I had thought many times about contacting Pat to ask about buying her out but figured she wouldn't sell. Many of you probably thought the same way. Now, it looks like the site is available.
Everytime I thought about it though I realized I didn't particularly want the headaches and don't have the resources available to deal with hackers/site crashes and such.
The whole purpose for me to buy would be to preserve the major's legacy but what if I sudenly died or became too sick to carry on? My son and daughter would probably have no interest in continuing on. That being the case if this forum is owned by just one person and something happens to him/her then everything is lost.
My thoughts are that 2--5 of us should offer to buy this site. If something were to happen to one the others could continue and possibly replace him/her (like a board of directors). Meanwhile, the cost and problems would be shared and decided upon where just one person wouldn't have total say-so.
For right now, time is short, we have a gun rights election facing us and Pat needs the money right now but perhaps this "new ownership" is something to think about in the upcoming year.
Regardless of who wins the election more political emphasis is going to occur here. With new ownership the bickering could come an end once and for all.
Funny how donations turned into Lord of the Flies.
"The first gun that was fired at Fort Sumter sounded the death-knell of slavery. They who fired it were the greatest practical abolitionists this nation has produced." ~BG D. Ullman
perhaps as suggested in the OP that we let it just die.