tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

I am disappointed in the lack of posts in the ARF forum....so few nowadays....and that seems to be where the interest lies...anyway, I LOVE the idea of "My Forums"....so I don't have to wade through all the forums that I'm not interested in.

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

The new version of my forums is horrible compared to what it was before. I know my post/visit count has all but died since the "upgrade".
Just read my signature and you will know how I feel.

init4fun

Not to belabor the obvious , but the fact that this site is by far the slowest and has more crashes than NASCAR , is the "nail in the coffin" that will eventually doom RCU . Even the loyalist of posters can have their patience tried when attempting to post here and as a member of a different Internet Brands site I can say that they aren't all as klunky and glitchy as RCU is , that's for sure ! I think the long time posters here have waited long enough for a properly functioning RCU to rise from the ashes of the mess it's been made into , and I know of at least one (Me) who has come to believe the fact that no fix will be forthcoming any time soon

raptureboy

Not sure why you all are having so much trouble posting or crashing. I use IE 11 and a Kindle and have no issues worth mentioning. It does seem that the # of useful threads has died off and now the most active ones are the " what kind of prop do you use" or hobbyking and fpv bashs. No one really doing any good build threads.

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

For me the site works at almost...almost, the same speed as I recall. The big issue for me, and the same challenge I face with RCG is I have to sift through too much to find what I want to see.
The old my forums would filter recent posts based on subscribed forums. This made for a quick look at what was going on in the areas I am interested in. Currently I am forced to review 9 or more pages of posts since my last visit and it's full of tank, car, heli...other stuff I am not really interested in.
The email notification is still pretty sketchy from what it was as well. I get one for about every 10 new posts if I get one at all. The old version had one notification sent till you visited the site again, feeding the addiction throughout the day.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

You're talking about when it was RCOnline. When it became RCUniverse, the pop-ups began, along with all sorts of slow-downs and other issues. DGrant, you are absolutely correct; back then, it was a delightful, easy-to-use site.

Then it was taken over by folks whose prime interest is making money, as opposed to providing a service. That's what it looked like to me, anyway.

To be fair, amid all the moaning and groaning of the old-timers (and I did my share of moaning and groaning), the new software and site "platform" shook itself out and eventually became viable. Participation got back up around pre-change levels. RCO was now RCU, and while a bit more complex, still the premier R/C site.

I took a "vacation" from the hobby a few years ago. When I returned earlier this year, this place was a wreck; super-slow, many times not responsive AT ALL, and a ghost of its former self. Some of the forums have tumbleweeds in them.

So yes, Jolly Popper, I'd say that participation is much reduced from former levels. Like DGrant, I find myself coming here less and less… because there is less and less content to hold my attention. And that's too bad, because I have always found the average member here to be of … shall we say… higher cognitive function… than on some other R/C sites. RCG, in particular, has some pretty thin-skinned folks on it.

Again, like DGrant, I can see myself tapering off my visits here until I simply stop coming. The slow-downs aren't helping, either… although they are becoming less frequent.

.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Case in point… it just took over five minutes from me hitting the "Submit" button on the post above for it to appear. I have lost count of how many times a post I spent a lot of effort on never DID appear, because the server crashed or whatever, while I was composing. It doesn't take too much of that to make you say "The heck with all of this!"

Management, I suggest you fix this pronto.

.

.

Rob2160

Haven't experienced the delays in posting or searching but sometimes the site is down completely. Usually this happens just after midnight in the USA so I figured they have it down for maintenance?

5pm here in Sydney is 1am in Washington DC… usually around the time I can't access the site.

thailazer

You might be having a problem with your ISP or firewalls between your machine and RCU. Since they did the upgrade a few months back, it loads/uploads almost instantly here in Thailand. I do use Ad Blocker however so I don't have to wait for any of the advertising links to connect.

Regarding RCU activity, it does seem down from 2008 when I first joined. Not sure if it is declining interest in the hobby or other reasons.

DGrant

My Feedback: (4)

Haha... I agree. Oh well though... I see you're also a loong time member here too LSP.. I got here a few days after it went up... I remember too with RCOnline back in the day, and it was very good for its time.. then apparently the owner went nuts and AWOL... and that site started slowing down terribly until it was no longer... I started there in moderating... then when this site came up I was asked by someone if I'd moderate here.. and I did that until about 2004(about 2yrs or so).... This was an incredible site when Marc Vigod(I think thats his name..very close anyways)... when he ran it, and it was new... it was a smokin site.. It hit 100,000 members very quickly...

I'm a member of several boards outside of RC also... some are very good... some are so so at best... and this one is fast approaching less then so so... Its just hard to tell what it will do...

I was trying to read a thread just a few nights ago that I really wanted to participate in, and I kept getting "script error" messages... or something of that sort.. thing is, it was only on that one thread I wanted to read as what I did get to read peaked my interest... the page would load just long enough for me to read a few lines at a time.. then "ERROR"!!!.. and that message came up.. I really don't care what RCU did on thier end that would render me not being able to get to a page.. thats not my prob to try and trouble shoot my own PC because I can't read a page on RCU... as my PC works fine on ALL other sites... and works fine on this one randomly.. So.. we'll see if this posts... wish me luck... ..

rcjetflyer0718-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

Participation down? A few years ago in the clubhouse and beginners forums there would be a whole page of new posts daily, today there are 4-5. That is about 75-80% drop.

TheEdge

My Feedback: (788)

But is it a drop that is just found on RCU or is it a drop in the overall community of online hobbyists?

Rob2160

There are many sites that will do a traffic analysis. I just checked a few RC sites through statscrop.com.

There have been peaks and troughs in the past 12 months but overall RCU has been in decline and RC Groups continues to grow.

The graphs are daily page views, Interestingly RCU has more members but significantly lower visits and page views.

Statistics.

RC Groups
30,546 Visitors per day
156,640 page views per day
Ranked 7046 in the world.
544,098 members (from site)
Current users online - 17,949 (*at time of posting)


RCU
4447 visitors per day
9721 page views per day
Ranked 55,389
607,062 members (from site)
Current users online - 3647*

Helifreak
3382 visitors per day
18,060 page views per day
Ranked 69,368
215,816 members (from site)
Current users online - 2486*

RCtruth
Stats not available
Ranked 15,014,715
328 members (from site)
Current users online - 12*

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

Interesting numbers Rob. Is there a site that deals strictly with, or pertains mostly to mutlirotor and fpv flight? I know RCG and RCU have segments for that, but don't know if there is anything out there for multirotor/fpv like there is for helis.

Rob2160

Yes there are a few, all with a respectable number of members, e.g..

http://www.multirotorforums.com (16,600 members)

http://fpvlab.com/forums/forum.php (26,000 members)

http://www.multi-rotor.co.uk/index.php?action=forum (3844 members)

Then you have the more specific forums dedicated to individual brands.

http://www.multiwii.com/forum/index.php (5714 members)

http://www.djiguys.com/Forum/viewforum.php?f=11 (5900 members)

scottrc

Like Vicman and others, I was a daily poster here until RCU was bought and "upgraded". Now I am here maybe one or two times a month. I don't have time to mess with a site that performs slower than if I used my old 386 with Windows 3.1 to surf the internet.

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

33.3 baud rate for the win!

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

I had a 386 when it was the absolute smokin machine LOL.
Now my phone has more oomph.