Shifting gears, trying something new
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#1: Shifting gears, trying something new Author: DallanC, Location: Utah PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 2:07 pm
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Years ago, 1999ish I started a website on a free hosting site that was very... ummm rudimentary to say the least. It was however, a place where I first made PointBlank available to people. If I remember correctly it is also where I first met Popgun and I believe coyote_hunter (ya they are great people and have been around that long :)).

Over the years I've become better at website management, learned HTML, PERL... PHP, reciently C# etc and am soon digging into ASP.NET, through all of this I never felt work I did was good enough to make any money at so I kept things free for the users.

Reciently however I took a hard look at some other websites I sometimes visit... ones I concider "poorly" put together and have other interesting yet negative issues. I took a look at what these "other sites" are charging for advertisers and holy cow... if my math is right some of them are generating a fairly significant amount of income. Is it enough to fund quitting a fulltime job to run? Nah, but its significant enough to warrent a serious effort at attempting.

So I reciently did some serious racking of my brain to come up with a new domain name, something catchy yet available (good luck LOL... I musta tried 200 names off and one while at work) and was surprised to find what I concider a "good" name was available, and www.TrophyChaser.com was promptly registered.

With the name locked down I took a step back and really thought about what I should focus on for the site. People lately seem so caught up in the "B&C" score of a critter they are loosing track of the purpose of hunting and its heritage.

There should be no difference between a 6 year olds self caught 8" trout, and someones 6pt bull elk. EACH are trophys in their own ways. THAT is what I want www.TrophyChaser to be about. I want people to share pictures, stories and experiences about hunting, fishing, photography, camping etc etc. TrophyChaser needs to be a casual, laid back fun place to visit.

HuntingNut.com is and as far as I'm concerned with, will always remain free. I just dont feel good about charging people for anything who come here. I dont want to clutter the site with lots of advertising either. www.TrophyChaser.com will be a commercial website. It will remain 100% free to users forever as far as I'm concerned, but I will try and attract advertisers over time and I will advertise my own programming experience for hire. I've kicked around starting up my own company but never figured out a good way to attract clients and get the ball rolling, and perhaps this is it.

I installed the same software on www.TrophyChaser.com as we use here at HuntingNut.com, its pretty nifty and I understand it well enough to program custom things for. For the past 2 months from time to time I work on it, usually while at work as I'm waiting on someone else for something. I still have alot to do to it but I feel its far enough along to let people get a first peek at it and give feedback on it.

I will not stop maintaining HuntingNut.com vs TrophyChaser. IMO they share some similarity but HuntingNut tends to tailor to the more reloading / shooting crowd where I think TrophyChaser will appeal more to the general Hunting, Fishing, Camping, Photography crowd.

I truely hope this decision doesnt offend anyone and years down the road, looking back, we view it as a good idea.


Anyway if you want to check it out, www.TrophyChaser.com is the address. There is still alot to do on it and I'm happy to hear suggestions, likes (if nothing else photo uploading is tons easier), dislikes etc. I hope to really make a "Grand Opening" announcment in the next month or so after I get suggestions and feedback on it.

Thanks all!


-DallanC

PS:
To answer a question that will come up I'm sure, I work on PointBlank vs the new website probably 5 hours to 1. In fact I havent worked on TrophyChaser in probably 3 weeks where I've put in alot of work in the past 2 weeks on PBv2.0 and its really making great strides forward. I desperately want to complete this and get it out of my hair for a while Smile

PSS: TrophyChaser is on a different webhost & having 2 hosts means I can compare preformance and if one is better than another I can move HuntingNut over if the other host is faster.

Last edited by DallanC on Fri Oct 20, 2006 12:35 pm; edited 2 times in total
#2: Re: Shifting gears, trying something new Author: Gil Martin, Location: Schnecksville, PA PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 3:55 pm
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DallanC,
All the best on your new venture. Sounds interesting and I plan to visit.
Gil
#3: Re: Shifting gears, trying something new Author: rrogacki, Location: Pennsylvania PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 6:02 pm
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DallanC,
The very best of luck and I'm sure the new site will be successful.
#4: Re: Shifting gears, trying something new Author: coyotehunter_1, Location: Tennessee (USA) PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 6:30 pm
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1999? No way!!! It seems like it was only yesterday that popgun and I were driving you “nuts” on the “bunnywabbit” forum. Fond memories! Laughing Laughing Laughing

Mirroring Gil and rrogacki's thoughts...
Good luck, my friend,! Smile


Edit: I checked it out and signed up. Looks good!





Chet
#5: Re: Shifting gears, trying something new Author: Dimitri,  PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 7:35 pm
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Quote::
Years ago, 1999ish I started a website on a free hosting site that was very... ummm rudimentary to say the least.

1999! Shocked Now that was a long long time ago! Shocked I barely knew how to use a computer at that point! Very Happy

Goodluck on the new site and I joined up Cool

Dimitri
#6: Re: Shifting gears, trying something new Author: Shotgun,  PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:35 pm
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Even though this website doesn't get a whole lot of traffic, I still keep coming back because I like it. To that end, I wouldn't mind if you started puting advertisers on this website. In my opinion, you're do some coin for this effort. Very Happy
#7: Re: Shifting gears, trying something new Author: yotebuster, Location: Georgia PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 5:11 pm
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That's great news Dallan. I'll certainly continue visiting both sites. You've done a fine job, and I have no doubt that you will continue to have success with this new venture. I sincerely hope that it is profitable for you and your family. Your motives and beliefs are noble and, for that, I take my hat off.
Kindest Regards,
Yotebuster
#8: Re: Shifting gears, trying something new Author: popgun, Location: Mitchell, GA, U.S.A. (2007 pop. 191) PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 5:17 pm
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Quote::
1999? No way!!! It seems like it was only yesterday that popgun and I were driving you “nuts” on the “bunnywabbit” forum. Fond memories!

Actually it was the forum before the Bunneywabbit forum. The software used was very basic and a bit difficult to use. But Dallen managed to get Point Blank v1.0 out on the net that way, then the newer forum and website was started (bunnywabbit) and the Point Blank versions went from 1.1 to todays 1.8 on the newest forum we now enjoy. We are all looking forward to the release of v2.0 and I know Dallen will have it ready sometime this year Very Happy

Dallen, it's good that you have another website up and running with a new goal in mind. Keep at it and it will pay for itself and buy you a few new toys and maybe even some free stuff to test. You deserve it all!

I'm off to check the new site.
#9: Re: Shifting gears, trying something new Author: RPM1031, Location: College Park, Georgia PostPosted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 6:17 am
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Dallan, It looks like it could turn into a very nice site! Hope it goes well. If the way this site is run and the type of people it attracts ie an example of what the other site will be like I have doubt it will. Haven't been on any sites much lately.
#10: Re: Shifting gears, trying something new Author: Crackshot, Location: Mich PostPosted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:05 am
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Good Luck Dallan, This site is great! so the next one has to be even better. See ya there.
#11: Re: Shifting gears, trying something new Author: mc223, Location: S/E Kansas PostPosted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:16 am
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Good Luck and will see ya there too!
#12: Re: Shifting gears, trying something new Author: squirrelbait, Location: Nottingham, NH PostPosted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:49 pm
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Dallan, as far as I am concerned you've done an incredible job with this site. I enjoy browsing just to pick up tid-bits of info here and there. As Tbox61 put it--very friendly (and patient) group here.
Good luck with your new site...................don't forget us here!

Recent quote from another HutingNut Forum Tbox61: "Once again, I'm glad to be back! This forum is the most friendly, laid back, bunch I have ever been around!"


Tbox61, hope you don't mind me sharing without asking....it just seemed to be a good summary.
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