I'm afraid to put my perspective into words here for fear of being called out. I joined INGO in Jan of 2012. I read all of the introductions and new member forums. I realized quickly that this was a place with a vast amount of information, opinions, and knowledge. I respect those of you who have thousands of posts and i knew that I was going to learn a lot from you. The problem I faced and still face 4 1/2 years later... is that I have come here to learn not teach. There is very little I could add to the wealth of knowledge and experience of the experts here. I knew better than to post 50 things in the first month of membership. I respect the spirit of the forums and the frustration that the contributors have with knew members that don't. I wish I had more to contribute. I normally only log on when I want to research something I want buy. The point of this long winded post is that I doubt any of the 50 posts i have made in the last four years have helped anyone. However, as someone who has tried to respect the "rules of the game" ... I would like to hope that I would receive similar respect even as a "newbie" contributor. I hope this doesn't ruffle any feathers as that is not my goal. I just wanted to point out that not everyone with less than 50 posts is failing to respect the spirit of the site.
You've done your part by supporting the sight! It's very much appreciated. Now go fine something cool in the ads. You've earned the right. Thank you for investing in this sight. The people that are disappointing are the members that haven't posted anywhere but the ads section since they hit the 50 post mark and they don't have the support badge under there name. You are just fine.
As mentioned up thread, participation doesn't have to be giving gun advice. Asking worth while questions, even idle conversation is ok if it is on topic and more then just. That's cool, I'd like one, awesome and or other one line or on word post. Something that doesn't really add to the topic at hand is not a quality post.
I came here for knowledge an to share what I have learned along the way. It was nearly a year before I became a sight support. I've made a lot of friends. I know many of them will be life long. Many of them I consider my family. TBH I can't remember how long it was before I found the ads section. I've bought a few things, I've done some trading and sold a couple things. It's not the thing that keeps me connected to this site. It's the people, the conversations. The brotherhood that is Ingo.