Hopefully trouble will die down a bit in here and I will be able to concentrate on important matters, such as getting the new site finished and tested enough to open a "TEST" sample to everyone here.

What does this mean to you and why should you give me a break? Well, for starters this will finally kill off the OLD site. All the old content and product reviews will be moved in here so we'll finally be whole. Along with the actual content there will be new tools and information at your disposal. We'll have a new look and feel which will carry over into the forums to make the site clean and easy to move around in. Simple things such as the Feature Pic and Links have been redone to allow for easy management and additions. Basically, the forums will not be the ONLY thing worth visiting.

Once this is complete you can expect a summary of the upcoming member accounts. YES, member accounts. I'm trying to get a solid understanding of tools, needs, and wants of members and at the same time finding a "price" that will make things fair to both sides. I feel that for the tools we want to provide and to keep things going into the future, we need to establish this properly. To give you a small taste of what's coming and to allow you to plan accordingly I will mention three of the biggest features.

1) AR15.COM Email
2) AR15.Com Photo Albums
3) AR15.Com Magazine

1 - You will have an ar15.com email address tied to your user account. So if you're GoatBoy then you would be [email protected] and be able to receive email there.

2 - You will have access to some very simple tools to manage and create photo albums. These albums will be visible by anyone through your member profile. There is no limit to the number of albums you can create, but for the time being you will be limited to 50 pictures. (50 pics online at once, you can always delete pics to make room for more.) Along with the tool set, your albums will include links you can cut and paste into the forums in order share the pictures easily with others.

3 - As a member you will be able to contribute articles and product reviews to the site. We'll put up an article discussion forum as well to give people a chance to discuss what they read. Articles will have a wide variety of topics such as hunting, shooting, reloading, etc. Equipment reviewed will range from rifles (uppers and lowers), to optics, to ammo, and so on.

As they say, "the sky is the limit," and the goal of these memberships (or contributions) is to help keep the site going in the proper direction. There's a TON of work to be completed, and I'm sure there will be more ideas and thoughts on member tools and benefits as we progress.

Remember, there will be a larger news post concerning the memberships in full detail and exactly what direction we are taking. For now, consider this a glimpse into the future!

-- GB

Yippie! Everything I ever dreamed of and more. Christmas in June!

No. AR15.Com will NEVER be a member only site.

I've stated this before and will clarify once I have the time to post the current expectations for the Member/Contributor accounts. The basic idea is that we will provide extended features and functionality for those who wish to help the site. These people will be categorized as AR15.Com Members.

-- GB