flycatch

My Feedback: (26)

You wrapped it up and covered all points that have killed this site and others.

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

This is certainly a point that had not crossed my mind not being around general aviation much. Good point to add.

DESERT RATT

My Feedback: (7)

Howdy Marc, It's been a while. When I came back on the forums I seen a difference in Content, Not being able to get around (Search and time outs)

As far as the "Older guys go" I'm one of them. I Came back because we had some great members and some comrade, That seams to have left. There's a few that are in there with help and Information but not like it used to be. Also, I see that a lot of the old guys are not here but that's to be expected Some have passed on, Some have just left for whatever reason. A lot of the Older guys aren't here due to their health.

It's just not the same as when you were on board to keep things up to date, solve problems and you yourself used to contribute a whole lot. We have no idea who's behind the scenes now, But they just don't seem to be doing their job.

Just my thought and insights!

Nice to see you again and hope if you still have a hand in here soyou can get this place turned back around.
Desert Mouse says to tell you hi. He's not actively flying right now. College, Girlfriend, Work and just plain no time.

LaTuFu

My Feedback: (1)

Given that the traffic count between RCG and RCU is trending virtually equal, the "everybody has gone over to RCG" is not necessarily an accurate statement.

It may be true in the aviation forums, that there are more knowledgeable people/more activity at RCG than RCU, but that is most definitely not the case in the Car forums.  RCG is practically dead in the car forums, and when compared against the activity here at RCU and at UltimateRC, the RCG car forums are almost a joke.

llindsey1965

My Feedback: (-1)

the park fliers have destroyed this great hobby , and i knew it would happen i warned everyone when they came out and people quit joining ama and local clubs , flying at schools and parks , and if you post something to negative they pull your post , it is not the electrics they have came a long way , just the guys who get planes and fly them where ever they feel like , that is what has hurt the hobby, this is the greatest hobby and a great bunch of guys who fly by the rules and enjoy this hobby then you have the ones who fly outside the boundary of the rules like the guy who got arrested for flying thousands of feet high , heck a real plane reported it and this guy posted it on you tube, anyway just my opinion you opinions are like a holes everybodys got one

F4u5

My Feedback: (81)

+50.......but the kids in my neighborhood still think they are cool! Yes, we are a dying breed, just look at the heyday of the Byron Expo, or the heyday of Top Gun (1994-1998 for me). You will never see this level of craftmanship, interest, flyers and spectators again, I'm afraid. That said, there are still a few good RC events that I make it to.

I have lost several flying buddies over the last few years, for varying reasons (don;t think I pee'd anyone off that bad). I will not lie, it has desolved a little bit of the enjoyment the hobby used to give me. After all, it proved, to me, it was about the friendships, if not more, than the building/flying. Nothing, to me, is more fun than bringing/seeing new models out to the field, and talking with your friends about your/their ship. Even more fun....going to their house and seeing the progress as it moves along. I found that flying was really a smaller part of the enjoyment I got. I hadn't realized this before. But, with less folks to share it with, I have actually dabbled with getting out of the hobby (editor's note: I also lost my primary flying field).

In close, in response to the original post, it really has nothing to do with the site, or the economy, it comes down to my satisfaction level within the hobby. Luckily I have a lot of friends across the country, so going to the fly-ins is still a blast, getting to see them all.

Jeff

eddieC

My Feedback: (2)

Sounds like the former IBM prez who said, "There will never be a need for a personal computer." 

We have a local club that has declined 30% in 5 years, and one big reason is personal attitudes.  I stopped because the club meetings were becoming dictatorial, only a certain clique could enact any new rules or changes.  

Although this site has had a marked increase in problems since the sale, it's still the No. 1 place for the majority. I use it less because of these issues:
* 503, 504 errors
* Problems with posting to forums (timeouts)
* Mods with personal agendas and 'unique' rules

It's still my go-to RC site, but needs some attention.

llindsey1965

My Feedback: (-1)

we still have 135 members at GAMA bunch of great guys , and you are exactly right there is noithing better than to look at your buddies planes and he looks at yours and the excitement of that first flight on your new model , the mist on the field , the smell of the fuel and all your members waiting for that first flight of the day , what a great hobby

Tjettzky

See, some nice guy (or gal, but let's play the odds and say "guy") buys a plane and wants to fly down at the park or in his (hopefully expansive) back yard because he loves The Hobby of flying model aircraft and that is how he wants to spend his free time and money. He comes here to ask a question to resolve a problem or to expand his knowlege base and he's told that people like him are destroying The Hobby . Why would he ever want to return to this place? What happens when others see him flying down at the soccer fields as a "Renegade" (calling the thousands of non-club pilots Renegades because they aren't in a local club is not far off from the Romans calling anyone that wasn't Roman a "Barbarian", no matter how advanced their own civilization was, and we all know what the Romans did to "Barbarians"...sorry, I ranted a bit there...my bad) and they think The Hobby looks like a grand old time and they want to know how they can fly too. What site does he send them to in order to learn more about The Hobby? RCU, where they will be textually abused? Heck no! They may stumble here by way of their research and maybe they'll start a thread and/or read some existant ones that are along their needs. What happens then? They'll find out that they are (apparently) ruining the purity of The Hobby and the cycle will begin anew...

jharkin

My Feedback: (2)

Interesting comments... Ive spent so little time on RCU in recent years I was not aware of the technical issues wit the forum - but most of the other issues ring true for me.

- Far too many discussions devolve into brand wars or advice from folks who obviously don't have first hand experience.. Or worse, gets sidelined into political rants

- The hobby in general is losing popularity. Building is going away due to the aging builder community, arfs, and just too many other distractions for kids and folks with young families to start

- The easy of ARFs, while good for lowering the barrier to entry and getting more people into the hobby, also makes it a transient activity for many and turnover is high.

- The economy compounds the above and it turns into a viscous circle of no money to spend -> no RC sales-> fewer RC suppliers -> less options->less interest to join the hobby

- Pressure on our flying sites


I have seen my own club reduced from 180 members to less than 100 in a decade, and the crowd at our multiple fields that would have been 30+ on a Saturday is now very small. Maybe 1 in 5 of our local hobby shops are still around. When I started I used to go flying whenever I could, i remember being there on wet days hiding in the car and flying during breaks in the rain. Now, with free time in short supply I only go to the field if I know specific flying buddies are going.

Most of the forum time I spend today, I spend on specialty sites (that would get edited out if I named ) where the discussion is more focused. But even those have had a massive drop off in traffic.

GerKonig

Well, after reading the messages (one character of the cast even blames the electric foamies of perverting the sport), I become convinced that there is more to the issue than what we have heard.

Look at the general picture, widen the angle. when this media (internet) came about it was quite slow catching. We had bulletin boards, CompuServe, much later aol, and people started using more and more their computers to communicate.

But currently, I noticed the same decline in usage all over. The usage of my national site (my profession) declined (not model related mind you), my wife's professional association, the same. Local professional organizations traffic in this area is down. I think people are oversaturated and just decide to participate less, It would be interesting to cover other areas (besides RC and Full Scale Aviation) to see if the decrease is general. Honestly, I believe it is, but my experiences are not wide enough to make such a statement.

My 2 cents.

Gerry
PS: If I have to blame somebody, hey, let's blame the old farts that are dying all over the place!

dbsonic

My Feedback: (3)

I dont think it has to do with RCU technical issues. unpleasant but RCG works flawlessly and according to your numbers it is also seeing similar declines.

FYI, Aviation in general is seeing decline whether it be RC or full size, hang gliding, you name it. Costs, economy, lack of flying sites and lack of airport upkeep are all detractors. And I'll just say it. 911 didnt help peoples' persception of flying either. Now its a hassle to fly on an airline. Meanwhile you have other new things (social media, gadgets, tons of online content)capturing peoples attention instead. And that's the way it is.

TexasAirBoss

My Feedback: (22)

For one thing, RCU isn't the only game in town anymore. RCU might be trending the same as other sites now, but a few years ago those sites did not exist. They must have sucked away traffic from RCU by thier very creation. Heck, HobbyKing has forums.

Builders tend to communicate with other builders far more than other sub-groups of the hobby communicate about a single topic. They look for more advice, they have more problems to solve and they are involved with each project for a much longer time. There are now sites explicitly for builders. And there are fewer builders than ever.

Personally, I initally enjoyed answering questions and helping new RC modellers. But after a while i noticed the same questions over and over. When I myself ran into a problem, (and I've been building models for 40 years, so its generally a pretty complex situation), I often recieved poor advice or unusable advice.

I think many of us have had our computors for a long time now. We have learned what a time-suck they actually are and we have adjusted our behavior. The new has worn off .

The format of RCU is good. I wouldn't change the look or the function, (other than to resolve the reliablity issue).

The RC hobby has always ebbed and flowed, boomed and busted. When the economy is very good, people move up to more expensive toys , like speed boats, jetskis, or even real airplanes. And when economic times are bad people cut back and modelling becomes popular again. But when times are very very bad, they don't even fly models.

Those are some of the causes why RCU traffic might be trending lower. Each adding to the others. The sum being rather significant

Max_Power

So is this thread for curiosity's sake or does the OP intend to use the comments to rectify the issues? Honestly to me it seems like several issues have been pointed out by people but the OP's response seems a bit to me to be trying to convince himself to dismiss them and spread the blame to a very large number of issues instead of possibly addressing the errors and timeouts that seem to be largely agreed on as a primary issue? I think the economy and a few unfair moderators are large issues as well, but you have to try to fix what you are able to? Seems like a no-brainer to start with website performance issues to me?

TheEdge

My Feedback: (788)

I don't see this at all, it surely is an indication of how extremely different we can see things which are exactly the same.

cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

thanks...summertime and more flying gets my vote.and it could be the economic times we we live in that cost the hobby some members.I see the 3d fanatics in another forum posting less and not any new original 3d planes to get excited about.I plan to build more and fly a little less.I belonged to a club in ny and we had lots of members over the years but last year we nearly ran our funds dry and this year the guy that always mowed our field anytime it was needed can't do it anymore and a few longtimers have found other sporting activites so the field is used far less.even more importantly we are not getting new members and most of the elderly members dont fly or want to participate .we are lucky if we have a summer family day anymore.so I am very happy to be in florida with 2 very active clubs..

K-Bob

My Feedback: (1)

I could have a lot to do with specialty sites as well as a general decline in the hobby. My interests in the hobby run toward giant scale. The giant scale forum on this site is pitiful at best these days. An extension of that interest is gas engines. If you go to the gas engine forum, it seems all you find anymore is another thread about a poorly performing or broken down Chinese piece of junk. I used to post quite a bit in the AMA forums (under a different user name) but the moderation was anything but moderate unless you were/are the moderators buddy. I still go there from time to time but it's still the same old bottom feeders berating and intimidating anything positive concerning the AMA. Bleh.

Add to that the errors and slow speeds and there you have it for me anyway.

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

I agree with TexasAirBoss on this point. Online RC forums are getting more and more specialized. Electric and foamy pilots tend to gravitate toward RCG. Profile guys all hang out at the ProBro web site. The giant scale gas pilots tend to hang out at Flying Giants. The helicopter guys frequent Helifreaks or RunRyder.

I see the RCU and RCG downward trend being primarily due to this specialization of SIGs within the RC community.

The idea that "everything has been talked about already" or "new people aren't getting into the RC hobbies" are subjective viewpoints. Beginner helicopters, airplanes, boats, trucks, and buggies continue to sell, and the same old topics of conversation are new to folks trying various RC segments out for the first time.

I was drawn most strongly to RCU when I first started flying actively because it contained the most active and comprehensive information about the parts of the hobby that I was primarily interested in. RCU might not be designed specifically to cater to folks interested in glow trainers, glow sport planes, pattern planes, kit building, and glow engines, but those sections of RCU seem to be far better and busier than similar subsections of other online forums. For me, it was a great fit.

Over the years, I've been able to begin answering almost as many questions as I've asked. I've gained a tremendous appreciation for many of the moderators who not only donate their time to keep the peace around here, but who also happily offer up their own sage advise when the opportunity arises. There are a great many regulars here on RCU whose opinions I value, moderator and basic user alike.

I don't honestly believe that the economy is hurting this hobby. My local flying club has enjoyed rising membership over the last three or four seasons (174 strong in 2011), and we're welcoming new pilots into the club all the time. Some folks are hurting out there, and struggling to get by. Other folks are doing OK. Still other folks are trying to decide if they want to go with a YS 170 for their new 2M Vanquish or if electric would be better. Who has cash and who is struggling will vary, but enough folks have money to spend on recreational activities to keep the world turning.

Radio control enthusiasts simply have more choices than ever before when it comes to online forums, and they're spreading out to the particular forum that best caters to their strongest area of interest. How can RCU attract giant scale pilots who are hanging out on Flying Giants, or helicopter pilots that normally only read RunRyder? That I don't have the answer to.

The trick for RCU to attract new members would be to capitalize on a new niche of online forum without upsetting any current advertisers. I believe there is a huge pent-up demand out there for a good, reliable forum to openly discuss all of the crazy Hong Kong electronics that are being marketed and purchased worldwide. If a web site were to actually review some of these products from time to time, that website would definitely draw traffic.

Products like $59 9-channel 2.4Ghz radios and $35 high torque metal gear digital servos get discussed amongst modellers all the time, but large RC websites don't discuss them openly for fear of upsetting the Horizon/Hobbico/Global advertising cash flow. I thought that XJet and his http://www.rcmodelreviews.com website might really be on to something when he started reviewing FrSky 2.4Ghz modules and receivers and SK .90 glow engines. He doesn't really have the time or resources to develop a steady stream of new web content, but his website is surprisingly well-known simply because of the interest in the topics that he explores.

I get the impression that most RC magazine readers and most online forum users would say that, when you get right down to it, the wants of the advertiser seem to be of more concern than the wants of the reader or user. Advertisers pay the bills and make the payroll, but they only show up when there are enough readers. A 32% downward drop in unique viewers should provide a pretty loud alarm that something is out of balance.

Identifying new/different/hot niches within the RC Universe and expanding your coverage and forum offerings in these areas is the general solution to the problem. The trick is trying to actually execute this goal before a small and more nimble website beats you to it.

donho1

I think a RCU update to fix all the bug's is one of the problems...Also when I started in this hobby I would ask newbe questions and some members would get very rude and even make fun of anyone who miss spelled a word...99% of people on RCU are great but the other 1% stopped me from asking questions..I think if the 1% would not say anything if it's not helpful would be helpful...I saw a newbe ask a question the other day and he was attacked. I think this drives people away from RCU and I dont see this happening RCG hardly at all.

Just my 2 cents.

fledermaus

I have not encountered any of the major site problems people are talking about, although on rare occasions the site has been painfully slow.

I monitor a small number of selected forums that cover my interests but I have to say that I find less and less that really interests me on the site. A lot of the content is repeating what has already been said - and of course this might be what newcomers need to hear, so I am not really objecting, just that this doesn't encourage me to come back as often as I once did back when I was a newcomer.

I got a lot of info from RCU when I started out about 7 or 8 years ago, for which I am grateful, but now that I am connected to the local clubs and the LHS, I don't need RCU as much as I used to, so I don't come as often.

llindsey1965

My Feedback: (-1)

ok you think what you want , but a glow powered plane at a school yard or park is a loaded gun waiting to go off !!!! small electrics are fine but they should also be flown in areas that are there for the protection of the public, duh that is why our fields are out in areas away from homes and people duh there is a reason for that , there have been incidents with park fliers one bought to attention in the magazine flying at a church on the approach to a airport , pilots had to notify the control tower as he was flying in their airspace , and the tower dispatched the cops , this is not the publicity we need thats end of story

koastrc

It would be easy to say none of the above. It would also be easy to say all of the above. We can all agree that why we visit RCU is different. Most of the folks that post here do so with the hobby in mind. But there is and has been that bunch that post for entertainment at others expense. To bad.
I do think it will work itself out. Like one person put it. The sport/hobby ebbs and flows.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

A couple of specific things that always bothered me was of course the search function. There are numerous threads about that.

Another is the way the threads are organised. An example http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_10...m.htm#10795600

I realise it is no easy task to organise specific vehicles/planes, ect. because it gets messy real quick. Do we want MORE threads? or LESS? I sure don't know the answer , but I sure tend to like an "official" thread about a specific vehicle or plane. I remeber that radiocontrolzone used to have a nice vehicle specific threads that were easy to navigate. I guess then you need a geed search funtion when that thread gets real long too.

Ok, enough venting. [&o] Now, where to start those two NEW plane threads?

TexasAirBoss

My Feedback: (22)

I've already posted on this topic, (post #63), but I wanted to add this ; I come to RCU because it has the best, easiest, most user friendly classified ads of any of the forum sites. Head and shoulders above the rest. Keep that up and I believe RCU will always be a favorite of modellers.

rancor411

My Feedback: (2)

As somebody who doesn't post here much, I'll tell you why I don't hang around here or RCG. Navigating the website and finding the discussion forums that interest you is a bit of a pain. There are way too many options in the list of discussion categories. Unless you really spend a fair amount of time on these sites and figure out the easy way to find discussions that interest you, there's just too much going on with the website. Before assumptions are made here, let me say that I build websites and web content for a living. I know my way around the web. At the end of the day, I want to be able to quickly get what I came here for and get on with my life. In today's world, if it feels like there are unnecessary steps involved, then people will move on to an easier website. If a couple of things are working together to put somebody off of using a website, they will move on.

So, from an outsider's perspective, the site is a bit of a pain to navigate and once I find a few discussions that interest me, I don't necessarily like what is being said within so I move on. Most people don't like confrontation or arguments and won't get involved. It's easier to just move along. With that said, there is a lot of great information here when you use the search feature. If I have a question, I can search for the answer and not have to post. I do also like visiting the for sale section here which is why I stopped by today. This topic just happened to be listed on the home page.

I will say that our club membership level is at a record level right now. I think the forum traffic has probably just dispersed itself to other websites. I don't think social networks have taken all the traffic away.

Just my 2 cent. FWIW.