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Future of the Forum

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DDGator:
Hello all,

You may have noticed the forum was down for a bit this week.  Tech Guy got everything rolling again and there was no data loss.  However, we have identified a few things that need to get done on the tech side.

This forum started on May 19, 2004 -- over 15 years ago.  That is a pretty long time for any Internet forum.  Our current stats show there have been 92,632 posts in 8,828 topics by 3,104 different members.  All in all, there have been well over 30 million page views.

We also created a great on-line community of like-minded folks who treated each other well.

However, with Rohrbaugh out of the business for over 5 years now, the interest in the R9 has waned.  We are down to a handful of visitors each day.  New members are few and far between.  I've had to manually approve all new members in recent years because we get hundreds of spam-member applications every month. 

So the question is...  What now?  We need to invest a bit of money into the infrastructure to keep this going.  Is there any appetite for continuing?

I would even be open to transferring control (or maybe even ownership) of the domain to someone else if there was an interest--but it would realistically have to be someone capable of handling the technical aspects of hosting the forum on their own server.

So what does everyone think?  Where do we go from here?   At what point is the forum just not viable anymore?

Thanks,

-Duane

ECR:
Good Afternoon All,

Yes, after the sale of Rohrbaugh Firearms Corp. to Remington Arms Corp. in January of 2014, we all knew this time would come. We at Rohrbaugh did something no one else was able to do:
 
In the history of the NRA, we became the first company to “come out of nowhere” and, within the first year of production, became the NRA (Shooting Illustrated Magazine) “Handgun of The Year” for 2005!  That was quite the accomplishment for a new company. Through the years we introduced different models to add some spice to the fold. We always did our best for the industry to the best of our ability. We would work one on one with many folks here to make “one-off” pistols for them. We had a blast frankly in doing just that. Times change and we move on. But our family has always enjoyed that we were the first “World’s Smallest and Lightest 9mm Pistol”. . . . . and they were “Made in The U.S.A.”!  You know what they say about that:  There’s only one number one, or first. You may have noticed all of the other “Big Companies” the very next year after we came out in 2004 that they all copied our design to varying degrees. Mostly the slide design, which allows for easier carry than those large “square” slides like the other pistols of the era. Rohrbaugh changed all of that and now most pistols incorporate that slide design feature to different degrees to achieve easement of pocket carry. We loved the “copying”! You know what they say about that:  It’s the best form of flattery.
 
So, we may be becoming the next Bauer Automatic Pistol in that sense, and so be it. Karl and I have retired at this point. Yes, we still have the R45 design available as Remington did not want that pistol; they had Para-Ordinance and their 1911 version. While our R45 will never come to fruition, we at least made our mark with The Rohrbaugh Firearms R9 Series Pistols in 9mm and .380 acp. . . . . . and we are darned proud of it too!

Whatever happens here with The Forum, I will always remember you all as having trust in our design. YOU were all the pioneers of a fresh design in deep carry pistols! The rest, simply followed us.

Like “They say”:  There’s only one number one!
. . . . . and those of you that own one!? . . . . . You have it!

Please . . . . .  All of you. . . . . Take care of yourselves and your families and friends, for they are what matters the most in this world.

Peace to you All.

I’m around if you need me.

Best Sincere and Respectfully Regards to You All!

Eric C. Rohrbaugh

Co-Founder / Vice President / Assembler
Rohrbaugh Firearms Corp.

DDGator:

Thanks, Eric.  I didn't mean to make this sound like a eulogy...  :D

I would be remiss not to say that Eric and Karl were instrumental to the foundation of the forum.  I did not want to do this without their blessing, so I asked.  They took a chance and trusted me to be the very unofficial voice of their brand.  It has been, and remains an honor to call them both friends.

tracker:
All of us R9 owners and enthusiasts owe a great debt of gratitude to you, Duane, Eric, and Karl for initiating and continuing this extraordinary forum of very collegial members. It has been a very informative source of information for not only the Rohrbaugh Pistols but much more. I would support a move to keep it alive and well.

PhilZ:
It sounds like a lot of work vetting the new members.  Would you be open to help with that process?

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