Mustangman40

My Feedback: (1)

Yes, but that can be said about every aspect of our hobby.. The fact is, why let it bother you.. You could answer the question for the newbie and politely tell him how to use the search function and help them in that way...
But I have seen way to many folks get jumped for asking a common question and that just stinks...


This is a good thread, maybe it will open the eyes of the ones who need a lesson in manners..

RoyR

You just brought up my overall pet peeve on the internet, period. "internet lingo" "cell phone shorthand" whatever it's called, including spelling where you don't even recognize the word, horrible grammar etc.. Especially when it's followed by "excuse my spelling, grammar, etc, Im to lazy to go back and re-read what I just wrote that hundreds of people will be seeing"
But don't get me started, my head would explode.

But back to this topic. I'm glad we have people like RCKen and Minnflyer on here. As an experienced RCer I have gotten many good ideas from them, even though I didn't ask the question.
As far as what is perceived as a dumb question, or ones that have been asked a million times. I was a helicopter pilot for over 40 years. My early career I flew by myself on the job. Later I worked where two pilots were required. As the captain of the aircraft, I had to work with very new inexperienced co-pilots. You can imagine some of the questions I got from new guys. (I won't use the term we called them. lol)
You can imagine how long my job would have lasted if I answered with, "It's in the flight manual dummy, look it up" or "Come on, didn't you learn anything in flight school?"
I was also a flight instructor in Airplanes for a while. And I can tell you I got great satisfaction when someone was having trouble understanding a maneuver or some aspect of flying and I was able to figure out what to show or tell them to get the light bulb turned on in their head.

Like many of you I also like to help people (new or experienced) understand or discover something about RC that they didn't know before.
True, in Aviation, part of the learning process is Learning how to Look things up, like FARs or Specs on the aircraft. But Looking up things in a flight manual and the FARs is a matter of learning how to do it. Those books have an order and an index, and you don't have to read the whole book to find a specific regulation. Forums have no order, no logic. Even after searching for the topic you have to look through hundreds of pages individually to find the answer to one question. So telling someone "look it up" without showing them where to look (if you even know), does no one any good.

warningshot

So what is wrong with flying at a NON-AMA field? I do it all the time.

RoyR

Me too, and I fly in my back yard.

daveopam

My Feedback: (9)

It really all comes down to common courtesy in my book. The same guy that yells at a newby for not doing a search, is the same guy that flys out of the pattern,tunes his engine on the runway , and is a left lane bandit.

David

K-Bob

My Feedback: (1)

The one, and only, way to fly at an AMA field is to go to the AMA National Flying Site at Muncie, Indiana. Otherwise, there is no such thing.

I guess that's my pet peeve. People who don't know that the AMA does not, and can not, charter or sanction a flying site.

RoyR

OK, I have been on RCUniverse over five year and I have no idea what a "Sticky" is, and it took me a few days, if not weeks to figure how the "Search" feature worked. (especially since it was down a lot when I was trying to learn" I have no problem imagining someone new wanting to ask a question before they know their way around here.
I'm not stupid when it comes to computers, but there are things I just haven't learned. Actually, I have even asked certain questions about different symbols and icons on this forum only to have many people come back with, "I'm glad you asked that, I have been wondering myself." And still no one giving me an answer. So someone not knowing what a 'sticky' is is no reason to get upset with them.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Roy,
When you go to a Forum listing it gives you a list of threads in that forum. This list adjusts so that the thread with the most recent post in it will be at the top of the list. When a thread not longer gets new posts in it the thread will slowly slip down the Forum list as newer threads take their place at the top of the list. And there is where a "Sticky"comes in. The Moderators and Administrators can "Sticky"a thread so that is always stays at the top of the Forum list, regardless of the last post within that thread. Stickies are usually reserved for threads that have important or very helpful information in them, and by making them a sticky they get more attention and are quicker to find for members. Go to any Forum listing and you will see the first threads in that list will say "Sticky"next to them. These threads will always be at the top.

Hope this helps

Ken

RoyR

Thanks Ken,
I'll see if I can put it to use now.

jester_s1

I don't get mad at a new guy for not knowing how to find the information (like stickys). I just don't refrain from redirecting him when he asks.

Mike in DC

Yes it is! Non-jerkish behavior is to ignore the threads you don't want to contribute to, and let other non-burned-out people answer.

In my experience, it's extremely rare for two people to ask the exact same question. "What is the best trainer" is a perfect example. It's not really the same question. Asked just like that, 100 people will give you 100 different answers. To answer the question usefully, you really have to listen very carefully to the poster. What are his resources? Where does he live? Where will he fly? What is his background? Where does he want to go in the sport/hobby? How good is his eyesight? Even if the question is really narrowly defined (rare), the passage of time makes a huge difference. The model of trainer suggested in a previous thread probably don't even exist any more.

I believe it is totally jerkish behavior to in any way criticize someone for asking a question. Asking questions is the point of the forum. I don't think anybody should regret having asked a question. If you don't want to answer it, then move on. There will be someone else who enjoys answering questions.

By the way, a nice comment like this is always welcome: "Hi ____, there's a lot of good information on this thread" and give the URL. That's not the same as telling someone to "go search".

jester_s1

When I first joined RCU, I lurked and used the search feature for two weeks before posting my first question. I did that specifically because I didn't want to clutter up the forum with beginner level questions that had been answered dozens of times. When I finally did post, it was a question that I couldn't find an answer for using the search, and I got really helpful responses because I already knew enough to ask the right question with the right terminology. Now if I can do that, why can't others?