Hi folks!
Marshal'ette and I have spent over 4,300 hours building DownRange.TV and the DRTV community the way it is today. Our work also includes offline work with members and the firearms industry. We have loved every minute of it. And continue to love it each day.
You all have become like family to us, so I hope you will keep an open mind as you read this.
We have tried our best to keep the forum part as warm and ' home-like ' as possible without running it with a hard hand. We are firmly against that . And I believe we have succeeded mostly because of the higher caliber and standards of our members, who have always without question respected the policy's of this forum.
We know first hand that it takes a long time to build an online community and it takes a very short time to destroy it, sometimes hours.
The new forum rules sound harsh and they came very suddenly and without warning.
Threads being deleted is the last option for us and it hurts to do it.
Personally, I hate being a subject of censorship. Believe me, as active posting members of forums, we look at things the same way as you do, and can fully understand how others can and will react.
We have been honest and straight forward about our opinions to them and to you and have tried our best to be fair and balanced.
What you can read on the forum or on any forum does not always represent what is also going on behind the scenes.
Representatives from the firearms industry do read the opinions and we do forward the viewpoints and opinions to the companies.
Maybe we should post more and keep you informed of this when it is done. The reason we don't always do that, is that we don't want to create expectations that we have no control of or not able to deliver.
Our apologies to you all for not keeping you more informed on that part of it.
We also invite those representatives to answer and comment to you about the ongoing dialogs on topics.
Lately, we have also realized that we have had to answer and be accountable for our member's opinions. I know that there are some members who have been upset about products and have openly stated their opinion. This can happen in any forum and with any products that we, as consumers purchase.
To be upset is okay and to discuss the negatives of that particular product is okay too. We are not advocating a Pollyanna state of mind forum. Far from it.
We are not talking about the specific criticism and negative expediencies.... (we need these, as the information is very important to others who purchase these products). But we're talking more about the cynicism and initiatives that are likely to be defined as campaigns to smear a specific brand or model. Sometimes it starts as an off the cuff statement and innocent joke and before you know it, it becomes serious without anyone really knowing how the hell it turned that way. No matter how innocent it is, we on this side of the fence, end up having to answer to the final result.
The Internet is a perfect place for these types of things to get out of control and go over the top.. even when they initially didn't start as such. It has a domino effect, because sometimes the less knowledgeable comes on board anonymously and for various reasons likes to chime in and stir the pot some more. When that happens...then it becomes unfair, unbalanced and totally out of control.
It also becomes, "the truth and only the truth." From there it moves over to other forums and online communities. Compare it to the online political campaigns we have recently seen our share of. Like a grass fire out of control.
We as owners and editors, have to answer to this either through normal communications or in the worst case through legal channels. This might be a surprise to you as forum members, but it is a fact we have to deal with no matter what disclaimers and rules are posted. The end result is, we are responsible for everything that is on our website. The Good..The Bad.. and The Ugly.
Some have criticized us for protecting our sponsors. Yes, of course we do! The very same way as we protect the industry in general from unfair negativity. We give you, as forum members, and the sponsors the same chance to answer to the specifics at hand. They normally don't answer the same day as active forum members do. They are not as active in the forums as we all are on a daily basis. And sometimes, even though they are reading the complaints, they don't answer. We have no control over that part.
In the meantime, criticism keeps building on the criteria I mentioned above. This was also noticed by the industry even from companies that wasn't mentioned and since we didn't stop it (as in deleting posts/threads), we became... as editors .... responsible for the smear campaigns.
The worst part is the fact that the communication we established offline on behalf of the members who had legitimate complaints or concerns became a waste of time.
We do not want these efforts to be wasted and that is the main reason threads were deleted today.
Please do not think that your posts have just been tossed out in cyber space. That is not the case at all, and will never happen.
All the messages... good and bad..that were posted, have been forwarded to proper channels. In this case Ruger and Taurus. So your posts will be read and considered important.
Please understand our position and please, we hope you will try to understand that we and Michael do work for your interests the same way as we work for the interests of the firearms industry. We want to try to keep future communications fair and balanced between everyone.
For those of you who are upset by this decision..We hope that we have explained things so that you can see our side of it.
We want to thank you so much for all that you give to the forum in your thoughts and knowledge.
We hope you will continue to post, critique products in an informational way and continue to make Down Range your online home.
Marshal & Marshal'ette
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