New Features Added & Suggestions

[doser]

Feel free to use this section to offer suggestions. I’ll also use this section to post changes and updates. I’m looking forward to hearing more feedback to see how we can improve the experience.

Some recent additions:

• Default to dark theme.
• Enhanced Navigation
• Classifieds Sections
• Product Reviews & Community Ratings
  • Members can submit Reviews & Ratings including YouTube video responses
  • The community can upvote on which reviews are useful

Updates will be posted here:

ikeo1

caguns.net

 

[WHO]

-Subforums for range day meetups/invites, training partners; grouped by county/region

 

[illmerican]

-Subforums for range day meetups/invites, training partners; grouped by county/region

Second this idea

 

[JoeLogic]

Can I delete a thread? I created a WTS thread before I figured out how to create a For Sale thread now both are live.

Edit: Awesome! Thanks for the help.

 

[ikeo1]

Can I delete a thread? I created a WTS thread before I figured out how to create a For Sale thread now both are live.

Edit: Awesome! Thanks for the help.

Yeah it’s a bit different, but hopefully it’ll all click

 

[kzspec]

Rimfire discussion areas?

 

[ikeo1]

-Subforums for range day meetups/invites, training partners; grouped by county/region

Added training groups with the capability for private & public sub forums.
Added range meetups & clubs for more casual arrangements

Please feel free to add a new thread so I can prioritize each request and then mark as solved. We have the ability to answer questions here!

 

[ikeo1]

Rimfire discussion areas?

Added a section in Firearms discussion!

 

[Grey]

Congrats on the launch and thanks for all your hard work geting this platform off the ground.

 

[doser]

Had an issue with SSL certificates after migrating to Cloudflare. This should be resolved now.

• The site should be a bit faster now. Several scaling options were implemented
• Issue with google logins resolved
• shortened urls
• edge caching

 

[Grey]

Had an issue with SSL certificates after migrating to Cloudflare. This should be resolved now.

• The site should be a bit faster now. Several scaling options were implemented
• Issue with google logins resolved
• shortened urls
• edge caching

Confirming the Google SSO issue is resolved - thanks!

 

[doser]

Here’s a sneak peak of what’s available. New feature to install as Progressive Web App (PWA) You don’t have to download anything. It’s a glorified shortcut on your Home Screen straight here.

To use it, click on the hamburger menu and install app. That’ll show you instructions on how to do it on your phone.

Push notifications are enabled now as well so threads you follow will show up like any other app.



This is all controlled under preferences. You'll see a pop-up asking for permission for push notifications. This should replace tap-a-talk and as mentioned, no downloads.

 

[ikeo1]

The result is what will feel like a native app experience. I do not have an android so if someone can help test on android that would be helpful.

Currently it looks and functions pretty good and snappy. You won’t need to open up a browser and visit directly.

Please keep in mind the URL will change in the future. I decided to go all in on this. this works.

I estimate it’ll take me another week or so to get that setup. In the meantime there will be more documentation added for Buyer, Seller, and Feedback.

Filtering is a tough one and something I’ll pick up later if the site hits 1500 users. It’s going to take a lot of effort and cycles so I want to make sure it’s worth it before starting.

 

[yatzooa]

Great website, I opened a few threads and it loaded instantly. Loving it more than calguns already
Small request - could we get a section for Competition and Action Shooting?

Also, how can new members help? Spread the word about the website? Be more active and post content? Be QA and report bugs?

 

[ikeo1]

Great website, I opened a few threads and it loaded instantly. Loving it more than calguns already
Small request - could we get a section for Competition and Action Shooting?

Competition Section Added . I don’t think we need sub forums yet but once there’s activity we’ll put it in. I’ll probably be posting there a bit

Also, how can new members help? Spread the word about the website? Be more active and post content? Be QA and report bugs?

Absolutely, I think as more people discover our platform and we grow our content, momentum will naturally increase.

The key to growth, at least for the foreseeable future, is nurturing the site until it gains enough traction to sustain itself. I'm dedicating efforts to enhance our backend to ensure everything runs smoothly.

One of our biggest challenges at the moment is raising awareness and creating a lasting impression. I'm hesitant to directly promote us on Calguns forums or Reddit, I trust in a more gradual approach to gaining recognition. I'm confident that the quality we offer will naturally attract those looking for a modern alternative, relying on word-of-mouth and organic growth as our primary strategies. We're not in any hurry; building a community takes time, patience, and continuous improvement.

If the opportunity comes up, share a link or a site in posts on FB/IG/Reddit/Calguns etc if people ask for alternatives.

As we make progress, we will keep refining the site to better serve the 2A community. I'm optimistic about the unique position we're in and the opportunity to make a significant impact.

 

[Dropkick]

Hi all, thanks for establishing this website. It's a huge job and a very important gathering place for Californians.

The inclusion of "region" is already an enormous upgrade over CalGuns' marketplace listings. If you made it a step more granular by also having a field for "county" that would make the search filters very powerful and may be an effective way to represent the vastness of our state. Everyone's experience is different, but I find CalGuns exhausting to browse through because 99% of the lisintgs are too far away to be relevant to me. The ability to only view certain relevant counties would be awesome.

You might also consider narrowing the firearms categories further beyond "handgun" and "long gun". For example, VAGunTrader.com has seven sub-forums for firearms. You might consider: Pistols, Revolvers, Shotguns, Rifles, ARs AKs and related firearms.

Thank you for soliciting feedback, I hope you'll consider mt suggestions. I hope to see this project grow and succeed.

 

[ikeo1]

Hi all, thanks for establishing this website. It's a huge job and a very important gathering place for Californians.

The inclusion of "region" is already an enormous upgrade over CalGuns' marketplace listings. If you made it a step more granular by also having a field for "county" that would make the search filters very powerful and may be an effective way to represent the vastness of our state. Everyone's experience is different, but I find CalGuns exhausting to browse through because 99% of the lisintgs are too far away to be relevant to me. The ability to only view certain relevant counties would be awesome.

You might also consider narrowing the firearms categories further beyond "handgun" and "long gun". For example, VAGunTrader.com has seven sub-forums for firearms. You might consider: Pistols, Revolvers, Shotguns, Rifles, ARs AKs and related firearms.

Thank you for soliciting feedback, I hope you'll consider mt suggestions. I hope to see this project grow and succeed.

These all make more sense later on when there's enough listings to justify it. I was thinking of adding county, but there's 58 counties in CA. It's going to be a long list. When building a system like this, I wanted to keep it simple first. As the listings grow, I'll add in county plus a drop down menu. It's on my roadmap, but I didn't want to add the complexity of that right now. For now, its good for people to scan the current listings. It's also more difficult to display, since some people prefer city, other prefer area, etc. I also think, its good to see what's just out of reach, so that you can negotiate if they can come closer if you're interested. So for now, we'll keep it less granular, though you can totally go more granular as an option.

As of now, the search feature is VERY powerful. You can enter shotgun in the keyword or Title search in region or AR/AK and it'll bring up relevant listings instantly.

Try it out in the Classifieds section on the left side bar. I upgrade the search feature specifically for this reason. It's a way of simplifying search and categorization until we start to grow. You can also leverage the search bar > filters > Search Classifieds to see more dropdowns or just pull all of them like calguns right now with keyword.

The site has its own internal search engine that's more complex than a standard search, based on Elasticsearch.

Thanks for taking the time to comment. Please keep the suggestions coming! I enjoy reading and seeing what others are doing or what features you would like.

 

[ikeo1]

I tried to make it super simple with the new mobile Nav menu. You can view Forum, view Classifieds, Post a listing, and search as the four main functions at the bottom of the mobile navigation. This way you can get to the main functions easily and still have the hamburger up top for everything else.

 

[treelogger]

First off, thanks to the organizers for putting an enormous amount of work into creating this site!

The inclusion of "region" is already an enormous upgrade over CalGuns' marketplace listings. If you made it a step more granular by also having a field for "county" that would make the search filters very powerful and may be an effective way to represent the vastness of our state.

I feel conflicted about this. In some areas, counties are extremely large. If you live on the eastern edge of San Bernardino County, taking a trip to "Santa Barbara" (both are technically in Southern California!) is like a major expedition. And then there is always the joke that within LA, going anywhere (even to LA) takes at least one hour on the freeway at rush hour. On the other hand, I am in both Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties nearly every day (we can literally lob a bullet into the neighboring county from my house, although that would be illegal), in Alameda County once or twice a week, and a trip to Monterey, San Benito, Contra Costa and San Mateo County happens typically once a month.

There is also the question of how important something is to me. Our two most recent vehicle purchases required 3-4 hour trips each way. I would drive that for a very desirable and unusual gun, and if I could get a great deal on something I really want, I would go to the other end of the state. On the other hand, for a Glock 19, I won't go more than two freeway exits, it's not worth the hassle.

I think the current policy of every listing showing the city is a good compromise. As the number of listings explodes, this may have to be revisited, but any solution will end up being complex, with things like distances (the way Craigslist does it).

You might also consider narrowing the firearms categories further beyond "handgun" and "long gun".

I'm with you on that. Separating pistols v. revolvers, and shotguns / traditional rifles / military- or black-style rifles would be a good start, if the number of listings gets unmanageable. But not too finely please, because it makes browsing too hard: There are many guns I like, and I might just look at all recent listings to see whether there is anything that particularly tickles my fancy, or is a great deal. Another example: if we separate by maker (Sig v. Springfield v. Wilson), by caliber, by model and clone (1911s are made by many companies, Cz clones include Tanfoglia, the Beretta 92 is cloned by a half dozen companies), then someone looking for a 9mm 1911 will either never find it, or have to look in a dozen places. So no complexity until it is needed.

I hope to see this project grow and succeed.

Hear, hear.

 

[ikeo1]

But not too finely please, because it makes browsing too hard:

This is the main reason why we haven’t put it in yet. Too much categorization too early makes the listing process more difficult than it needs to be for the stage we’re at. Everything gets subdivided into longer and longer lists. For now, replicating what people are used to with the biggest improvements like region and roster with keywords should work for the 80% with minimal effort. When the listings grow this may be needed and can be implemented at any time.

The goal is more like Google search vs navigational search. It saves from the list being really long to navigate, but still benefits from good search results. Hopefully the search engine should satisfy the majority. My question would be have you tried the search function in its current form? I would suggest you try it to see if it works without all the sub categories

Most people would type in Glock 19 and check NorCal , vs search through a list of manufacturers, check counties, check striker fired, check Glock models, when there’s not a lot of listings. It gets cumbersome.

Otherwise, we do appreciate the feedback and it is all very valuable and things can and will definitely be adjusted according to usage. We listen here, and prefer to have a conversation. The main tell for me on the backend is when search engine usage goes up, then I can add the navigation links and the field to bring it back down. Both are two different engines. Navigation would hit the database. Search gets indexed incrementally.

One thing to note: I keep a list of suggestions so that anytime if people start to want a feature more. I'll implement it. When you create a post in this forum, there's an up and down vote arrow for people to vote.