It’s early and I haven’t had my coffee yet, but here goes…
Ironman, if you want to make a positive contribution to the forum on these concerns you have, may I please make a suggestion?
Instead of waiting for others to do your work for you, why don't you start a thread and post your particular problem with your FNP along with the partial serial number, and what you did to resolve the issue? Then contact all the people you have seen post a problem here and ask them about their problems and their partial serial number and their resolution.
That way we could see how many guns we are talking about, what problems they are having, service issues with FN, and see if there is a discernable trend. If you are pissed because you think FN is somehow hiding major problems with the FNP platform then it is up to you to prove it, not them to defend themselves against your accusations.
If you think Ship made a bad call on the “issues” section then prove it by showing that there was a real need for it. I was one of those who agreed to combine the topics.
Do something like this maybe...
Ironman, FNP9 bought in 2006, cracked frame at xxx rounds, serial number xxx, minimal dry firing, contacted FNH-gun replaced.
Then do the same for others you contact, or maybe they would just post their own info.
The difference between positive and negative posts is wide.
Some folks post just to complain that other people are not acting the way they want them too. Whether it is about a gun they may not even own, or the way a forum they don't have any say in, is ran.
Other folks take the opportunity of having a place like this to share facts and knowledge with people who have similar interests. They do some homework and provide others with the results of their efforts. This is the way we learn from each other. Those people are looked up to on forums because they take their own time and energy to provide others with valuable info at no charge.
You seem to have a very strong opinion of the quality of the FNP line and FN's failure to respond in a way satisfactory to you about what you believe is a major issue. This is your chance. Convince us with facts that you are right. Not “general public… alarming rates” comments.
All I ask is that you back up your opinions with data we can all examine with you. There are a couple of folks here who have posted a problem, start with them. I think I have read of two cracked sears (or other internal part) and one cracked frame. I thank them for posting those problems and also their experience in getting the problem resolved.
I have not had any issues and many others here have also had no problems. But I would still like to see an organized list if you can get one together in a thread for us. It would help me know what to look for when cleaning my gun.
You mention in your post you have gathered information from the issues section, what have you gathered? You mention changing the layout of the forum makes it harder for the general public to troubleshoot, so far you are the only general public with an issue about it. I did see one other person post they would rather it stayed the way it was, but they weren’t upset. If you are correct in your statement “trigger groups and frames that are cracking in under (fewer than) 200 rounds in an alarming number of cases” then the issues section would have been hopping with traffic, it wasn’t. How many is ‘alarming’ anyway?
You said about FN and the issues, “They are ducking them… you know it ... and we know it.” I don’t know it. Post some real numbers to back up your criticism of the gun and the people making and servicing them. That is all I ask. I’m not trying to start a fight, I just want you to show us you are right with facts we can believe.
Thank you.