Extra charges to non supporters

[Bigum1969]

I just read this thread.

I've read posts by glock lover and rookie. Posts that I've enjoyed and learned something from - particularly HK info imparted by rookie. I hope you continue to post.

I made a personal decision to contribute. I enjoy this site. I spend too much time here. I've upsized/downsized and shifted my firearms MUCH easier as a result of this site and being able to meet folks locally.

I look at it like this analogy:

Fenway invites folks over for an outdoor BBQ. Says he's making brats and pork steak. He bought the stuff out of his pocket. Everyone's welcome, unless you behave like a jerk.

Me? If I'm coming, I'm gonna bring some beer... ask if he needs a side dish? Come on, man? Plates? Potato salad?

If only a couple of guys are coming, then he might refuse help. If 30 folks show up, he'll probably graciously accept the assistance. He didn't make "bring food" a requirement for attendance. The only requirement was the fellowship.

Me? I'm not gonna look down on someone who forgot/couldn't afford/whatever to bring food. I'll give 'em a beer.

For the life of me though, I'll never understand the guests who agree to come, stay for hours, eat & drink and specifically refuse to kick in solely because they disagree with the host or party atmosphere.

​

Fantastic analogy!

 

[kingnereli]

This thread frustrates me a bit. The OP stated a dislike for people charging different prices for different sets of people. Other posters jumped in saying that they can do what they want with their stuff and that it's just a discount for helping support this site. Then, a mod points out that the OP has chosen to to sell an item with a discount to non-site supporters. It seems logical that the same reasoning would apply to his decision. It is his item and he can price/discount it as he chooses. However, the following posts were insults and various accusations directed at the OP. I'm not sure why there isn't consistency rather then distain for the OP's decision to set his price how he wants and not financially support the site.

Everyone who isn't currently a site supporter has some reason for it. It may be a spare cash issue or a desire to enjoy a free gun forum. The reasons are probably quite numerous. I think Fenway and the mods are doing a good job at impartiality while still allowing for supporter perks. Supporters get some extra features, but don't get a pass on breaking the rules or anything like that. It is as it should be. There does seem to be some, as someone else put it, "elitist" tone among the actual supporters though. This spread speaks to that.

For me, I have chosen to wait to become a supporter till this site becomes more then just a great place to talk about guns and 2A issues. If I get to know people, develop friends or shooting buddies I will donate. It is a stance that is no better or worse then a supporter's reason for giving or another non-supporters reason for withholding. I am only mildly annoying by the supporter discount issue. Only because whenever I buy or sell something I want to get/give a reasonable price regardless of who the other participant in the transaction is. I too have chosen to not buy when this is a stipulation. I won't knowingly pay one price when the seller will give a better price to the next guy because of how he spends his money. The result of is the same whether it is a discount or a non-supporter tax. Though I don't fault anyone for a decision they make with their own personal property. It certainly isn't worthy of insults.

 

[hotfarmboy1]

Is this the quote you are referring to? "There is not a non supporter tax."



Reread my post and let me know where the confusion is. I will
attempt to clarify if you still don't understand.

Again I "believe" the spirit behind the discount is one of a thank you to supporters.
I don't think someone is jacking the price UP for non supporters.

It's kind of a customer loyalty thing. I have low prices, some of the lowest around,
but I will further discount for a customer buying a lot of merchandise or a
recurring customer, someone that I have done business with for years that sends me a lot of work.
Again I'm not screwing the guy off the street because my prices are already the lowest
90% of the time and if I get beat I'll match it.

that's the way I see it ^^

A local independant Radio Shack authorized dealer is like that with me. I've bought a good amount of car stereo and other stuff off him in the past. And most every time he has knocked the price down for me and sells it to me close to cost. Not to where he loses money of course, but still a nice discount. His prices are fair on his stuff anyways, but he shows me his appreciation in this way. Plus he's a gun guy too, and knows I am, and most of the time when I go in there we always talk about guns, lol. I need to go in there and give him a card for

I don't have a prob with people giving discounts to site supporters, its their choice. Most of the prices I've seen discounted are already decent and plenty fair prices anyways, they are just making them that much better for supporters. If I were a supporter I'd prob do the same thing. But I"m not as of yet, but its still no skin off my shoulders.

 

[Mgderf]

I became an site supporter AFTER the 10 post minimum was raised to 50. By this time though, I was already past the 50 post mark anyway.
I also became a site supporter NOT expecting any discounts, since none were offered with the supporter status.
I am a general contractor, and I set my own prices. My fees change with the situations involved. If I replace a low-pitched roof, I might charge X amount of dollars. If it's a three story and a very steep pitch, I charge a different rate. My fees ARE subjective, and relative.
I HAVE, in the past, charged more than my normal rate, for a customer that wants to be an a$$. Call it a "head-ache surcharge".

By the same token, I've given unsolicited discounts to NRA members, to LE, to teachers, and MOST often to the elderly. There are SOME customers that I would work for FREE of charge, if I could afford to do it!
My point is, "Do unto others..."
No-one is FORCING anyone to be a site supporter. At the same time, I do NOT expect to be demeaned for my decision to applaud that which I see as a plus.
How I choose to spend my money, is of NO concern to others, and I reciprocate this sentiment. I could not care less how you spend your money.
I do NOT expect a discount simply because I chose to become a supporter, but I will NOT reject one either!
BTW- Sam's club is open to the public. If, however, you decide to "support" the bulk-buying concept and purchase a membership, THEY GIVE YOU A DISCOUNT!
Funny how the world works!

 

[Michiana]

Your reasoning puzzles me

For me, I have chosen to wait to become a supporter till this site becomes more then just a great place to talk about guns and 2A issues. If I get to know people, develop friends or shooting buddies I will donate. It is a stance that is no better or worse then a supporter's reason for giving or another non-supporters reason for withholding. .

Forums like INGO are no different then churches or many other organizations; no one “has” to contribute according to how this owner set this forum up but without contributions the site will eventually close. Some people choose to do the right thing and pay to play while others invent all kinds of reasons not to become a site supporter.

I notice from the bottom of your signature you profess to be a religious person. I am sure you go to church for the fellowship you enjoy with fellow church goers/members as well as worshiping God. I do not believe any church requires attendees to pay a dime to attend services but I would guess 99% of those in attendance put something in the plate every week; without which there would eventually not be a church to go to. Did you use this same reasoning when you first started attending your church; develop a “wait and see” attitude of let’s see what I get out of going before I put anything in the collection plate? People are not putting into the offering plate as payment for what they hope to get out of their attendance; they contribute because without money to pay salaries and overhead costs their physical church will cease to exist.

I must confess I cannot for the life of me comprehend how people can be so cheap; people who often say they shoot several boxes of shells every week yet are unwilling to come up with ten dollars to support a pro gun platform for an entire year. These forums do the same to help the gun owner’s causes as the NRA and deserve people’s support who professes to be second amendment rights advocates. I say to the people who show appreciation to the site supporters, “way to go”, keep up the good work.

 

[Joe Williams]

Oh good grief. Now if we choose not to pay to support someone else's political viewpoints, we are somehow sinners.

Some of you site supporters have the manners of billygoats. You are no different than the bums on street corners washing windshields standing their with your hands out.

Some of you are utter hypocrites. One has called us all leaches, but has given me rep 4 times in the past week for help I've given him. If you people had an honest bone in your body, you'd have non site supporters on ignore, so you didn't benefit from the advice you say isn't worth anything. You can get it elsewhere, but when YOU need something, you aren't shy about taking advantage for free. Hypocrites, all of you, so called men without an ounce of personal integrity.

 

[dice dealer]

I find it funny how some think that a non supporter posting an add in the classifieds is wasting bandwidth then they come into this post and ALOT of others and post stupid pics abput free cheese and asking ok who called 5 0 and have sigs that are 3/4 of a page long , or jump into every post that they possibly can with absolutly nothing to say , but because they gave someone $10 they think they can waste all this space ...

then come into here and preach how the supporter can give discounts to whom they want ,(I do agree with this however) but taunt the OP for offering a discount to whom he wants , hell even a mod was making fun of him for doing this ..

fenway has stated in many threads and scutter has stated in this thread ,
it is worth just as much to them if someone contributes to the forum with knowledge and anything else that is of usefulness to the forum ,
but i would almost be willing to bet that if they got rid of some of the HUGE sigs and useless comments by Alot of the so called supporters (and everyone else ) the price of the bandwidth would be cut in half if not more ...

 

[mikea46996]

Oh good grief. Now if we choose not to pay to support someone else's political viewpoints, we are somehow sinners.

Some of you site supporters have the manners of billygoats. You are no different than the bums on street corners washing windshields standing their with your hands out.

Some of you are utter hypocrites. One has called us all leaches, but has given me rep 4 times in the past week for help I've given him. If you people had an honest bone in your body, you'd have non site supporters on ignore, so you didn't benefit from the advice you say isn't worth anything. You can get it elsewhere, but when YOU need something, you aren't shy about taking advantage for free. Hypocrites, all of you, so called men without an ounce of personal integrity.

I find it funny how some think that a non supporter posting an add in the classifieds is wasting bandwidth then they come into this post and ALOT of others and post stupid pics abput free cheese and asking ok who called 5 0 and have sigs that are 3/4 of a page long , or jump into every post that they possibly can with absolutly nothing to say , but because they gave someone $10 they think they can waste all this space ...

then come into here and preach how the supporter can give discounts to whom they want ,(I do agree with this however) but taunt the OP for offering a discount to whom he wants , hell even a mod was making fun of him for doing this ..

fenway has stated in many threads and scutter has stated in this thread ,
it is worth just as much to them if someone contributes to the forum with knowledge and anything else that is of usefulness to the forum ,
but i would almost be willing to bet that if they got rid of some of the HUGE sigs and useless comments by Alot of the so called supporters (and everyone else ) the price of the bandwidth would be cut in half if not more ...

911 what's your emergency?

OMG WE NEED A WHAAAAAAAMBULANCE NOW.

What's your location sir??

INgunowners.com

What is the cause of the emergency sir??

WE HAVE VERY CHEAP PEOPLE CRYING AND MAKING EXCUSES WHY THEY CAN NOT OR WILL NOT SUPPORT A GREAT SITE THAT WE WOULD LOSE WITHOUT SUPPORTS BECAUSE THE OWNER CAN NOT AND SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY OUT OF HIS OWN POCKET.

We have two units on the way sir please stay on the line.

THANK YOU I AM SURE THEY WILL COMPLAIN ABOUT THIS POST WASTING BANDWIDTH TOO SO YOU MAY NEED TO SEND SOME EXTRA BANDWIDTH TOO.

Yes sir it is in one of the trucks.

THANK YOU.

PROUD SUPPORTER OF INGO !!!!!!
​

 

[Michiana]

Missed that one.

Oh good grief. Now if we choose not to pay to support someone else's political viewpoints, we are somehow sinners..

Sorry, I must have missed that sinner accusation, I better go back and read my post again. I just thought I was saying these people are cheapskates.

 

[Michiana]

Great post

911 what's your emergency?

OMG WE NEED A WHAAAAAAAMBULANCE NOW.

What's your location sir??

INgunowners.com

What is the cause of the emergency sir??

WE HAVE VERY CHEAP PEOPLE CRYING AND MAKING EXCUSES WHY THEY CAN NOT OR WILL NOT SUPPORT A GREAT SITE THAT WE WOULD LOSE WITHOUT SUPPORTS BECAUSE THE OWNER CAN NOT AND SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY OUT OF HIS OWN POCKET.

We have two units on the way sir please stay on the line.

THANK YOU I AM SURE THEY WILL COMPLAIN ABOUT THIS POST WASTING BANDWIDTH TOO SO YOU MAY NEED TO SEND SOME EXTRA BANDWIDTH TOO.

Yes sir it is in one of the trucks.

THANK YOU.

PROUD SUPPORTER OF INGO !!!!!!​

 

[longbarrel]

I find it funny how some think that a non supporter posting an add in the classifieds is wasting bandwidth then they come into this post and ALOT of others and post stupid pics abput free cheese and asking ok who called 5 0 and have sigs that are 3/4 of a page long , or jump into every post that they possibly can with absolutly nothing to say , but because they gave someone $10 they think they can waste all this space ...

then come into here and preach how the supporter can give discounts to whom they want ,(I do agree with this however) but taunt the OP for offering a discount to whom he wants , hell even a mod was making fun of him for doing this ..

fenway has stated in many threads and scutter has stated in this thread ,
it is worth just as much to them if someone contributes to the forum with knowledge and anything else that is of usefulness to the forum ,
but i would almost be willing to bet that if they got rid of some of the HUGE sigs and useless comments by Alot of the so called supporters (and everyone else ) the price of the bandwidth would be cut in half if not more ...

great point +1 for you.

 

[CSK22]

Some of you site supporters have the manners of billygoats. You are no different than the bums on street corners washing windshields standing their with your hands out.

Honestly I'm a homeless shelter coordinator. You wanna know how this works? Here, every pregnant streetwalker with no teeth and a bag of crank in her purse and her gangster disciple pimp with his "glock with the safety off" think they deserve every perk and good fortune the hardworking honest people who contribute in society deserve. So why does someone who just slides by on every hard working americans scraps and takes a free ride deserve to complain about not getting what they want? If you don't like how things are run, just be quiet, honestly, I'm sure your information is contributing but until your actually helping around here your just another guest taking up space having to be watched eating fenways meal at the ingo shelter. And trust me, I work at the shelter because I love the interaction I get with the guests, I've made great friendships, but the ones that stand out the most are the one's who take the time to help out, some even come back months later financially once they get and job and that is a true story. I think the administrator may actually agree with that last statement here.

You look at me, I make 45 dollars a night working there, that's nothing for having guns pulled on me, dealing with removing high/drunk/mentally unstable guests physically myself. You want to know why I contribute to this site? Because if I don't this wont be a safe environment, if I don't put effort into this site both financially and with facts and information I won't be able to enjoy this site in the future. This place is not my life, but I enjoy coming here to learn and to help. I suggest you do the same, and don't worry about people trying to help a brother out for supporting a site they believe in, if you don't like it you can either not dignify a response to it or you can take your business else ware. We do appreciate your posts, and I do not judge someones post on weather or not they are a site supporter to give it credibility, but I am much more comfortable doing business or meeting up with someone ftf if they are a supporter. And watch how you talk about bums, they may save your life one day.


Bottom line its a free country, and this is a free site, if people want to give handouts, they can, if they don't they dont have to. If you dont like it to buy it don't bite on their hook.



EDIT: Just realized I keep quoting your posts for some reason, its nothing personal i'm sure, sorry dude, and I'm not trying to attack you either, we are all indiana gun owners before we are memebers of indiana gun owners.com. not trying to start a fight or anything just trying to state my point of view

 

[The Meach]

FYI - I don't believe it's "charging extra" more than giving a
"discount" to site supporters. Just a thank you and an
encouragement to people to become site supporters.

There is not a non supporter tax.

Someone might post an ad and say "$325.00 or will sell for $300 if you have red hair and a eye patch" - maybe they just like pirates.

What if they just have an eye patch?

 

[Mgderf]

What if they just have an eye patch?

Then they're just WEIRD!

 

[hoosiertriangle]

The word "some" in your post is the only thing stopping me from using the ignore user feature for the first time ever. I don't like being grouped together with a minority of people and most of all labeled a hypocrite. I think this is the first time I have ever been so angered by somebody on the internet. Please don't call me a hypocrite unless an you can show me where I've gone wrong. I'll own up to the problem and work to make amends.

Please do better next time.

Some of you are utter hypocrites. One has called us all leaches, but has given me rep 4 times in the past week for help I've given him. If you people had an honest bone in your body, you'd have non site supporters on ignore, so you didn't benefit from the advice you say isn't worth anything. You can get it elsewhere, but when YOU need something, you aren't shy about taking advantage for free. Hypocrites, all of you, so called men without an ounce of personal integrity.

 

[Joe Williams]

The word "some" in your post is the only thing stopping me from using the ignore user feature for the first time ever. I don't like being grouped together with a minority of people and most of all labeled a hypocrite. I think this is the first time I have ever been so angered by somebody on the internet. Please don't call me a hypocrite unless an you can show me where I've gone wrong. I'll own up to the problem and work to make amends.

Please do better next time.

The fact that you can read through the posts in this thread, and then take ME to task instead of your fellows making those most distasteful attacks says it all, to me. You think you are angry? Imagine, if you can, after reading all the name calling in this thread, and very few stepping up to say anything about it, imagine how little I care about your hurt feelings. What you SHOULD have done was stepped up earlier, but you didn't.

Feel free to use the ignore feature. That's what it's there for, and I couldn't possibly care less.

 

[hoosiertriangle]

You should care more, because you do say things that are valuable and helpful. I took you to task because you assaulted my character and integrity. You suggest that I should have taken other site supporters to task for their "distasteful attacks." I think in most all of their cases, they were offering an opinion which I may have agreed with or could at least see their point of view.

I spoke up because I was attacked by a blanket statement. I didn't ignore you because of the previously mentioned useful comments. Ignoring others in the end only hurts me. At the end of the day we have to share this world together. I'm always open to correction, and I believe you may be right that because I agreed with most of what was being said, I filtered the the name calling out inappropriately. I will look to be a hair more even handed. Regardless, at the end of the day I didn't ignore you because I want us all to learn to live together, become better, and continue the good fight.

The fact that you can read through the posts in this thread, and then take ME to task instead of your fellows making those most distasteful attacks says it all, to me. You think you are angry? Imagine, if you can, after reading all the name calling in this thread, and very few stepping up to say anything about it, imagine how little I care about your hurt feelings. What you SHOULD have done was stepped up earlier, but you didn't.

Feel free to use the ignore feature. That's what it's there for, and I couldn't possibly care less.

 

[USMC_0311]

I think everyone should pay. Then we would have no arguments on whether or not one should or should not be a supporter. Its amazing to me that anyone thinks its free to run this site or that its one persons problem. Money donated goes directly to the cost to run it. Its not a politcal organization required to use your donation to support 2a rights. Just my but I think INGO would be a much better forum if everyone was required pay a small fee.

 

[VUPDblue]

This thread poses an interesting conundrum to me. I WANT to close it because I'm sick of seeing all this crying, whining and complaining. It isn't a very fun thread to read, and is no longer useful. That said, if I do close it, I'll be accused of quashing the arguement and "censoring" what goes on on INGO. All I'll say is Please play nice and don't let this devolve into name calling and insults. It's on the edge now, please don't push it over.

-Nick

 

[MACHINEGUN]

We should have an INGO boxing tournament...Non-site supporters verses Site supporters.

It would be more fun than reading any of this BS.