I can load the article.
I know you guys need your revenue and I know people are going to scream “Ad block Plus”, which I do run but generally don’t on TTAG. (That said, work doesn’t allow us to install it.)
I know you guys don’t manage the ad network itself. And I can’t tell you which one it is because the browser crashes before it renders the page.
But it has more than once made me say “ok screw this” and close TTAG.
(I suspect it’s bad flash by some advertiser…or some autoplay with a bad codec.. both of which can’t die fast enough.)
I have the same situation when I try to read here from work, where I can’t run all the blockers I want. 2 out of 3 articles comes up fine, 1 out of 3 is just flat out impossible to read because it keeps crashing the browser.
It’s just not acceptable, since this is the only site where I see this sort of persistent behavior.
Whatever it is that happens to me, it seems worse the more comments there are. 100 comments is painful, 200 comments, it is utterly unusable. It takes forever to load, freezes up then usually lets me scroll after a while, but sometimes instead I am told I have to recover the page.
I AM glad that the f*cking autoplay ads are gone… I was having to kill the play on loading, then, when I wrote a comment, have to scoll up to the top to kill it again, then back to the bottom to write the comment (which reminds me of another gripe I have, save it for later), then post the comment, then stop the frigging ad again. That was actually worse… but not much. (And yes, its a system where adblock is verboten)
My gripe from above is having the “leave a reply” window at the bottom of the page, instead of near the comment you’re replying to. If I realize halfway through writing that I need to refer to something someone said, I have to hunt it down.
Whatever it is that happens to me, it seems worse the more comments there are. 100 comments is painful, 200 comments, it is utterly unusable.
I have this problem on mobile, and have had ever since I’ve been coming to this site. It improved considerably a year or so ago after some change or another, but it’s still an issue.
Don’t know much about the technicalities of Internet ad sources except that they provide a way to monetize a site, but is it possible that the one ad out of three that crashes or significantly slows the site and annoys the visitors is intentional sabotage? Just being paranoid here.
Others are suggesting Disqus, but I’d be happy with a headline story and comments/forums through vBulletin.
Alternatively, if you are keeping the front page and forum more independent, I suggest you talk to the folks at Ars Technica. I believe they built their comments system in house, but I can’t imagine they wouldn’t license it – they covered what’s-their-name out of Austin with the Linux rifle pretty closely and are a good group, suggesting they wouldn’t have problems dealing with a pro-2a site. I don’t know if Conde would put up hurdles, though.
I would seriously recommend picking some different blogging software that manages comments better. Let’s face it, 80% of TTAG’s appeal is in the comments, and WordPress (I assume?) is simply not designed to handle 100+ comment long discussions. There are those artificial limits on nesting, and in general it’s pretty hard to keep track of who is responding to whom. Discus might not be a bad idea, but honestly I don’t care so long as it’s something that works.
Better yet, maybe even just take software that was written for this format (stories with heavy commenting) from the get go. It really isn’t a blog anymore. Slashdot might be a good example, and if I remember correctly, their software is open source, so you could just take that and tweak the visuals for the sake of branding. It has pretty much everything that people here have asked, I think – it has inline editing, doesn’t arbitrarily reload the page on you, lets you track replies to your posts specifically, or individual threads, lets comments be modded up and down by the community to get rid of spam and trolls (but still allows them to be read; every visitor can set a threshold to whatever they want), and doesn’t limit nesting.
Oh, also, that “you are posting too fast” thing gets annoying. For the volume of discussions here, I think the threshold is way too low, at least for those of us who can type at 400 cpm…
As far as contents go, reviews are great, as are general industry news. On the politics front, it would be nice if you guys have focused on the actual gun related stuff instead of trying to stretch every hot but barely if at all related story to fit the format. There are other, more appropriate places for it.
“How about a Chat room where we can ask questions…”
See the black bar above? Click on ‘Forum’… it’s next to ‘Pro Shop’…
For the most part you guys do good. I would like to see more GUNS. Keep the reader content contests coming too. This summer that Henry rifle brought out some great posts.
Last night wasn’t a shining example of quality, post or comments.
You’re doing fine. No slowdowns after the new windows 10(it’ll change the world!) and fresh Kaspersky.
I didn’t really grasp the TTAG angle on the bizarre murder-suicide post. Forget it.
If you want a complaint, some TTAG images that appear on-screen at maybe 1024×768 are sampled down on the fly by the browser from 5000×2000 files. It’s faster all around to change the image file prior to posting rather than leave it to user’s browsers, less data slung, etc. Free advice being worth what you pay for it and all.
Overall, great list, enjoy reading nearly everything that comes down the pipe.
Sometimes my connection really sucks, so shoving a bunch of data over the wire just to have my browser chuck it anyway, is, well, not good.
One thing I really like on TTAG are the reviews. I think they strike a good balance between covering the positive and negative of an item, and they have served as a good jumping off point for me to learn more about a product and perhaps its alternatives. TTAG’s coverage of 300 Blackout, for example, has been informative to me. I used to think it was just a 7.62×39 wannabe, but TTAG’s articles have cleared up that misunderstanding for me quite well. Similarly, the historical sections are interesting and informative.
The articles that discuss anti-gun actions in the UK, Australia and more are good as reminders that freedom takes a lot of effort to maintain. Hearing the nonsense that spews from some antigunners in my own country will hopefully serve gun owners in free states well in their fight.
Having said that, it can be hard as a non-American to be continually apologizing for these idiots, and I think sometimes too bleak a picture is painted. In Canada, for example, we’ve seen a lot of positive improvements in the situation for gun owners. Not just one or two improvements, but a steady change. Yes, we have a long way to go, and it could all be lost, but I think it’s important to show folks that even if things get bad, you can still stand up and work to fix them. This is helpful for our friends in places like Cali, NY, NJ and the like.
Or to put it more briefly- yes, I know when some ignorant morontonian mouths off about American gun owners it’s annoying, and it’s tempting to say “screw all Canadians”. There are a lot of people up here who are on your side, and we’re working to increase that number every day.
Finally, I think you have done an important service by showing the violence taking place in Mexico. Unfortunately, it is easy for people to overlook it, as the media doesn’t like to talk about it. This is an important story, and should not be hidden from our sight.
I concur. Well said.
I have no technical issues with the site on either my laptop or my iPad, except for the “posting too fast” messages and the disappearing edit capability. There are workarounds for both.
Nobody covers gun politics better than TTAG — nobody. Don’t change a thing.
The industry coverage, like Nick’s recent piece on Colt’s M4 contract, is very good and getting better all the time.
Nobody does more honest, harder-hitting gun reviews than TTAG — so we’d love to see more of those, and maybe the industry doesn’t.
As for some of the more, uh, kooky posts, well, those who don’t like them can use the little arrow thingies on the left and right of the screen. That’s why they are there, no?
“As for some of the more, uh, kooky posts, well, those who don’t like them can use the little arrow thingies on the left and right of the screen.”
***-APPLAUSE-***
As for the personal gripes, there are folks here who I read every word.
And those I no longer read at all.
The human brain has a powerful filter in it, learn to use it.
It makes the rest of life go much smoother…
I think it’s an appropriate place to give a nice pat on the back for your “I order you to dance, troll” posts. Thank you.
It’s just a little amateur reverse-psychology thing.
Meaning now it probably won’t work anymore.
I do *love* playing with my little pet troll, tho.
Dance, ‘god’… 🙂
Dance, clown!
+1 on Ralph’s first paragraph
Gotta agree with Ralph, good reporting with some thought behind it well centered on the gun issue without getting into the weeds too much.
So basically this counts as a big thank you from me!
I thought it was funny. Although you had just given me a very nice cigar at the time, so I may be biased.
Maybe stop trying to stretch out a gun-related point from something that has buck-all to do with guns?
Also, switch to Disqus or some other commenting program. WordPress blows.
I’m getting “The time to edit your comment has elapsed” mere seconds after posting this.
“I’m getting “The time to edit your comment has elapsed” mere seconds after posting this.”
Wait about 60 seconds and re-load the page, that works on my end.
It is a PITA, tho…
(It’s also a bit weird how you can make a comment and the timer picks an arbitrary time between 3 and 6 minutes to allow editing.)
I found that just closing and re-attempting works, but it’s such a basic functionality that every other system hasn’t broken that WordPress should just be chucked.
+1
I’ve found that happens a lot when you submit your post and it says you have seven minutes left (when it should be five). Anyhow, I just keep trying and one eventually gets through.
Agreed.
OMG! my complaint really is the OMG! bookends on post titles… which i notice y’all are starting to use less.
I really do like Disqus on other websites for comments.
Cant be a winner on every post. Last night’s was a swing and miss. Sometimes edgy works, sometimes loose connections to self-defense works, last nights post was quite the gamble since it was both and it just didnt pan out right.
I’d like to see more reviews of guns and gear.
I’d also like to see the usual ‘natural/civil/God given/constitutional right to armed self protection’ line disappear (but that may just be me). Those of us here get it.
I’d also like to see the gun review section undergo a revision. The interface seems clunky. I like how the gear review just pops up with the newest review first.
I wrote that gun review system from scratch. And like I told Robert I can do functional, but I can’t do pretty.
The system seems to work. Thousands of people use it every single day to search for gun reviews and such, and with our massive back catalog of gun reviews (411 and counting) it makes more sense to give people a way to logically thumb through them all than ask them to go page by page.
Getting a better interface on that system is definitely on the list, but I don’t see how reverting to a “last first” list like the gear reviews makes sense.
Yeah, I get it. Just needs a polishing.
Yeah I’m not sure I could survive without the ability to sort the gun reviews by manufacturer, type, model, etc. But I’d actually also like the ability to see them ranked newest-first beyond the 5 most recent ones linked in a column on every page…
I can do functional, but I can’t do pretty.
My last ex was exactly the opposite.
I’d also like to see the usual ‘natural/civil/God given/constitutional right to armed self protection’ line disappear (but that may just be me).
No, it’s not just you. Like you said, we here get it.
All other things considered, keep up the good work. I visit regularly.
I keep repeating that line because I want to burn it into our readers’ brains, so they don’t say “my gun rights” but “my natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.” A mantra.
But . . . point taken.
I figured you had a hot key programmed to just insert that phrase.
One you’ve stopped using is People Of The Gun
More gun reviews. Reviews from training classes would be cool to but pretty costly. Review one of rifle dynamics ak as well.
Like I said before you zapped it into the ether, stuff like that mainly just indicates a slow news day to me; it’s a stretch to turn it into anything gun related, and I’ll admit that line about the little weirdo becoming a senator someday did coax a derisive snort out of me.
So I guess you want some constructive criticism, then? Okay, write this down: Flames are personal attacks. i.e.: Calling someone stupid is flaming them. Calling what they say or do stupid is NOT flaming them.
Now that I’m aware of this suspiciously hitherto-unmentioned complaint line, I’ll be sure to use it. I’ll also avoid flaming, since I know you hate that, but let’s all stay clear on what flaming actually is, hm?
Flaming is like the Supreme Court’s definition of pornography: you know it when you see it.
We only delete comments that flame the website, its authors or fellow commentators. Or comments that digress into discussions of TTAG’s editorial stance or style. Or comments that flame the subject of a post (ad hominem attacks).
We’re well past the point where Dan or I can read every single comment. But we police TTAG as best we can. Please report any offensive comments to [email protected].
I would like to see more options added to the review sections. (IE. Holsters, Sling, Optics.) It is a real pain in the ass to look up reviews on these specific products unless you know the brand name for a specific product.
That would be really neat. Holsters, scopes, etc…
I don’t know how difficult it would be to have sub-categories, but that would be cool.
That’s been crossing my mind a bit recently. When writing up a non-firearm product review the only actual choice for category is “gear review.” It would be kind of nice to add sub-categories like “optics/sights,” “holsters,” “ammo,” “targets,” “accessories,” “safes/locks,” “suppressors”…. etc etc… but re-tagging old reviews into those new categories would be pretty laborious.
Well, in my background I was taught always to give praise before your critique.
Things TTAG does well.
1. Informative interesting articles about pistols and so called black rifles and their gear. Especially good on pistols in my thoughts. I have learned alot here.
2. A great place to keep track of political/policy questions/problems. The idiocy of places like Chicago/San Francisco/New York is stunning.
3. A place that allows (within reason) people to speak their mind and blow off steam with knowledgeable generally upright citizens.
4. A place that is generally responsive to taking out the trolls.
Areas to improve.
1. A western shooter/hunter on the staff. There is in my opinion a big difference between hunting elk in the high Rockies and whitetails from cover or on a tree stand. Someone with strong knowledge of bolt rifles/reloading/long range shooting.
2. More respect/understanding of the people and organizations that in many ways gave us the current gun rights movement. The NRA is not the devil people and there are a lot of us that owned firearms long before 2008.
3. More articles on those positives within the shooting world. Give us a little more focus on things that are going right out there. Sometimes with all the negative stories it seems that the destruction of the nation is a self-fulfilling prophecy due to the doom and gloom.
4. More articles on stuff that goes along with firearms. Things like good strong safes useful cleaning tips and just other stuff, like good 4×4 trucks, knives/drinks/fun.
I guess that’s it. I really enjoy the site and hope that is continues to prosper.
Cleaning tips, tricks and shortcuts are always wanted. I remember reading a great local article on a homemade cleaner for taking out the stubborn black stuff that stays on the cylinder foot and breach face of a revolver, but I only remember half of its ingredients (it was white vinegar and…?!).
I also remember some dude in the comments here snidely mentioning superior and safer alternatives to using gun scrubber, but he didn’t actually name any of them.
White vinegar and baking soda?
No, I recall that one; it’s how we make a volcano for the 2nd-grade science fair.
White vinegar and hydrogen peroxide, perhaps? That’s peracetic acid, which (allegedly) isn’t good for bluing, but I’ve had good luck just dunking my stainless GP-100 cylinder in it to get some of the nastier baked-on crud off.
Be aware that it reacts with lead to form some more easily absorbed variant of lead. So be careful, or wear gloves!
Oh good, I thought that stubborn black stuff was a quirk of the odd stainless revolver I recently acquired! I guess it must just not show on my blued ones.
Mentos and Coca-Cola?
Oh no no, you mean Mentos and Diet Coke. Mixing Mentos and Coca-Cola makes a deadly poison.
MPro-7 Gel, and you let it sit for an hour or so. Then wipe down carefully with a shop towel.
If the gun was polished stainless, you could try using some 0000 bronze or brass wool with some Flitz or similar polishing compound.
I like MPro-7 for attacking powder fouling. I can leave it on there for as long as I like, and it won’t corrode or fog the finish. It softens plastic shotcup residue in shotguns for easier removal.
Lead residue/fouling in forcing cones and barrels of revolvers should be removed with the Lewis lead remover.
On the comment section:
The current page code only allows 3 or so comments ‘deep’ before maxing out, that really makes following things a major PITA when the conversation gets heated.
I’m not exactly thrilled with DISQUS, (*if* that’s how it’s spelled), either.
Any way you can get a code monkey to fuse Usenet to HTML?
Or how about setting up rec.guns.ttag on a TTAG owned server? Usenet is pretty damn stingy with system resources. It’s not like we’re gonna post multi-part porn files… Well, Dirk might. 🙂
I’d be willing to pay a few bucks a month read & post comments on something like near-bulletproof ‘rn’. And have threads go 20+ deep.
Huh, had mostly forgotten about rec.guns. Is Magnum still at it?
I couldn’t tell you on that, I was last there in the early 2000’s.
Back then it was running 500 + posts daily, and got to be a real aggravation just trying to stay current with just that one group, I was a Usenet junkie then.
And that was even though *every* post and comment in rec.guns went through moderation.The moderator workload must have been brutal.
Overall I continue to really enjoy the blog. I feel like TTAG is head and shoulders above other gun related blogs. The new shooter series is great. Bringing in a regular female commentator and an attorney were both great moves. The gun and gear reviews are top notch.
I would enjoy seeing a “Guns of TTAG” series. You could have one post on RF’s carry gun, why be carries it, other guns he has tried, etc. Then Nick could post on his piece, then Tyler, and so on. After carry guns you could move on to ARs, then shotguns. You could mix your favorite gear in, too.
Although I was critical of last night’s threesome post (and thought the reaction to the criticism of the post was uncalled for), I do not think the site is generally bad, nor do I think the quality is in decline.
I do, however, agree with the commenter above that switching to Disqus would be an improvement.
And, for the love of God, the “Passively Constructed Discharge” posts about media stories containing no passive voice need to stop.
Also, stop pandering to SJW victim groups. Doing so will not produce anything of value.
+1
And, for the love of God, the “Passively Constructed Discharge” posts about media stories containing no passive voice need to stop.
The articles he references treat the gun as an agent when it isn’t, which is an error. (Ironically, if the articles were passive voice they’d actually be correct.) I do think that that particular sort of error should be highlighted. My grip is with the mistaken labeling of the error, not the category as such.
Maybe RF could start calling them “Poltergeist Gun” stories.
Copy that.
Great job to all, that’s why i am a fan of ttag.
One thorn….is letting the absurd name calling get out of control during the political debates with the anti gunners. Despite them deserving it, i strongly believe that it only adds distance to any mutual ground you may get.
Keep things level headed when changing hearts and minds.
And ill admit that it’s often difficult when they sound off with absurd comments.
I understand the passion yet get turned off by less than mature responses to these opinionated fellow Americans.
Yes….they are stll fellow Americans even though we disagree.
That’s pretty much it for me…id like to hear more DGU. That’s my original reason for tunning in , other than that you all are doing a really good job…that story on havard…ahhh no bullseye…so what.
As you’ve said earlier the forums kinda suck and are relatively dead.
“We invite readers to send comments about TTAG’s editorial stance or style to [email protected] where they will be addressed directly and promptly.” < This would have been a good opportunity to bring attention to and make use of the forum. Less private than messages in your inbox but would invite more discourse among readers and staff.
Also I've occasionally encountered auto-redirects to app-store pages on my iPad when browsing the site.
You’re doing fine. Not everyone will like every article but I notice even the hated one’s get comments. So even they’re being read. So “meh” to any hateing.
I prefer the product reviews and the pro-2a articles.
I really dislike the crap where someone posts a little clip of a anti-2a article and then doesn’t say anything about it.
Example: http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/09/robert-farago/quote-of-the-day-one-plus-one-does-not-equal-two-edition/
Those kinds of posts annoy the crap out of me. If you’re going to link anti-2a articles to us then post something along with it to counter it.
The Quote of the Day presents quotes without comment because it’s an easy reading way to start the day. A kind of moment of semi-silence if you will. The readers’ remarks underneath more than makes up for our lack of proffered insight, IMHO.
Yes, keep it that way. We get plenty of other articles with the , shall we say, integrated rebuttal. Vive la difference…
Don’t manage by outliers, whether to the good or the bad. You’ll just jerk yourselves hither and yon and lose overall focus.
Instead, work to bring consistent quality to the posts, both choice of subject matter and the initial write-up; minimizing variation.
As for the post in question: not TTAG’s best work, but neither did it deserve such fierce and broad backlash. That (dis)honor goes to the post earlier in the week which endorsed firearms registration, but I digress.
Which post was that? (There are so many.)
I like it except for the slow loads / reloads / “commenting to fast” error messages. I guess if I want to see fast reloads I’ll watch Jerry Miculek on YouTube.
Only if the frame rate is faster than he reloads, which, really, it isn’t.
“TTAG’s commenting policy prohibits meta comments as they distract readers from the subject matter raised by the post,”
There’s your problem. The subject matter raised by the post was crass and something you’d hear in a high school locker room in 1995. For the past year it seems you’ve been on a slide away from “truth” and have become a gun opinion site that’s full of emotional arguments – the kind that can be found on any forum. Many of your published works just seem like continuation of previous articles – pretty much anything Dean writes is a rehash of the three things he ever writes about.
Your commenting policy should be: “We only delete stuff that’s illegal”. If you think you can delete comments when they’re critical of your staff or the author, and the audience won’t tune out, I think you’re going to be shocked. Maybe you should listen to those critical comments since that’s valuable feedback.
Also, you guys are missing the video boat. Your YouTube channel is weak in quality and content – most of it looking like it was cellphone shot. Video is another platform to monetize and the right video can be licensed. As much as I think Alex Capps is a total toolbag, that kid does understand video and he’s done a hell of a job with The Firearm Blog Youtube channel (51,000 subs and 5m views). Hell, even Gawker Media has figured out that blogs are going to die out to rich multimedia content and it has been building up a video presence for each of its blogs.
Delete this comment if you like.
“Your commenting policy should be: “We only delete stuff that’s illegal”. If you think you can delete comments when they’re critical of your staff or the author, and the audience won’t tune out, I think you’re going to be shocked. Maybe you should listen to those critical comments since that’s valuable feedback.”
I’ve always wanted this site to be a clean, well-lighted place for civilized dialogue. I don’t think TTAG’s best commentators would have hung around long if TTAG devolved into mud-slinging mayhem. I’ve seen too many websites become conflagrations thanks to “flame on” commenting policy.
“Also, you gu
ys are missing the video boat. Your YouTube channel is weak in quality and content – most of it looking like it was cellphone shot. Video is another platform to monetize and the right video can be licensed. As much as I think Alex Capps is a total toolbag, that kid does understand video and he’s done a hell of a job with The Firearm Blog Youtube channel (51,000 subs and 5m views). Hell, even Gawker Media has figured out that blogs are going to die out to rich multimedia content and it has been building up a video presence for each of its blogs.”
Strangely enough, I have mad TV skillz, acquired during my employment at CNN and WTBS (very funny). But video production is incredibly time-consuming. And our readers don’t like it. They are, in the main, cubicle dwellers stealing time from work. Videos alert the boss and co-workers. You should HEAR the howls when we (mistakenly) post an autoplay video on the home page.
Video doesn’t pay squat, relatively speaking. YouTube has reduced their payout to contributors to nearsdammit nothing. We simply can’t afford video.
As for blogs dying, ad blockers are an issue. We have a fix to escape the noose – that will REDUCE load times without pop-ups and another annoying crap. We’re also planning on launching a new kind of TTAG. Watch this space.
I like TTAG a lot . I have issues with all the same stuff mentioned by people , always room for improvement and growth but I will continue to read and comment as long as I am welcomed here . I thoroughly read most of the articles and the post on new guns and accessories are an absolute favorite . I’m put off a little by the anti police rhetoric but I understand that negatives are usually reported two to one over positives with just about everything and I can live with it . There are of coarse good cops and bad ones , good days and bad days , but there is a lot of good information here and peoples opinions about current topics are very fascinating and informative . Our Constitution is definitely under attack and the more information we can provide people to defend ourselves with the better equipped we will be to fight the progssive left .
FWIW, I typically include a YouTube video in all of my reviews. I admit that my YT channel and videos are mediocre at best, but it’s also fairly clear from what I’ve seen that the TTAG audience is here to read a blog and not watch a video. Some of that may have to do with peak traffic hours being strongly during the workday, or maybe we’re just a “mature,” “erudite” kind of a crowd that prefers the written word, but I don’t actually get a lot traffic from TTAG on my embedded videos. When the occasional video is picked up by a different firearms-related blog — one with less readership traffic than TTAG (which is all of them) — it receives significantly more views than when it’s here on TTAG.
>> I’ve always wanted this site to be a clean, well-lighted place for civilized dialogue. I don’t think TTAG’s best commentators would have hung around long if TTAG devolved into mud-slinging mayhem. I’ve seen too many websites become conflagrations thanks to “flame on” commenting policy.
My suggestion would be to adopt some commenting system that encourages the community to self-police. Slashdot probably has the best (as in, best working) implementation of that that I’ve seen anywhere: all comments have a score, -1 to 5, and start at 2. Random site users occasionally get five “moderator points” that they can use to either upvote a comment as “Interesting”, “Informative” etc, or downvote it as “Flamebait”, “Troll” etc – and can only use one point per comment; furthermore, they cannot moderate in any discussion where they have commented. Having several moderators at any given time is to counter abuse and trolling with mod points: if you see a comment being downmodded unfairly, but you happen to have mod points of your own, you can counter that, bringing it back up.
The real trick is that none of the comments actually get deleted, but if something is a particularly obvious troll, it quickly gets downmodded all the way to -1. And the default display threshold is 2 (i.e. what comments start at); things that are at 1 only display the subject line, and you need to click to expand them, and things below that are not shown at all. However, users can change either threshold – i.e. if someone wants to see the subjects of all comments, including -1 ones, they can; and if they want to see the bodies of those comments as well by default, they also can. Thus, it’s up to the users whether they trust the moderators or not. Those who want free speech all around can just read at -1. Most people read at the default setting, and some actually set it higher so that they only see the comments that got a positive mod point or two (on the premise that those are more interesting than the regular chatter).
I too have encountered the system your referring to and I think it would be a perfect fit for TTAG site . There are a lot of really informed and well written comments here and not a lot of gobbly goop either . If people could see how their anti sematic or race baited or anti religious comments appeared to other readers I think they would move on .
“Your commenting policy should be: ‘We only delete stuff that’s illegal.'”
I disagree. Sometimes people need to know there are limits, to keep us all moving forward. Unless it’s outright hateful in some way (racism, etc.), it’s not the idea that’s getting deleted, it’s the presentation. People can say their piece without abusing the other commenters, and when they learn that, the whole place is better for it.
I’ve also deleted comments on rare occasions simply because they were just outright stupid and noncontributory, and others that were clearly nothing more than someone fishing for a reaction. Well, they got one, from me. Delete.
Robert’s always been a little quick on the trigger about comments regarding editorial stance and style, but that’s his purview, it’s his site. The idea is not to let an article’s comments section devolve into an argument about how the article was written.
All that said, I didn’t much care for the threesome article, not because it offended me, but because I just thought it was stupid, and below the level of discourse I’ve come to expect around here.
Referenced article could been a lot shorter. I would suggest just a 3 word article “Don’t date crazy”
I read TTAG everyday, if an article is not interesting I move on, if is interesting, will read the entire thing, just like with the comments.
Other that erase happy mods like Matt in Fl, fantastic.
I also thought the ‘Yale threesome’ post jumped the shark a bit. Most TTAG content is better. Maybe it would help to give another person some editorial review privilege over RF’s pieces before posting (maybe a woman?). Everybody would benefit from an editor sometimes.
Good points.
I depend on TTAG to keep me informed of gun control issues.
What I like best:
Great gun-related news, updated several times a day, with a good mix of reviews, news, politics, etc. This site is the best one-stop place for keeping up with what’s going on in the gun world.
What I like least:
The lame ads. I’m fine with having ads, you guys have to pay the bills. But these are slow in the browser, and mostly stupid clickbait junk like “how my dad got laid by 61 girls” or “win a free XBox”. I’d love to see less of that stuff and ads for products and services that gun enthusiasts might be interested in… ads from Magpul, Vortex, Badger, whoever.
So much this – and one of the ‘browser crashing’ ads went into rotation just as I tried to reply to this.
Seeing the “localtown Mom saved so much on insurance by learning this ONE WEIRD TRICK!” type ads just make the whole place look less classy. I actually bought a Daniel Defense rifle once that started with me clicking on a DD banner ad so — why not focus on the known demographic versus “You won’t believe what happened NEXT…” type stuff?
Hey, I personally love to stay informed about which celebrities have botched plastic surgery on their taints, and how much they saved on their mortgage by doing just one thing. I also like guns, so TTAG is an excellent one-stop shop for me.
Sarcasm aside, the trashy ads are one reason I’m sometimes reluctant to send people links to articles here. The content might be thoughtful, intelligent, and relevant, but when it’s framed by that garbage, it’s very easy for people to disregard. Click-bait ads are almost always a strong indicator of low-quality content, which is why they seem so out of place here.
Agree with that . I don’t need to see women’s cleavage , tight buns or long tongue when I’m reviewing a gun or commenting about our 2 A rights being obliterated , but I don’t know how all this stuff works and it seems to be what pays the bills so I can just not look .
Well I’m satisfied. I get way more than I pay in, especially since the site costs me nothing.
I see a ton of gun reviews, I’m here for the intelligent articles from the contributors and commenters. A lot of times I see what I was thinking written down in a clear and concise way and a lot of times I see an article in a way I never considered.
More gun culture, more gun politics.
More gun news and current events, like the stuff about Colt, current politcal climate, etc. That’s what keeps me coming back.
If I want to see what will be on TTAG in a day or two, I look at Gun Watch blog. I know constant original content is difficult, but too much post duplication is a bad thing for TTAG.
I would like to see a Tip section. No, not where I leave a tip! A place where a poster could leave a tip about a product, service or anything related to guns.
Should have several categories, so one doesn’t get all loaded up.
Also, maybe a thread once a week for jokes??
I think the threesome post from last night was the result of too much whiskey and not enough woman, but I still found it funny. It’s the type of thing I would write. Or say.
My comments:
-Not all gun reviews show up in the Gun Review directory. If I google a gun, google finds the review on ttag. Maybe add a class filter (pocket carry for small .380s)?
-More gun reviews. New guns don’t come out all the time, so this means comparison articles. Also specify whether shots are done with bags and a bench rest.
-More ammo comparisons. I’ve been shooting lots of different brands and grains, trying to find the most accurate and consistent ammo. I’d like to see something similar.
-More how-to’s (building an AR, milling 80% lowers, 3 gun, etc). If it was done before, repost it for newer readers. People don’t know what they don’t know; they discover it when you post it and get them interested.
-Gun range/store reviews. Doesn’t have to be a directory, doesn’t have to be glowing, but I think it would be more informative than reviews on google.
-An option for users to list their location (state/city). It’d be nice to know where other enthusiasts are at and get recommendations on local things.
Still, good work on the whole. Keep it up. I hope it pays the bills!
+ 1 on the gun store and range reviews idea.
I’ve noticed that about the gun reviews, too. There have been several times I’ve wanted to go back and look something up from a review, and haven’t been able to find it in the “Gun Reviews” section. That interface needs an overhaul.
+1 on more comparison articles. All reviews are inherently very subjective, but comparisons are less so, and when we actually go shopping, comparisons are often the most useful.
Also +1 on more elaborate tags for reviews (and everything, really), for easy searching by category, caliber etc.
Okay, yeah, there are gonna be two minds of this for sure. “Stop catering to the (not-traditional-OFWG crowd)” / “some of us owned guns before 2008”..
Got it, understood, look: TTAG has already recently shifted their focus more towards the traditional archetypical gun owner in the last year or so more than they were in the past.
I’m not sure that going more ‘full camo’ is a good idea, but I know full well that a lot of people believe the 2A demographic does not need to be expanded.
I (honestly, really, respectfully) disagree. As an atypical demographic, earlier TTAG really opened my eyes to what was what (and what wasn’t what) – i.e., the truth, in regards to firearms and the politics around them.
Long story short: 2012 TTAG played a big part in converting me and a number of friends to being pro-gun; and 2015 TTAG is not nearly as easily engaged by nontraditional shooters these days. (Articles about gay marriage, religion and abortion, with tenuous constructs back to 2A relevancy… no. Though even I’m glad that everything Sara Tipton says is no longer prefaced with ‘SARA TIPTON:’ …)
Maybe it’s just because the gun grab of post-Newtown is too far in the mirror now and people have forgotten that the tent probably has to be bigger.
As to the idea that “one complaint probably represents many”, yeah, I know I’m going to get a number of flames after mentioning it, so a lot of people probably just are biting their tongue.
Plenty of blogs about traditional conservative political issues already exist. I’d like to think that the TTAG staff still believes that pro-gun is pro-gun, no matter what pants you’re wearing, but at the same time, if TTAG has decided to concentrate more on the traditional demographics with a riff here and there to “fire some customers” in the case of a few who don’t fit that, then it’s certainly the staff’s prerogative.
Of course both sides of this debate are going to see it differently. One will see “TTAG panders too much to outsiders who don’t matter and probably voted for obummer anyways”, the other will see “TTAG is becoming too exclusive to the archetypical ‘gun guy’ and i’d like to send my fence-sitter friend to a site that’ll convince.”
So maybe it’s TTAG just trying to strike a balance, and I end up seeing it as one shift, and other people start seeing it as another.
+1
Michelle I suggest you consider writing for TTAG. Would be good to see even wider range of folks represented here, and you seem pretty well spoken & gun detail savvy.
And I thought I was the only one who realized that change. I discovered TTAG in the year of the Aurora shooting, because I wanted to know what Americans of any political stand thought about the attack and I didn’t just wanted to read the New York Times et al. ( if I wanted to do that I just have to listen to most German news), then I found TTAG and found articles like http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/07/foghorn/crimson-trace-midnight-3-gun-invitational-night-one/is and others from Nick and others here, which fascinated me. I had no idea what other guns sports excited, the most you see here in Germany are traditional shooting clubs, with traditional shooting sports (i.e precision shooting) and heavy drinking. You opened my eyes to the wider American gun culture and after I found that I also found ( even if little) some shooting clubs who offer that. In the last year or even more I think you changed directions a bit from the wider view to a not so wide one. Thats really a shame, because you’re site lost a lot of appeal to me.
Michelle ,
I think the inclusion ( occasionally ) of topics like abortion , gay ( human ) rights issues and specifically religious issues relating to deadly self protection and how we all view constitutional issues , is refreshing and brings out the deeper side of gun owners that many liberal progressive Hollywood and Broadway types are simply amazed exist . We can contemplate deeper issues than just how to kill an animal , or disassemble and reassemble an AR or reload the hottest or heaviest 30.06 ammo is a proposition many may find confusing . It is important that outsiders that stumble upon TTAG or are referred here don’t go away feeding their typical stereotypes of gun owners .
The problem is that inclusion of those topics is basically an invitation for a flame war (they are called “wedge issues” for a reason!), and gun politics in US being what they are, you have one party – that being the traditional right-wing conservatives – over-represented to the extent it becomes a rather one-sided bash. So instead of attracting new people with non-mainstream (for pro-gunners) political views, the outpouring of contempt from the traditionalist base in the comments just reinforces all those same stereotypes.
……………..and that’s the point we become adult and accept others differences and respect and even learn from their opinions and not be combative and full of contempt . To fight with each other for a common issue we can agree on , knowing that all people are unique , coming from different backgrounds , upbringings , cultures and social economic classes .
Do we have a “night crew?” Taggers who work nights need the last post of the day to be open ended. That way all nighters can congregate there and keep the comments going. Or are there just too many of us with regular dayjobs to make that a thing?
More Leghorn.
Would it be possible to add a “back to top of page” button?
Reading long form article + comments on an iPad leads to rapid finger rowing to get back to the top.
Much obliged.
And a link at the top of the page down to the comments like the old days.
Tap the status bar. On iOS, that should bring you back to the top. And I don’t mean the address bar, but the status – generally, aim for the clock.
I was one of the whiners last night.
Overall, TTAG is outstanding. It’s the first page I visit in the morning, and regularly throughout the day. I tip my hat to the staff that must spend some insane hours keeping the content flowing.
Good things:
1. Gun reviews are excellent. Sometimes folks whine about ratings assigned or the authors interpretation of a blemish. I find no issue with that. We’re all critically thinking adults. You provide the raw data and your analysis, and leave it to the reader to form an opinion. The photography, article content, thorough review nature, and dose of wit are excellent.
2. Informative articles on technical gun stuff. While technically an ammunition review, Nick’s 300BLK article is still the gold standard on the subject. I learn a lot from work like that.
3. Legal current events. Whether commentary on DGUs, the latest ATF SNAFU from Nick, or articles from Dean Weingarten, TTAG is usually the first and best at explaining what happened and how it affects the common citizen.
4. Many others, but those capture the big ones.
Not so well
1. No broad subject in particular. I disliked that one article because of the sexual content. If I want that, I’ll go incognito mode and get all I want. Keep it classy here, not to pander to an audience, but to represent the largest and most widely distributed gun literature online. Don’t give the other side an inch of ground to stand on. You guys represent a lot of “constituents”, you have a voice that we don’t (on this large of a scale), and I love watching you dismember a stupid anti-2A argument for all to read. When the content stoops into sexual areas, it degrades the image you’ve worked so hard to build up.
Again, I’m a TTAG fan through and through. Keep up the good work!
You said that a lot better than I did – especially with the “Constituents” remark. Whether they aimed to be it or not: TTAG is a huge face for the pro-gun movement, and that face should be kept somewhat clean-cut.
No, not to pander, but to represent this constituency well, and not give typical fuel to the antis to bandy about as ‘proof’. (And, IMO, to welcome in the occasional curious future pro-2a person.) ($0.02, no contract.)
Very well said.
I’m not so concerned about “giving fuel to the antis”; if we don’t give it to them, they’ll just make shit up, anyway. But I couldn’t agree more that a site with TTAG’s reach and visibility needs to keep it clean so as not to turn off the fence-sitters and the “I’m anti-gun only because I never gave it any real thought and now something’s happened to make me question that belief” curious types who wander through.
Personally, I’m not offended in the least by sexual content or other, shall we say, “more sophomoric” content. But I think it does degrade the image of the site in the eyes of people who don’t know how intelligent most of the stuff here is. It doesn’t take much trashy stuff for someone who’s undecided to form a negative first impression, and then you’re sunk.
One recommendation: delete neo-Nazi, Holocaust denying garbage posted every once in a while in the comments immediately. It serves no purpose to the Second Amendment cause, and it is enraging and embarrassing.
Another is to keep the Facts About Guns undated a lot better. There have been a lot of good articles debunking gun grabber propaganda; unfortunately, they get buried under the sheer weight of articles here. Perhaps you could start putting links into the Facts About Guns with the articles that say, debunk specific gun grabber “studies” or incidents. They would come in very handy to answer arguments gun grabbers make in various comment sections.
One more thing, that article about the threesome was juvenile and disgusting. Please don’t put articles like that here on this website.
Otherwise, I love this website.
“One recommendation: delete neo-Nazi, Holocaust denying garbage posted every once in a while in the comments immediately.”
In TTAG’s defense, I have seen them do just that. Some really vile comments have evaporated in short minutes.
That said, if TTAG had to run the comments through 100% moderation their workload would be crippling.
Geoff is right. We zap that garbage as soon as we see it. The trouble is, we get hundreds of comments a day and can’t police it all as closely as we’d like. Please let us know any time you run across that kind of thing by emailing us at [email protected]. Thanks.
I thought it was both funny and disgusting. Remember, it’s not gay if the balls don’t touch!
I’ll come at this from another side. I’m a very pro 2a democrat. As such I love this site for its gun and gear reviews, for the articles dismantling anti gun arguments, and for staying updated on news. However, I do not enjoy articles that try to tie things entirely unrelated and political (gay marriage, abortion, last night’s sex article) somehow to guns. Also the name calling and blantant hostility present in a number of articles is uncalled for. Certainly some anti gun people are idiots, but a number of them are highly educated people who’s opinions can be swayed if you stay civil and present facts, not emotion. Overall these things decrease the strength of your arguments and prevents me from sharing this site with people who could become pro 2a, and reinforces the stereotypes of pro 2a people.
This. +1. “Ah come on you can’t convince any of them!” – Yes. You can. And people have.
So far I’m on four formerly anti gun people converted, and a lot of the evidence I’ve used came from this blog.
A pro gun democrat = “I support my right to bear arms but I vote for people who proudly claim they will take that right away from everyone else!”
Well it comes down to the fact that I’m not a single issue voter and will vote for a candidate based on their views not the view of the party. Thankfully in Virginia at least there are still many pro gun democrats up for election.
If you choose who to vote for based on their personal stance on issues, and not their party, then why identify yourself by party affiliation?
You may be registered as a Dem and have ties to a lot of the social issues of the traditional Democratic party , perhaps union affiliations and family tradition but the old Democratic party has been transformed into the Progressive party by the very words of their leadership and Progressives want to reverse the role of Constitution as a document that gives government power rather than curtail it and one of the primary goals of a devout Progressive is take away Americans right to purchase , own , and sell firearms . Social issues of a conservative and a liberal will always clash but the fight against tyranny must be waged by both . There are also a lot of liberal viewpoints here on social issues and the debate is healthy and robust and entertaining for me and I would hate to see that aspect of this site diminished , I enjoy the banter with int19h and others here on a range of topics .
And in the Senate and House and for the WH?
Which takes priority for you? Your right to defend yourself and you family from criminals and tyrants, or your “rights” to “gay marriage”, including fining and soon imprisoning of people who won’t do business for /perform “gay weddings”, and the right to rip inconvenient babies out of women’s wombs, stab them in the back of the head with a sterilized tool and then sell their body parts?
See, that’s exactly the sort of thing that makes people like that feel extremely unwelcome here. You’re pretty much going “no true Scotsman” on him.
Sorry your feeling were hurt. Which part of our hatred for voting for people who will ,make it easier for you to be killed or enslaved (i.e., when you are disarmed) upset you?
The part where you deem it appropriate to voice your [misconceived and misdirected] hatred in this forum. I would rather talk about guns, instead of educating clueless Tea Party voters over why, say, Obama is not actually a socialist. If I wanted to do the latter, there are plenty other more appropriate avenues for that.
Would you folks consider doing a “Defensive Gun Use of the Day/Week” series? I know other websites do them (here’s an example from today: http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=62020), but they aren’t as popular as TTAG. A website such as yours bringing about a weekly sample of real crimes being prevented by average citizens would serve to remind a larger audience of the necessity of defensive firearms than the veteran-oriented blog I referenced above.
Also, could you please throw in a couple “cheap gun” reviews every once in a while? For example, I’m still hoping TTAG will produce an official (rather than a contest submission) review of Hi Point’s carbines. Thanks!
Do you mean something like this?
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/category/defensivegunuseoftheday/
Erm, as a matter of fact, yes. That is pretty much what I was thinking of…guess I need to browse the site a bit more instead of just looking at the front page each day. Thanks for pointing that out to me.
I am a fairly new reader tomTTAG. That being said I would like to give Kudos to not only the staff but also the readers (commenters).
TTAG is the first BLOG I have ever read that I went back to after just a day or two.
The Staff: in my limited experience with BLOGS I think the staff here has developed a wonderful venue. I have thoroughly enjoyed the political articles, the gun and gear reviews ( tho a search function or some way to break down the gear reviews would be nice), and the positive articles about topics such as 2.0 gun ranges.
The commenters: you are AWESOME: I truly appreciate the well thought out and articulate responses. I have in my limited time come to respect many of you for your knowledge and ability to share that knowledge. Also the hatred of Facebook amongst many readers gave me some hope for the world. I Honestly thought that I was the last person on earth without a Facebook page.
About the article that brought this about: I found it quite amusing. Yes the article is one of tragedy and I feel bad for those directly affected. However the commentary did at least send me off with a smile. The comments following the article not so much.
Thank you all for doing what you do and keep it up.
I am happy with this site when you post things I agree with, I am unhappy with it when you post things I don’t agree with. Stop posting things I don’t agree with.
I agree with that !
I think you should completely dump the software currently in use and just run a forum with a front-end that resembles a blog. I’ve done this for my old site using Simple Machines software, and I’m sure there’s been significant advances since then. I know of at least one site that uses vBulletin as its message board, yet its index page pulls from its news forum through some unified content management system and comments are handled within the board structure. Basically, all comments become board posts to the original board topic and is tied into the news feed.
That gives you some major benefits: much stouter moderator tools, better content sorting, a unified blogging/community system. I think it beats the crap out of Disqus, whose only benefit is being the same across blogs. And you don’t even have to require user registrations…they can continue on as they do now with essentially “guest” accounts, or they can sign up and make use of the boards in a more interactive and full manner.
I know forums tend to be a bit passé these days, but I believe it’s a robust solution to a lot of nagging technical issues. And it’s typically off the shelf software that requires only minor HTML/scripting modifications, so I don’t think Nick would have any trouble at all doing it “in-house”.
I have a suggestion….I debate anti gunners all he time….and as new anti gun studies come out, it takes a while for the defenders of our rights to read them and point out the shoddy research and lies that make up the study.
Would it be possible to have more obvious links of the debunking of those studis…..you know, link the counter studies and fisking where it is easier to find and coordinate. I love nothing more than to bury the anti gun studies in actual research, but it can take a while to track it all down.
If it could all be right there….the anti gun research link and then all the counter links…that would be helpful.
Thanks.
TTAG has some good articles on that, they’re under the “Facts About Guns” tab. Take a gander and see if that’s what you’re looking for.
I would be really nice if this site was forum based. There is an active comment base here but the format doesn’t allow real discussion.
As for the article in question, it sounded dumb, I didn’t read it until I saw this article. Its fine with me though, I only read about half of what is posted here anyway, not every article has to appeal to everyone.
That being said, deleting comments you don’t agree with is a major sin in my book, and one of the anti’s favorite tricks. Don’t do it, ever. Once you start editing the commentary its all over.
We don’t delete comments because they disagree with us or anyone else. We delete comments that flame the website, its authors or fellow commentators.
We also delete comments about the website generally (and invite readers to contact us directly at [email protected]).
It’s been my experience – after more than ten years blogging – that if we allow comments about a site’s editorial stance or style underneath posts, every single comment thread devolves into that discussion. It detracts from the post.
Regarding the threesome post: I thought it was distasteful, crude and makes me think you were PUI (Posting Under the Influence).
I read TTAG exclusively on my iPhone. Top irritants:
– Tabloo ads with naked Cartoons doing it doggy style. And with 20 something’s provocatively posed. They generally make the sight NSFW and always end up on my screen when I’m not paying attention.
– the floaty nav buttons. they are off screen in landscape mode, vanish all together with ad blockers. I liked that they were accessible when reading comments, but to often the float over ads and lead to clicking on the wrong thing (I’m sure that helps at revenue). This leads to me to scroll to the top (simple click on ios), but then they disappear and you have to scroll down to get them back. Unless they didn’t load because of a bad connection. Grrr. A simple prev/next link at the top of the post would make me a happy reader.
– I like the gun related ads at the top of the page. The Tabloo ads insult my my intelligence and the fact that they take up one or two screens to get to the comments (almost as interesting as the content) gets old really fast.
No complaints. I get more than I paid for 🙂
There’s one particular written spasm that has to go. Until it doesn’t.
More operators operating operationally. Maybe you can get Haley and his beard over here doing something cute. Gucci ops. Vickers favorite recipes. More Tipton selfies, medical maladies, fashion, marriage and parenting advice. This place will rock when we’re finished. A nice little remodel. Oh, and definitely more veiled apologies, being actual admissions of poor taste and judgement in posting, by asking the schmoes what they think.
Not funny , just a waste of yours and my time , gulp .
I virtually gave up on TTAG several months ago due to the NSFW/annoying ads that kept crashing my browser. They even crashed my I-pad!
Then I got adblocker plus for Chrome which I use on my desktop computer. After that, I love TTAG and check in several times a day.
I’d spend more time reading the comments if some of the more offensive ones were deleted by moderators. I’m not a prude, but I cringe when inappropriate statements are posted here. Sometimes I wonder if the gun haters have people doing that to discredit us. Maybe TTAG could bring on some more volunteer moderators.
One more thing: I love it when TTAG informs us of a mainstream media story with an anti-rights slant. I like to go there and leave a comment while the story is still fresh. After a couple of days though, nobody reads the comments. It would be great if “commentable” stories could be prioritized for fast posting to the blog.
” love it when TTAG informs us of a mainstream media story with an anti-rights slant. I like to go there and leave a comment while the story is still fresh.”
An excellent point.
Timeliness in commenting to a anti article is *crucial*.
Hitting the intellectually honest with actual facts while the story is very fresh is a powerful weapon to us for defending our rights.
Anti gun articles can generate huge numbers of comments, getting ours in fast greatly increases the chances they will actually get read by a fence-sitter before being buried by hundreds of comments of the antis screeching.
Perhaps tagging them with the time first – “9:35 A.M., EST – Quote: “Execute all gun owners”.
1st is as important as 2nd Mike . Just scroll past the crude , dude .
more tech. less (fewer?) politics.
Easier said than done.
During the week, we post every hour, from 8am to 10pm CMT. That pace is essential to our Google page ratings. It keeps our reviews at the top of their search results. Which generates the majority of our daily readership, Which advertisers pay for. Which keeps the lights on.
Political and crime stories are easier to blog than hard-core gun stuff. I can write a 2A blog or crime blog, or edit a contributor’s post, in an hour or so. I can pen an editorial or extended fisk in about two. A gun review takes days if not weeks.
I’m not looking to host a pity party, but I also work on back end bureaucracy, raise a daughter, keep a girlfriend happy, run a house and work on the Texas Firearms Festival (sponsored reference).
That said, it’s not all about throughput. We are at the front lines in the battle for gun rights. Our daily sometimes hourly news dispatches are critical for those readers who want to stay on top of events. And they suit my news hound upbringing.
Both line: if we had more time/money, we’d change the mix to more gun stuff. We’re working on ways to increase traffic and change our business model. Fingers crossed.
When you get a chance Mr. Farago , I would love to see a review on the Noreen ( BN 36 ) , the 30.06 in AR configuration with a 20 round magazine rocks , I have one and after a bit of tinkering with ammo and gas blowback adjustments it purrs like a mountain line and it is the most accurate of all my rifles over 500 yards ,
I wonder how many people would be willing to pay a token amount (like, say, $5) per month to have the ads go away. And whether that would add to some substantial amount that would let you do more in-depth stuff.
Could do it similar to what Beck has done with The Blaze and charge an annual fee for additional content . I send in $ 99.00 a year to support extra content there and support him because he fights for many of the issues I fight for and I would do the same here . Yes I would pay for it .
I get tired of all the anti-Democrat comments. How about finding and telling us about pro-gun Democrats? Add to that warning us about anti-gun Republicans.
I register independent and vote issue and person , I find myself voting Rep most of the time even in local issues because they seem to parallel my view more often than not , but I have no problem pulling the lever for a Dem if it’s called for , just seems like the Dems have been taken over by gun hating Progressives . I like your idea on the list though , would save me a lot of work if I found it to be unbiased and accurate .
Last things first:
Just like most things in life, TTAG is on an evolutionary path and we are all fellow travellers. I may not like the personal attacks but I can tolerate them; we represent a fairly broad cross-section of humanity and I still believe in the golden rule.
User experience on current platforms (yours mine & ours):
I have no technical problems with site components/code. No crashes or hang-ups, a few slow-downs sometimes. I’ve deliberately chosen to run my windows machines on Win XP, perhaps that helps, just guessing here. My mobile devices run Android; no problems there either. My first choice in browsers is Opera (and Opera mobile for the Android machines); I have zero problems of the sort reported by other users.
Why I keep TTAG to myself (mostly):
The risque ads have made me reluctant to reference this website to my kids. The knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, chest-beating vitriol in the comments has made me reluctant to reference this website to 2A fence-sitters.
We have a dead-forum situation in our relationship:
I’ve sent your housemail account several requests to validate my application to post on the forums. I’ve yet to receive a single yea, nay or anything else over the course of the past year. I’m not expecting any response in the future either.
Content:
Love the way you disembowel, eviscerate and defenestrate the festeringly pustulent thought-processes of the antis. I’m really tempted to suggest that we, as a community, brigade toxic anti-gun articles at the source (get thee to a comment section and strike with righteous logic and virtue…). If I don’t find it interesting/relevant (as in the recent 3-some story) I let my fingers skip right over that ole tarbaby.
Pie-in-sky and which slices I’d like to get from it:
I’d love to see mystery-shopper type reviews of: ranges, stores and training classes.
First things last:
You’re doing a wonderful job. In my book effort counts for more than results, you’ve got to pitch to play. I tip my virtual hat to the whole TTAG team.
Regards,
Vadvaro
If this were a magazine and you ran full page ads that would be normal… If the same magazine also ran adds on the rightmost 40% of EVERY PAGE the readers would probably say it’s light on content…
Don’t run sponsored posts, they get few views/comments. Merchandise/advertise with some legit well done clothing (not cafee press type BS), run your own “add” for it on the right hand side where you do the polls so people with add blockers still see it and support this endeavor.
Add me to the So Freakin’ Jumpy Choir, I get fed up as well, more so because it usually is the worst when there’s actually something worthwhile to read. As far as content, the T&E reviews are always well done, and count me a fanboy of anything authored by Nick or Tyler, but I originally started following the blog because of the “Truth” info presented. Unfortunately, while I still appreciate and respect the 2A passion of RF and the other contributors, the attendant snark & bile included with the debunks these days dumbs down their value for passing along. I’m not against snark & bile, just more and more often I find myself thinking enough already. I’ll have to trust Leghorn that the forum sucks, as I’ve tried to register at least twice, to pass along story tips, and it will not accept the registration…as far as promptly addressed emails – still waiting for any response at all.
More articles on militia and pepper groups needed.
More articles on prepping.
More anything Ruger.
More anything boobs!
Less trolls.
Most of the articles are great. Trying to type a comment is VERY painful. Type a bit, wait for the browser to catch up, type a bit more and so on. Sometimes worse than others. Seems to be related to the little update circle at the top of the browser. Like the site is constantly updating and that seems related to the delay in characters appearing on my screen when I am typing. Similar issue when scrolling down a page. Action freezes for a bit, sometimes for a long time, and then resumes.
I visit the site 2-3 times a week. I comment 1-2 times a year, I have three guns, and I have my CCW.
All that is to say I’m probably not the average gun enthusiast who visits the site. (Or maybe I am IDK.)
The stories I don’t read: ZOMG!!! ANTI GUN folks say something anti gun!
The stories I read are: Gear and equipment reviews. Gun and accessory reviews about things that aren’t black rifle related
Ok I guess I’ll add to the websites slowdown of my computer complaint crowd.
What I was trying to say was I get that there are people that want to get of guns. But I skip most of those stories because I know how they end. I want them to stay because I’m sure they get lots of clicks and are an important remind of how our rights are under fire. Remember though, I get that from everywhere. Even my facebook feed tends be 25%+ of gun rights stuff, and I don’t follow any gun pages. OI
I want to be able to read about shooting, and guns with out the constant beating of the drum over my head of the constant political atmosphere that surrounds them. I want stories that are well written and not on every other gun site out there.
What about a series that highlights guns that are commonly available, but not something everyone might know about?
More stories about shooting sports? I’m not looking for espnttag but a schedule of shooting events in areas would be great.
I enjoy TTAG. but I’d enjoy it more if it managed to seperate itself from the rest of the pack of gun sites with a little more content of value, and less drumming of the battle drums.
Taken as a whole I can’t bitch too much. I have the option to get all wound up because you mentioned a threesome and I have only this to say on that, “Behold the field where I grow my damns. Lay thine eyes upon it and see that it is barren.” Anyone that cares that much is a whiny sissy bitch. We have the right to be offended but no right to not be.
You could do a little pro-active networking with other (and thinking of myself here) smaller firearms blogs. Some of us make some pretty interesting articles sometimes and we’re happy to have one picked up by TTAG without having to send it to you. How about you check ours and ask to reprint. You’ll always have my permission. (ballisticxlr.com , shameless plug).
Oh, 1 criticism: Keep the Should’a Been a DGU stuff from fresh events. Occasionally there’s some pretty stale bread in there.
well, since you asked..
I read the stories that interest me and I skip the ones that don’t. TTAG is my first stop every morning and throughout the day. I read the comments and participate when I have something to say.
I don’t expect TTAG to conform to my idea of what TTAG should be.
I like the contributors, JWT, Tipton, RF, et al, each brings a different flavor and perspective to their submissions. I don’t see the ads, (sorry) because it was either block them or give up reading TTAG. That being said, if you could clean out the celebrity surgery and ONE WEIRD TRICK ads and replace them with gun related ads, I would actually unblock and click on many of them. I use to read catalogs from cabellas, Major Surplus, US Cavalry and bass pro cover to cover, and I’m sure I’m not alone there, so I bet your click through would increase dramatically. You would have to be more involved in the review of the ad submissions rather than opening a gaping hole to Taboola and letting them decide. just my observation.
Also, I would like to see first person reviews for tactical and practical shooting schools, maybe bring in a newer shooter and let them write about going through a course or two.
What happened to the obscure object of desire line of articles? They where really interesting, entertaining and educational and that at the same time. Also I would like to read more about the gun culture you always mention, but rarely write about. The other things that are annoying and/or not good in my opinion I mentioned in other comments here.
More guns and gear reviews. Maybe add a “head-to-head” challenge putting two or more similar model firearms through a series of test and documenting the results.
Less commentary on political and daily topics.
Quoting legal stuff like, Politicians that vote gun for control violate their oath of office and therefore are in breach of a verbal contract. That means ANYONE including the cowards at the NRA, I have sent them this message more than once, can sue a politician personally. This would cost the politician personally as it is a tort action. No double standards put the DC politicians on Obamacare and SS.Thanks for your support and vote.Pass the word. mrpresident2016.com
Or, leave the legal advice mainly to the lawyers.
I’ve enjoyed TTAG for a number of years. I forget how I happened upon it. I read it throughout the day. Usually I find plenty of articles to keep me interested, skip ones that don’t. This site runs well on my iPad, no complaints there.
I don’t care for the click bait ads.
I would rather see firearms related ads.
How about a series Where are they now? Guns from history.
Overall, few complaints except….Needs more Cowbell!
I generally like TTAG. I originally came here on a Google search of a gun review back in 2011, and view the site several times a week, and during high news weeks, daily or more.
I’d like to see more gun reviews and gear reviews, tips tricks and pointers- and it looks like pretty much everyone else here would too.
Politically I’m conservative, and so I generally don’t disagree with your political posts- but it can understand why some people might, or might prefer they were less prominent. Anything that can help the POTG gain new membership is good.
I don’t really like when this site (rarely) attempts to comment on other social issues, such as gay marriage- I can get that comentary elsewhere.
The adds are and issue for me. For a while after TTAG switched to the new format (the current one) the site was nearly unreadable for a while- it is better now. I understand that this is, and has to be a revenue generating venture for the staff, and adds are usually a great way to do that. Maybe offer an add free paid version? Not sure how the economics on that one work out.
The specific article in question that generated this “how we doin’?” post- well it was a tad tacky.
When I was first coming here to read things, I really enjoyed that the site was clean, with a good mixture of mature, highbrow content, and sarcastic, snarky commentary. I was confident that I could tell anyone I met to check out the site. Now some of the content, I feel, doesn’t fit that. Not very much and not badly, but some.
My 2 cents.
I don’t have as many problems with the site as most of the posters here. The ads are no worse than most sites, I mostly ignore them anyways. Just checked, and one is gun related, two are Marvel comics, two are vaping and the others are click bait from Taboola. I’m running Apple machines all the way around and don’t have technical problems.
Editorial speaking, I like a lot of what I read (and don’t go to videos, I can read MUCH faster than videos run) and thanks for taking Sara Tipton’s name off every one of her posts – it was getting on my nerves.
Oh, and please don’t go to DISQUS. I personally despise it, because responses from other places it is used follow you around and don’t go away.
My single biggest issue is that TTaG has devolved largely into a “quantity over quality” site. I have to use a RSS feeder to track all the content you put up, and there are times you guys are putting 20-30 posts a day up. I have a hard time believing that you can put out 600 posts a month and have a majority of it be considered quality content. It’s especially irritating when it’s a small filler post that’s basically clickbait, some stance that is “intended to promote discussion” but really is intended to provoke debate, not all of which comes off as very healthy in the comment section.
Some writers are better than others. I choose to skip some writers because the content they post is nothing anybody hasn’t already hashed and rehashed hundreds of times already.
And your ads and commenting sytems…. y’all already KNOW people have problems with them. It’s been a known issue for as long as I’ve been following your site (well over a year now), you talk about getting it fixed, and yet…. it’s all still the same. I’m ready to quit following it. I’ll miss certain content, but the vast majority is just fluff and aggravation now.
Well I didn’t care for that post. But law of averages and all that. Some content is peerless, and some is… well not. But for the most part things around here keep me coming back.
First, let me say that I really like TTAG. Yes, there are probably too many posts per day, but the fact is that a lot of them are the kinds of stories that other gun blogs just do not report on. So, I think you’ve got a really nice niche in terms of guns and politics, and I wouldn’t suggest changing much, if at all. However, there are a few things that I’ve noticed over the past couple years which should probably be addressed with some seriousness.
1. Gun reviews from this site are basically not that informative to me, and as a result TTAG is one of the last places I go for a gun review.
Good: There are lots of reviews about a wide variety of guns.
Bad: a) Reviews are often myopic about certain features while ignoring the more important questions of how the gun shoots, how it handles, and how it carries. And when I say ‘how it shoots,’ for handguns, at least, I don’t mean five shot groupings. b) I also get the distinct impression that the vast majority of reviews were carried out over a short period of time with a small amount of ammo (100-200 rounds over a weekend).
Solution: More long-term reviews reporting on more shooting (500-1000 rounds). More talking about how the gun works and less about how it looks or just your initial impression. If you want to keep doing the quick-and-dirty gun reviews, then distinguish the long-term ones by saying so in the title: “Long Term Review: Gun XYZ.”
2. The style of writing is sometimes a little immature.
Good: Responding to a wider variety of gun topics than traditional gun blogs.
Bad: a) Using high-schooler internet slang constantly. Please use more formal language so that when you make a good point, I can forward the article to anti-gun people I know and they might actually take you seriously. b) Also, please refrain from being overly tedious in how you can sometimes take an anti-gun article and respond to every single line in excruciating detail. What you want to do is refute the central point quickly and support your own argument as succinctly as possible while refuting the other article along the way. It shouldn’t take 10+ pages to do this.
Solution: Shifting your writing style to be more like formal journalism would make the site more accessible and strengthen your ability to convince people of your points.
3. There is a lot of very – for lack of a better word – stupid content, mostly in the pre-2013 archives.
Good: ???
Bad: Spreading misinformation and bad information; associating good content with dumb content. For example, there’s an article called “SKS Trumps AK” from May 18, 2010 and the author very evidently has never shot an AK in his life. Just read the following quote: “Worse yet, the AKs (even the milled-receiver versions) have a tinny, cheap, stamped upper cover – you know, the part your put your cheek against when you shoot,” and tell me this guy has any business writing about AKs. Another article, “Why I don’t Like the Glock (and Other Striker Fired Guns)” from Feb 17, 2012 is pretty sophomoric as well, dedicating about half the article to something that people can get used to with extended use (grip angle). Newer articles about off-body carry touch on this same theme where, basically, the author writes a whole article about something he just doesn’t like because “[bah] humbug,” and bah humbug, ideally, should not be an actual quote from an article on a gun website about a gun-related subject. Use your words, logic and evidence-based reasoning!
Solution: Deletion of stupid content? I don’t know… you probably don’t want to hear this, but maybe put a little more thought into some of these posts before clicking ‘Submit’.
You need to bring back aggressive alliteration in all article titles.
A major problem is obvious from TTAG: We PotG are failing to coalesce around issues or tactics. We dilute our energy by not coming together.
One commenter wants to remove SBRs from the NFA; another wants SBS.
One commenter wants to eliminate all gun laws; another wants to get rid of NICS.
We can be sure that – so long as we have no focus on issue or tactics – the Antis will have the upper hand.
I advocate that TTAG serve as a platform to discover the issues and tactics around which we could coalesce. Pick an angle and do a survey with automated tabulations (and maybe commentary). E.g.:
– Priority on: NFA / NICS / Prohibited-Person Criteria / National Reciprocity
– Priority on: MG / Silencers / SBR / SBS / DD / AOW
– Priority on: Congress / State Legislatures / Voters / Antis / Undecideds
– Priority on: UBC / 20-year 4473 retention / Fees / Won’t-Issue / Constitutional-Carry
– Priority on: ad homonym attacks / vulgarity / logic / emotional-appeals / stories
Guard against stuffing-the-ballot-box. To vote, require the voter to enter his screen-name and e-mail address. Only allow people to vote who have made a dozen (substantive) comments. (Probably some other techniques.)
We all ought to be aware that TTAG is a public forum that – justified or not – paints an image of the PotG. Most of us are hesitant to critique the rhetorical style of some commentators. What image do we want to portray? Do we want the public to take-away an image such as: machine-gun nuts who use vulgarity and ad homonym attacks on all Democrats who are afraid of open-carriers? Survey results would serve to convey a better statistical representation. E.g., that only a few of us think the machine-gun issue is a top priority. Most of us decry vulgarity and discourage ad homonym attacks. Most of us prefer logical or emotional appeals; or whatever the case may be.
Perhaps an overwhelming majority of us despise Democrats; if so, we ought to “own” that. See what the minority view is; maybe the Democrat commentators would persuade the majority that we are better off finding common ground with their party members.
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