15 Years +

[AmBraCol]

When the old Sixgunner Dot Com forum started to come apart, yours truly started up a web page as an easy access point to the old "Gord Board" or "Pumpkin Forum" that was started up as a gathering place for the denizens of the old forum. Then the Leverguns subforum needed a place and the levergunscommunity.com and levergunscommunity.org domains were added to the growing family of shooting related sites I was managing. JimT and Paco Kelly gave the OK and on March 30, 2007 the Leverguns Community Forum became the official "community hangout" for Paco's Leverguns.com site. By the end of 2008 there'd been a few problems with the database and David Fagan came onboard to help sort them out and then supervised the move to a new server along with a dedicated virtual private server to handle the forum database more efficiently. When JimT moved to Mozambique he and Paco turned the keys of leverguns.com over to me and it, too, eventually was hosted on the new server.

Over the years it has been my privilege to oversee the back room as it were of the Leverguns Community forum and to supervise the bi-anual fund drive to keep the site up and running. Every couple of years the regulars on the forum have contributed funds to cover the costs of hosting and maintaining the domain names. Contributions from $5 up to a couple hundred per person were received - and ALL were used for the forum. We had to shut down the drive quickly at times as the generosity of the members soon met the goal each time.

David Fagan and myself as well as the moderators and administrators have always worked pro bono, seeking the well being of the forum community and doing what we can to keep it going smoothly. It has been an honor to serve and to be a part of this community over the years. But over the past couple of years I've felt my patience waning. The majority of the folk here have no trouble observing and living up to the simple forum rules:

Forum rules
Welcome to the Leverguns.Com General Discussions Forum. This is a high-class place so act respectable. We discuss most anything here other than politics... politely.

Please post political post in the new Politics forum.

But there's the few who for one reason or another believe that no place should be safe from less than polite discourse. We've done our best to operate the forum on the same principle as our livingroom. Everyone's welcome, but we won't put up with folks who do not understand respect for another's house rules. I've felt my patience waning and decided it was time to hang up my "@", or better yet, pass it on to someone trustworthy to keep the tradition going.

At the Shootist Holiday this year I talked it over with Andy Larsson of Skinner Sights and he agreed to take on the role of main administrator of the Leverguns and Leverguns Community franchise. I've had no time to dedicate to trying to grow the site and it has been a legacy site for some time. It is my belief that in time Andy will further develop and expand Paco's site with the same level of excellence we all know and love. He's introduced himself already so you can get to know a bit about him.

I'll be hanging around to help where I can, sure don't want to leave Andy and y'all in the lurch. Our goal is to have a smooth transition and to keep things rolling along for a good while yet.

Andy, welcome aboard! Thanks for stepping up and taking on this task.

[Old Savage]

Paul, thanks for the history and for all your efforts. I think you have made a good choice in someone to continue the operation. I am sure you will still be around in the background to continue on. I think the whole operation is strengthened. Here since Sept. 2007.

[gamekeeper]

My life has been all ups and downs over the last fifteen years but Leverguns,com has remained constant and has been a most important part of my life, I would have gone mad without it and all the good friends I have made here over the years.
I thank you Paul for keeping this ship afloat for all these years.

[Nath]

Thank you Paul. Tis a good place, and all praise to those that make it so.

[Bill in Oregon]

Paul, this site has been more than just another firearms forum. Maybe it is the unyielding insistence on decorum, but the bad eggs have consistently been shown the door and the regulars here I count among my friends. There just aren't many "high-class joints" online that I have found, especially focused on firearms. So this had been a dependable port in a storm and I deeply appreciate it -- and all the thankless work you have done keeping the trash at bay. I am an admin on one Facebook page and a moderator on another and it is exasperating to have to repeat the same basic rule over and over again. Thank you for your efforts and endless patience.
And of course have a very, very, very merry Christmas.
Bill

[Ysabel Kid]

My life has been all ups and downs over the last fifteen years but Leverguns,com has remained constant and has been a most important part of my life, I would have gone mad without it and all the good friends I have made here over the years.
I thank you Paul for keeping this ship afloat for all these years.

I couldn't have said it any better myself. The fellowship here and the friends made have often sustained me, and I have been personally lifted by the prayers of the good men and women of this forum. Paul, you have done an outstanding job - and an often thankless one. I know I'm not alone in appreciating everything you did for all of us. THANK YOU!!!

[AJMD429]

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It has the right mix of guns and other stuff, and I think part of that is because lever action rifles are unique in that they are not the most powerful or the most accurate or the most rapid firing or the most anything other than. . . . perhaps the most practical.

Thus the individuals who tend to like them tend to be interested in practical things, whether regarding guns, or other related outdoor issues, or even practical politics, versus extremes and hyperbole.

[Griff]

Why I get to hang out here is often confusing and baffling. But, I try to live up to the standards of the joint and be one of the better denizens. It's good to have such stellar examples in the Forum's leadership! Everyone I've had the pleasure to meet is worthy of admiration! Hard to tell who has the better collection, Shrapnel or marlinman93!

[Pitchy]

Cool Beans Paul, thank you for your service to the board.

[Blaine]

Why I get to hang out here is often confusing and baffling. But, I try to live up to the standards of the joint and be one of the better denizens. It's good to have such stellar examples in the Forum's leadership! Everyone I've had the pleasure to meet is worthy of admiration! Hard to tell who has the better collection, Shrapnel or marlinman93!

Having shared meals with Griff several times, I can vouch for him that he's never flung his food at another table.

[Woodtroll]

Thank you, Paul, for your contributions to this site. I don't post much but visit here a lot, and hope you understand that all of us appreciate what you've done here for those 15 long years!