Do you think firearm manufacturers ever read forums?

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.308 Norma said:
Therefore, Mr. Massad Ayoob obviously reads internet gun forums. And if he, as a magazine gun writer, is a spokesperson for gun manufacturers, the gun manufacturers that are essentially paying his wages are reading internet gun forums too - at least by proxy
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So you think Ayoob is some sort of industry watchdog? When somebody reports a problem with a Taurus in a forum, he will report it to Taurus?

Somehow I don't see Ayoob as being in the customer service aspect of gun manufacturers.
 
I know for a fact, Beretta had someone on another site I was on. When I posted about problems with my M9-22, that person chimed in and personally took care of getting my gun fixed.
 
.308 Norma said:
Mr. Massad Ayoob obviously reads internet gun forums.
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He's a member here, if a largely mute one.

The key part of this question actually is based in authority. A person could be employed by this company or that one. But, that does not give them permission/license to speak on behalf of that company (in some cases they will be constrained to not disclose such information).

The core part of the question is really "do marketing departments of various corporations pay attention?" Which will be related to whether the bosses have any experiences with internet fora, and any value they represent. The youngest members will likely know; curricula in Marketing is evolving--but whether they can influence their bosses is a larger question.
 
If they did, there would be a lot of highly niche enthusiast type items clogging up their R&D and machinery and keep them from making any profit. ;)

I know everyone here wants scaled frame 44 specials and anything and everything in 41 Mag and 32 H&R but that kind of stuff gets talked about on enthusiast sites a lot but sells very little in reality.
 
Double Naught Spy said:
So you think Ayoob is some sort of industry watchdog? When somebody reports a problem with a Taurus in a forum, he will report it to Taurus?
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No sir, that wasn't my point. My point was simply that gun manufacturers (at least some) obviously read Mr. Ayoob's magazine articles, and in the article I recently read, Mr. Ayoob referred to posts he'd read on internet gun forums like this one. So gun manufactures must read some internet gun forums - at least by proxy.

Double Naught Spy said:
Somehow I don't see Ayoob as being in the customer service aspect of gun manufacturers.
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Nor do I. And I didn't imply such.
 
KevininPa said:
Just what the title says. If you were a manufacturer, wouldn't you read forums for honest feedback or ideas from end users?
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Any company will use as many sources for meaningful actionable information needed for business decisions.

Warranty information, sales and orders, distributor feedback, what they hear at industry shows, letters and calls from well known pundits....

KevininPa said:
Or do you think that they just roll out what they think we'll buy and try to sell us on it with an advertising blitz?
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What do you mean "or"?
 
daniel craig said:
Nah. I’ve found the majority of people who talk about a product are the dissatisfied and you can’t please everyone. Maybe they do, but do they take what they read to heart? Probably not.
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I know one of the employees for Sig was on the AR15.com forum and he would answer people's questions.
 
.308 Norma said:
No sir, that wasn't my point. My point was simply that gun manufacturers (at least some) obviously read Mr. Ayoob's magazine articles, and in the article I recently read, Mr. Ayoob referred to posts he'd read on internet gun forums like this one. So gun manufactures must read some internet gun forums - at least by proxy.
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So some gun manufacturers read what Ayoob writes and Ayoob looks at some gun forums and so therefore gun manufacturers are reading guns forums by proxy? That seems to be quite a stretch. Reading Ayoob isn't the same as reading the forums or a proxy for it. It is reading Ayoob's interpretations and responses to his selective writing on some gun forum topics, nothing more.
 
rust collector said:
Many have explained that they found us when their browser served up links based upon a search they were doing for a certain firearm, reloading component or item of interest.
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That is true. I lurked around here for a good bit before joining. I joined about 5 years ago but it feels like alot longer because I got alot of information from here over the years...

Kind of like you said, special manufacturer specific forums might, but I doubt it has much, if any impact. I would like to think that they do, I know for a fact that Sal Glesser of Spyderco and his son were active forum members on multiple knife forums and they would chime in from time to time. I believe the same is true of BCM and PSA and a few others. There was one knife maker, one whose knives I own and really like who kind of rubbed me the wrong way on the forums, he would be sort of obstinate about any criticism of his product and somehow had terms with the host where he could have content he didn't like removed from a thread, etc...

I'm not in favor of that, it would be one thing if it was just slanderous garbage but I saw some pretty mild criticism set the maker and his fanboys on fire....
 
Years ago I knew a guy that worked for a holster manufacturer. When it became known on the forum he was constantly inundated with questions and comments about the products the company he worked for manufactured. He told me he regretted the day he let it be known who he worked for. He eventually left the forum.

If I worked for a gun manufacturer or supplier I wouldn’t tell anyone in a forum.
 
NIGHTLORD40K said:
Well, except they have an entire site dedicated to their fans- Taurusarmed.
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Depth of feedback comes from beyond a fan group.
Analogous to Kel-Tec owners forum, more likely to have like minded people who condone a pocket 32 or 380 for defense.
 
I lurk on that sniper forum expressly to see what's going on with 22 rimfire. The maker of Vudoo rifles is there a lot answering questions and solving problems so at least one company cares about forum feedback.
 
From my dealings with the gun shop owners who deal with manufacturers and suppliers, those corporate entities do indeed listen to the "chatter" of forums such as this and others. Mainly to hear what will sell, and for how much.

Consider, if 90% of what manufacturers heard indicated a gold plated firearm would be desired, they would notice. If nearly all that 90% would be willing to pay less than the price of a non-gold plated arm of the same type, no doubt the manufacturers would drop the idea right there. Does anyone think Colt bringing back their revolvers did not take the firearms using public into consideration? Does anyone think the proliferation of multi-shot pistols and lack of decent revolvers is without popular opinion?

I stipulate any one forum is not going to influence all manufacturers to do "X". Legend has it the late Elmer Keith convinced S&W and Remington to make revolvers and ammunition (respectively) for the .44 Magnum. It was a great idea, but not likely to find favor unless the manufacturers thought they could sell enough units to be profitable.
 
daniel craig said:
Nah. I’ve found the majority of people who talk about a product are the dissatisfied and you can’t please everyone. Maybe they do, but do they take what they read to heart? Probably not.
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This is true, we tend to ignore things which work well.

But as to topic, when you think of all the manufacturer surveys, these days, most forums should be considered a valuable research tool.
 
I'm sure they have employees that belong to some of the forums and I'm sure they talk among theirselves, at least a little.
 
Don't know about firearms but Paul from Alliant (forget his screen name) is here as well as the owner of RMR- Longdayjake
 
Manufacturers and retailers would be fools to overlook forums which impact their trade. Big ones prolly have a team of dedicated folks always looking for information, feedback and trends.
 
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