What's up with all the "club" stuff anyhow? I see that these have popped up in the various handgun areas and shotgun areas, but I don't get the point (pun intended). Just seems to divide folks up and get in the way of learning. Help me out.
That's a reasonable question, Hso.
As a member of several "clubs", and a founder of two (336, 39A), I'd like to address that. I understand that some members are expressing disapproval of the idea, and honestly, I haven't understood why yet. I'm open to considering their objections, but have yet to read them.
(Note: this thread may not be the optimum place to discuss the concept. I've thought about starting a topic in, say, GGD to discuss this topic. Apologies to my friend Killshot, originator of this thread, who is a fellow member of "The 642 Club". But since you asked here, Mr. Moderator
, I'll start here. If you think it appropriate, we can carry this discussion out into some other forum, like GGD or ... where ever.)
First, let me express my opinion that the word "club" in a thread title is purely metaphorical. IMO, a "club" thread has a different feeling that a standard thread. The best explanation I can offer is by analogy. Did you ever watch the TV sitcom "Cheers"? The idea there was that it was a local pub where "everyone knows your name". Club threads have that feel to them.
THR member fiVe started the concept with his "
642 Club". I joined early on, before I even bought a 642. The thread is now huge (2300 posts or more), but is just a wonderfully fun, informative, educational space about that little revolver (and its relatives like 637, 640, 442, etc). And in over 2300 posts, I can't remember a single heated argument. Participants treat it like the local pub, where friends gather. We have nicknames for each other. We joke with each other. Overall, it's one of the best experiences I've had on THR.
THR is a wonderful city (or actually a university, as I call it) with thousands of members. We can't possibly know all those members. It just isn't possible. We can get along with them when we meet somewhere in cyberspace, but we can't get to know them well. "Clubs" are like taverns, or restaurants, or little meeting spaces in that city (university) where folks with a particular common interest can meet, exchange ideas and information, and get to know each other. That vibe then carries out into the larger city. So, I think clubs "integrate" rather than "divide".
Furthermore, "clubs" are
NOT intended (by most club founders, anyway, can't speak for all) to be "exclusionary". None of the "clubs" that I belong to (see below) are "private" (a THR thread cannot be private), nor "exclusive": membership in clubs does
NOT require ownership of the object of the thread, just interest in it, pro, con or neutral.
Finally, in my conceptualization of "club", a club is a "grand central station", a clearinghouse, if you will, for information about the tools (whether gun or blade or whatever) that are the focus of the thread. It's a place where owners, former owners, and "experts" can gather to share information about
every aspect of a tool without having to search through 25 gazillion pages of archives looking for the information they seek. Some of us more ambitious club participants and founders spend hours looking through the archives for older posts on a particular aspect of the thread topic and link them into the club thread. (See
my post 18 in the 336 Club as an example pulling together information about different versions of the Marlin 336 (e.g., A, C, W, SS, AS, etc). I intend to do the same for ammo, sights/scopes, repair issues, etc, when I get time.)
That is, far from "dividing", clubs - IMO - should integrate.
For example, in the introduction to the 336 club, I wrote this:
"Clubs" - threads dedicated to discussion of a particular make and model of gun - seem to be growing in popularity on THR. It's a tiny movement so far, but up and coming, I predict.
I'm currently participating in two clubs: The 642 Club (devoted to the SW 642 snubbies, and one of, if not the, longest running THR threads with 1650 posts now) and the newly formed 686 Club (devoted to SW 686).
The 642 club is a great source of information for that particular model, a clearing house for info about rnds, sights, grips, holsters (in the case of handguns), shooting tips, upgrades, repair issues, images, etc.
A long gun club could be the same, adding the topics of stocks, slings, scopes, etc.
I just got a new Marlin 336A about a week ago, and have only had it to the range once so far, but already love it. It's one of five guns in my optimal minimalist tool kit. (870P, 336A, 39A, 686+, 642). <snip> I have yet to decide on sighting options (apertures, ghost rings and/or scope). I've just begun to explore various ammo options. There are a dozen other questions that come to mind as well.
So, I thought, hmmm, why not a 336 club?
It may fly, it may not, but it's worth an experiment.
Over the next few months, I'm going to try to collect information about the 336 from archived THR threads and other web links and post them here. (I've got an entire bookmark folder devoted to 336.)
A "club" isn't intended to supersede or eliminate other threads about the topic. Far from it. There will be spin offs, and that's a good thing.
Furthermore, some topics aren't appropriate for a "club thread". For example, "Help me choose my first revolver" or "Latest shooting on the border" won't work as club topics. And of course, we're all (hopefully) members of the RKBA club.
Some won't resonate with the "club" idea, and that's fine. I just hope that those who don't resonate with the idea will respect the wishes and needs of those of us who do and not try to squash the concept.
Here is one more quote that reflects my views on this extracted from
post 52 of 39A Club.
The "club" concept is not about being exclusive. It's NOT about ownership. It's just a place in cyberspace where owners can come and discuss their guns, and those interested in the gun (whether they own one or not) can find information (or links to it) that they want/need in one place without having to search many different threads. "Club" threads are intended to be a clearinghouse for information with links to other threads (on THR or not). They are not meant to replace other threads. Far from it. They are meant to connect them, to help pull the pieces together into a coherent whole, kind of like an encyclopedia does.
In the end, the gun that is the focus of a "club" (just a metaphorical name for a thread) may be right for some, and not for others. That's cool. If people can find what they want/need to make a decision - pro or con - by visiting the thread, then it's successful. (If not, then just ask!)
Hope this helps, Hso.
Lemme know if you want me to move this out into some other forum for further discussion.
Nem
