NOTssmbbs.com

It's a marketing blunder of galactic proportions, to coin a phrase.

Being someone who has made plenty of marketing blunders in his career, I am not too surprised that they are trying this. Companies are always looking to differentiate themselves in order to grow or increase earnings.

There are plenty of magazines for well to do, politically conservative shooters/hunters: Shooting Gazette, The Field, Gray's, etc. I always read the yearly circulation statements in magazines to see how they're doing. SS has not been growing much over the past 10 years if I read the statements correctly.

I look to SS to start working with Sierra Club (note the two-page ad in the latest issue) and other slightly left leaning conservation groups to create a shooting/hunting magazine that mirrors the Nancy-boy fly fishing stuff that the parent company publishes. "Catch and release", "tread lightly" etc. Note the preponderance of articles about REALLY expensive "art guns" and the new dopey ads from places like the "Atlanta People who have never held a shotgun for a photograph Company".

I wish them well, sort of. But they no longer mirror my interests if that's the direction they're going.

I'm going to take another look at their magazine. There is something to what you say; I've felt I didn't have a lot in common with the mag or the BB of late but I thought it was me that had changed. I've only been sticking around because of you guys and of habit.

The absolute and utter BS about McIntosh only losing one shot bird in his life was where the lightbulb came on for me. Either he's shot about 12 birds which I doubt or he's fibbing to make some kind of weenie ethical point.

I was blessed enough to have one of the better all around hunting dogs I've ever hunted over and we managed to lose a couple of pheasant and a couple of grouse in our 12 years of hunting together. It happens.

Don't tell Mac has been turned to the dark side. I just thought Mac showing his bit of Irish blood and fair amount of Scotch whisky. In such a state, AS long as its a good story, it doesn't have to be a true one.

As they say in the outdoor writing business, don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.

_________________
David

But the moral man does not look at his freedom and say, "I can do what I want," but sees that freedom as the power to do what he ought. -Mike "Wingshooter" McDaniel

http://1-david-drew.artistwebsites.com/

I was invited to this BBS by a dear friend. I too had been disappointed with the SSBBS of late. I hope this site will continue the promise that the SSBBS started with. My true love is shotguns; all types. I own a few, most are better suited to upland game, but I shoot lots of sporting clays too.
The Desert Rat

_________________
Peace is that glorious moment in history when everyone stands around -- reloading

Desert Rat

Hey Desert Rat! Welcome in! Good to have another renegade conservative in the ranks!

Gents...if you visit Las Vegas and want to get in some excellent sporting clays while you are there, Desert Rat is your man! But DO NOT shoot for $$ or you may feel like you are visiting a casino. He shoots as good as Mr. Voss!!

Atticus

_________________
"The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too."

Samuel Butler, (Notebooks) (1912)

hello to all !! glad to find each of you here..

I used to go by Bo Charlie at the other spot, but now will use my real one here.

Regards,

Mike Speak

I wasn't banned from SSBB. I'm here because I'm one of the many who felt that, as Popeye would say, "Enough is too much!"

I'd had enough of ol' Eddie's crapola, even to the point that I've allowed my subscription to the magazine to expire. I voted with my CLOSED wallet. I accompanied that action with an e-mail of explanation to the magazine's powers that be. NO reply ever came back. It's apparent to me that they won't miss my money, and I certainly won't miss their holier-than-thou attitude.

Ol' Eddie, et al, may shit in their hats and pull them over their ears.

There were enuff apparatchniks at Ye Olde Shotte Sportsman, doncha think?

Mostly JohnM. Sometimes John the Red specifically regarding Second Amend issues, politicians of the yellow stripe, the "roll over and fuck me, please" gun-law appeasement crowd, and generally regarding anyone else who wants to have power or control over other people.

Actually can be charming, witty, and polite company, where the 'assholes present and accounted for' factor is kept at a minimum. Tho, as a medical necessity fine demon rum and I have parted ways. However, a large thimbleful of the good stuff is always possible, if it's especially delightful. And alas, those wonderfully nicotine-narcotic, handrolled Norwegian shag spliffs are a thing of the past.

Don't go to the shotty-gun shoots anymore, but am happy that I made some good acquaintances and friends there and on assorted BBS's over the years. Shotguns are more utilitarian for me right now, whilst I pursue long range iron-sight handgun plinking, walkin' around light varmint rifles, and ridding the world of those horrible and invasive poptop beverage containers bymeans of repeated remotely originated perforations.

O, yeah...I may be disqualified here, tho. You see, my new river and canoe gun is a lightly used Mossberg Camo'd, 3 1/2" 12 pumpgun. Yup...after years of trying to keep nice guns nice, in the grit and mud and water and rock and dogs, I caved to utility. Much rather have a SxS 9 lb ejector boxlock Ten, of modern materials and finish, but there you have it. I am a Heretic, and damn happy about it, too.

Anywayz, you may enlist me if you wish, just to stick a cockleburr booger up the Olde Admin's commie nose. What a whining baby. Mebbe a group buy of pacifiers oughta be sent to the SSM boys, as a reminder of their orientation. Oh, and BTW, a News Clipping service of the latest Gun Law idiocies from Aussie-land, England, South Africa, and the latest Congo tribal atrocities might serve to remind them of exactly the fragility of their insular world.

Feel free to repeat my sentiments to SSM, as I doubt that I GAF about who would be offended. Y'know, mebbe the SSM crowd could work out some advertising space with Wayne Pacelle of HSUS and PETA. That power-mongering SOB would be glad to trade them the privilige to have registered replica firearms permantly welded in place over their Country Inne fireplaces, in return for some face space.

Ralph and Company just can't grasp the larger picture of where the Shooting Sports are headed, and mos' certainly do not want to hear anything that is not Blue Skies. I pretty much quit reading and posting there somewhist ago, when I discovered perfectly reasonable gun rights screeds being deleted. And, hell, I was even being nice. Fuck 'em, if they can't read sign in the political forest.

Oh, yeah. Happy to see y'alls, y'all.

_________________
I have no use for those beings who seek power and control over other people.

Desert Rat,
I go to Vegas once a month for 2-3 days. I have an office out at the NTS and I have other business with several of the agencies in town and at Losee Road. Can you PM me and tell me where you shoot? Is it at that range out on North 95? The Las Vegas Gun Club?

John you never cease to cause a smile on my face

Good morning all,

Like Desert Rat, I too was invited by a good friend. I'd wondered where you all went. While I agree that SSMBBS Admin has been somewhat unfair, heavy handed, and had applied his powers unevenly across the political spectrum, I do not agree with abandoning that site. In fact, I will continue to post there, if only to uphold the honor of my fallen comrads.

Seriously, do any of you think that the Admins or Editors at SSM really care if you or ten of us or even 1000 of us drop our subscriptions? Magazines make their money from their advertizers. True, it is based on circulation, but the number of losses here is minimal and will not effect their rates. What we could (and probably should) do, if we feel strongly enough, is to maintain our subscriptions and contact the advertisers and tell them that if they continue to support SSM we will consider them to be of like mind and we will stop supporting them. Advertisers usually do not receive much corrispondance of this type, and I suspect that 100 or so letters and/or emails each would get their attention. Once you have their attention, you'll have SSM's attention.

Frank

Frank, not sure anyone cares about their attention. They have their forum, run as they wish it to be, and we have this one. That is the American way. People are free to participate on one, both or neither.

Frank, curmudgeon makes a very good point. Frankly, I don?t think I would return to that board even if I were to be offered a full amnesty (of course, as the first bootee, I doubt that would happen). The fact is the ?attitude? by that management is simply undesirable. They made a choice as to how to treat their customers (yup, that would be us) and acted accordingly. Based on Ralph?s admin posts that followed, I don?t sense that he feels their decision was in error. As the customer I decide where I?ll spend my money. But, I don?t plan to waste any time writing advertisers either. I don?t really care what happens to that board or that magazine. I do know that they will receive no more of my support. Well, there I go getting all wordy again; guess I could have cut right to the point by saying, ?Screw them?.