Encouraging development, anxious to see what materializes.
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As has been answered by others, I seem to recall it being $20 a year of something like that. I believe it was recurring for a bit, but I think it stopped a while ago. Seems like I used to get an alert when it renewed and I haven’t seen one for a long time.
I honestly don’t recall what the “benefits”entailed completely. There was a sponsors subforum (largely unused), I think there was some PM/messaging/site storage “upgrades”, the post count gatekeepers were relaxed or eliminated as mentioned. None of it was really very important. At least not to me, I had cleared all the limit bars and the rest was just fluff (I guess I’m just not that popular. My inbox was never '“full” 
PM storage wasn’t an issue). I chose to sponsor largely because the forum had value to me and I believe it was “either we get enough folks to sponsor or we will need to go heavier with ads” so I pitched in. I know that now there are tiered forums with ads for some and not for paying members, but I don’t believe that was ever the case here at M4C.
For me it was a low bar price wise, and I was willing to pitch in. I have no idea how the Internet business model works, but I am willing to “pay to play”. The juice has to be worth the squeeze though. Overall M4C is heavily in the black compared to the pittance I have paid as a “sponsor”. I for one would be willing to subscribe to keep the information available to dig back through and in hopes that the forum might liven back up.
I’m also going to throw out another idea as a draw… some other gunboards have Postal Matches, where everybody downloads the same Course of Fire package with tragets and procedures, takes it out to the range and shoots it, has a rangemaster sign off that “I saw this guy do this” and mail the targets in - or now upload images.
When I was a mod at Redstate I tried to roll out a “Drill of the Month” for our shooter members using a different drill every time (Dot Torture, El Presidente, Air Marshal Qualifier and a whole spectrum in between) but it never took off. That might be worth considering, maybe see if sponsors might donate some cheap swag for the winners.
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A friend of mine used to do that and generate a patch to commemorate passing. I like the idea.
If anybody here passes FAM, I’d say that’s a BIG deal. Back in college and for the few years after, when I was shooting with buddies in local LE on lunch break we’d try the FAM Qual once a month and in four years I think I saw THREE passing “Possibles.” (As we understood it back 20 years ago, you didn’t pass without a Perfect, all 10’s and 10/X’s.)
5 months since your last post, fukker? 
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Yeah, it stopped a while before the software switched. I remember when the old site got really slow and had the mysterious owner thing, I looked back through my transactions on my bank app and couldn’t look back far enough to figure out how much money I was pissed about, and I realized it’d been more than a year.
Never left, but not much to say. 
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I’m hopeful, I was a member of Lightfighter a long time back possibly before I was a member here. A few others sites, snipers hide, ect. I occasionally just dropped off or out of most. In the past due to deployed or other reasons, that’s my past now.
On hope for M4C forum recovering it’s going to need to rebuild the technical base. Like A.C. Will, and many others of course are gone. Egos and butt hurt has killed many forums. P.O.R. is a shell of it’s former self along with most of the 4x4 ones of the past, same with scuba diving ones. Thinking back many years of a subject that I had commented on, more than a few of holy art thou were just about flat out calling me stupid and not knowing what I was posting, then acting like they were reading it from the FM & TM. Yet at the time I actually was and had them as required to be running M-16a2 / M-4 range. I had a few direct conversations with A.C. and Will on that. As several were almost demanding me to be banned for not bowing to others knowing everything. Especially since “I don’t have the credentials” as some do. A lot of my experience I’m not going to post on open forums, then or now. I’m not a secret squirrel person or anything but been a few places done a few things.
I’ll try sticking around and checking in occasionally… Trying to enjoy my retirement now.
Something to think about… There is a lot of talk about rebuilding M4C to what it WAS. That’s fine, but remember that everything is a product of its time and its people. M4C’s creation was about 20 years ago and grew through a unique span of world, military, and technological history. Consumer (user) tastes have also morphed. I don’t believe we will see the M4C of its earliest years, anymore than we’d see the Lightfighter of the same period.
The path forward is to identify the best elements of what was, find the users and creators that bring those things to the table, and install guardrails that keep it all on track.
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That is correct. As with LF, the long term objective is to treat M4C not merely as an archive, but enable it to continue functioning as a resource going forward. What we don’t want is for it to become a mausoleum commemorative of “the good old days.”
Question then becomes where and how do forums fit into the sphere and battle space we currently find ourselves in where social media has usurped mainstream communication. There are ways, I am sure. I have some ideas, but if anyone has any of their own, I’m all ears. This is ours.
To me, the biggest appeal of M4C was the more sophisticated subject matter. I joined another forum when this site slowed down too much and started to see crap like “Kel Tec or Ruger LCR?” threads.
I’d forgotten how monumentally retarded other gun forum’s members can be. I couldn’t even look in their “black rifle” forum because of how brainless the posts were.
Having a forum where SMEs can contribute without pea brained trolls irritating them is huge.
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So… M4C is your newly adopted redheaded stepchild?
Good luck.
Lol by virtue of all this software and programming shit I’ve gotta sort out to unfuck the joint, yes. But not because I think less of the people. This is just the more casual between the two by nature of its sheer size.
I’m glad to hear someone is working on making the site better. Good luck. 
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Hopefully we can rebuild and keep its human centric and non-marketing focus. I tried to search the internet yesterday for info on a somewhat unusual gun, and all I could find was websites offering to sell me a gun (that wasn’t even the one I was trying to identify) and social media links, which also didn’t have anything to do with it. 10 years ago, and I would’ve stumbled on a cool site run by a museum-grade nerd within seconds.
The broader internet has had every square inch modified to the whims of marketing dorks. We can still have organic discussion here without having to filter every word we read with “what’s being sold right now”, and “am I talking to a freaking clanker right now?”
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In some ways I am reminded of the PC evolution. There was a period of time when it was nothing short of head-spinning. While there is still new and improved the increments are small and less exciting. Same for the evolution of the rifle industry and M4C as a reflection. 20 years ago operations like Magpul were still relatively new and exciting… not so much today.
BCG gas key staking and gun lube threads will NEVER change!
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Well yes, very good point. M4C was the mature alternative to the fluster cuck over at ARF.
This is great news!