Is it my imagination or has this KTOG P3AT forum become much less active over the past year or so? I believe it has and attribute the decline in posting to the following 4 reasons: 1) The P3AT has become considerably more reliable out of the box over the past several years. 2) Not as many P3ATs being sold per year do to competition from the likes of Ruger et al. 3) Not as many P3ATs being sold per year do to the .380 pocket craze being usurped by the 9mm pocket craze. 4) Members that have been here awhile are just getting burned out. So, what do you think? Bill K.
All contributing factors, to varying degrees I'm sure, but this forum is still relatively busy. Not so much as there are always newbies that step up. Membership turnover is a factor in all forums, but we do pretty well there with a strong group of core members. However, they tend to post in all of our forums and not just the P3AT. Finally, the one BIG reason you missed... The advent of the PF9. That forum is definately busier than this one. Other factors that occupy our members time are the other boards we now have that did not exist a few years back. Members have a lot of other places to post now. For example: PF9 Forum, RFB Forum, PMR Forum, SU22 Forum, PLR22 Forum, PLR16 Forum, KSG Forum, Right to Keep and Bear Arms, The Great Outdoors and coming soon, The RMR Forum. During the earlier years of the P3AT, these other boards did not exist. For a few years running, the P3AT was produced at a rate of 1000 per week and Kel-tec was the #1 maker of 380 pistols in the USA. Probably in the last 2 years, that production is not as high, but I would bet that the PF9 and other new products has more than taken up the slack. Still, in terms of size, weight, reliability, price and service, nothing beats a P3AT for an always gun, well, unless it's a P32. In terms of modern pocket pistols, Kel-tec is an original.
the slow server could be a contributor. I am busy with a few other things, so the time I have to visit here is limited, and when it takes most of that just to open and read, one does not feel like replying, with the feeling of "some one else will get that"
Please add, So much good information to search on, it is hard to ask a "new" question. I find it hard to ask an old question just to get my count up to the point I could visit the Trading Post.
Good point! It has me thinking that perhaps there is also a "natural" forum life cycle happening not unique to P3AT. Some shorter (like ?) and some longer (like Glocktalk?) than others but the same life cycle none the less?
I think it's the nature of the little beast. Once you get her F&B'd, find what she likes to eat, and how to hold her, you slip her in your pocket and forget she's there. It's a BUG, we can't talk about pocket lint very much. Some of the other threads over the years go through a peak period, the counter is always nice, not very many colorful headbutting threads these days. Just wait for the shotgun reviews to come in
Big +1!!! [/quote] :-[ Thanks for picking up my slack [/quote] You misunderstand. I do the same thing in the Subbie forum.
As a newb, I posted a lot more earlier on - I had a lot of questions. Most of my questions have been answered, or I can find answers from other, earlier posts. I'm also a bit reluctant to offer advice on p3at questions since my experience with the firearm is still pretty new. So, as a newb, I had a flurry of posts, then I've slowed down while I try to gain some personal experience with it. I still check this forum frequently.... in the off chance I have some input to provide... which I generally don't.... If I have some epiphany I'll post it... but don't hold yer breath! ;D
I think increased reliability has a lot to do with it. Not as many tips needed to resolve this or that. If it wasn't for my indecision about trading in for the lighter P32, I'd have little to talk about on the P3AT board other than bragging about mine. Off topic but somewhat relevant: Personally I lurk here more than I post which is why my post count is low compared to some who haven't been here as long. But I see me hanging around here from now on. I love this forum. Best gun forum on the web in my opinion. The administrators, moderators & core members are top notch.
Very true . . . including other shooting interests. The two P-3AT's in our family are among the first firearms we purchased and remain the pocket gun of choice for many occasions, especially when unobtrusive carry in important. They are 100% reliable in large part because of what we have learned here at KTOG. But, we don't have to return to the well all that often anymore. Our other interests include 1911's (talk about lots of forums!) and Kahr pocket pistols. The latest of which is a PM40 that occupied quite a bit of KahrTalk forum time before sending it to Kahr customer service. It's now running 100% too. Nice as it is, it was beyond my skills to make it reliable. Fortunately, Kahr picks up shipping and I had it back in less than a week, so it's a happy ending. Not surprisingly, Kel-Tec pistols are often the subject of discussion on other dedicated boards. You can probably imagine the good fun that offers me. ;D
I do not use the P3AT forum as much as i first did. I started when looking for a BUG. Got lots of good info and asked questions. Bought a P3AT. Then posted to get help with a problem child. Then got the kids attitude fixed, and the little BUG and I have been happy. Still spent time to see what others were doing, and to give back to "new" folks looking, etc.... But I have had the P3AT for a number of years.. So there is only so much to talk about. I still stop in to check things out and see whats new, etc... But i spend most of my time in the counter and other guns. In the P3AT forum I see we still get a lot of "new" folks that don't search before they ask... But every forum on the net i use gets that. I also believe the increased quality of out of the box units is a part of the slowdown.... So many folks buy a gun, and if it works, that is all they care about. They have no interest in getting to know the firearm.
As others have said, I think that the reduction in problems with newer models would contribute to a decrease in traffic. Further, already having so many threads and/or links answering most of the questions/addressing most issues is certainly a factor, as well. One thing I didn't see mentioned, however, was ammo. Regardless of what Ruger and the gun writers they have bought off might say, the P3AT (not the Little Copied Pistol) started something of a 'revolution' in .380 pocket pistols and helped greatly increase interest in the cartridge by consumers. This resulted in an increased interest on the part of ammo manufacturers. There were already a few, good cartridges on the market that worked well in the P3AT but - over the course of a couple of years - several new loadings and some entirely new bullets/designs came to the market. Many of these had been developed almost specifically for - and tested specifically with - the P3AT. Each of those new loadings/bullets, etc. sparked discussion. There were comparisons with the already existing ammo, comparisons with other newly released ammo, very helpful if 'informal' tests and so on. Now, however, the development of new .380 ammo seems to have slowed a bit and most of us have probably decided on what ammo we want to carry. For those who haven't, there is a wealth of discussion, data and comparison already existing here and elsewhere on the 'Net. As support for my hypothesis, one need only take a look at the current thread titles. Looking through the first four pages of thread titles, I see only two that are ammo-related, at all and neither of those titles pertain specifically to ammo performance. Instead, one asks about the possibility that the poster's chosen ammo is too powerful, possibly causing a mag drop, and the other asks if the P3AT is usually ammo picky. Other than a sticky with links to ammo tests (which saw its last activity in November of '09) there are no thread titles on the first four pages (which is as far as I looked) pertaining specifically to ammo performance, asking 'what carry ammo' or discussing any new .380 ammo. A year or two ago, there would have been at least two such threads in the first four pages. In fact, I'd say there is a good chance there would have been at least that many 'active' threads on the first page dealing with choice of carry ammo. ammo performance and so on.
In the P3AT forum I see we still get a lot of "new" folks that don't search before they ask... But every forum on the net i use gets that. im a newb and sometimes find it difficult to find stuff without countless troling threw old posts. Anyways if there wernt some of the same old quetions being asked a forum would go stale realy quick. I belong to lots of forums and one thing i have realy liked about this site is that the memebers dont rag on a newb for asking questions. After all the only stupid question is one not asked in my opionion.
I have also noticed that KTOG does NOT seem to notify me of replies. That makes keeping a "conversation" going harder. :-[
I always get notified of reply provided I mark the box below the message area marked "check if you wish to be notified....."
Yep! I did that more carefully last time and was notified of your reply! This is a good thing! It looks like that check box stopped getting checked automatically at some point. It might have been the result of a browser change. I use several machines. Making the same choice with the "Notification" button does was not seem to work for me. That could also be browser dependent. : I'll try to be more observant in future.
