mvigod

Hi everyone. Marc here (the original founder of RCUniverse). I've been sporadically keeping track of this site as well as RC Groups on traffic analysis site Compete.com. According to their numbers RCU has seen a 36.41% decline in unique visitors year over year. RCGroups has seen similar declines with a drop of 32.57% year over year.

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/rcgroups.com/

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/rcuniverse.com/

Ifigured if one site was losing traffic the other might be the beneficiary however it looks, based on these numbers, that this is clearly not the case. So my question is where are people spending their time online now? Has there been a migration over the years to social media (Facebook, Blogs, Niche RCwebsites)? Are there just fewer people active in the hobby so the pool of available visitors and posters has gone down? Is there another mega-site on the rise somewhere?

Iknow my club uses Facebook quite a bit. After a weekend of flying the photos go up on the clubs facebook page and everyone views them there and comments as well. Has this taken the place of a good portion of the previous usage on the large rc websites?

Would love to hear any opinions or facts on why we are seeing this trend in the last couple years.

Live Wire

The site is causing problems for its self by not getting problems fixed . People are getting tire of the 500 , this site can not be found and so on, so they are moving on or just giving up. Not the old RCU It had problems but not like it has NOW. You are going to wish you had not started this thead when the responses start coming In
Larry K

Live Wire

Http 503 and I just posted [:@]

Max_Power

I think Larry has hit this one squarely on the head! The 500's, timeouts...and then the lack of new topics and posts caused by them I would think are what is killing traffic. Right now is nice weather so many folks are out hobbying....but several months ago it was really bad at the time of year people are sitting around. I' for one have a facebook acct' and have for several years but have never looked for RC news on it and actually strongly dislike facebook as you don't have as complete control over your actions as a normal forum. I think personally some moderator changes in a few areas or nuetralizing the politics of the moderation might help me a bit as well.

I think the first issue will help the most. Having to load your post in the clipboard and wait till it goes through to avoid having to re-type and then possibly it being out of order and confusing when you do get it posted gets old real quick ..I don't use RCG much so I cannot comment on how that site is or how it is affecting this issue.

By the way...this response would not post the first, second try either[&o]

JPMacG

My Feedback: (2)

I think every possible RC subject has already been discussed ad nauseam.

There is just not much left to talk about. In the early days I found RC Online / Universe tremendously helpful. I still love to build and fly, but I don't have much new to discuss online.

I perceive a similar decline in other forums that I visit... bikeforums.org, qrz.org, subaruforester.org. I suspect fourm participation is generally declining. People have become saturated.

And also, I do think the RC Aircraft hobby is declining in general. The generation that loved aviation is dying off. The younger generations do not have the same connection to flight.

Hossfly

OPINIONS: Older and experienced people don't generally come to these forums as they don't need help. Those that need help seldom get true help, because those giving it do not have adequate knowledge to provide real help. I see so many stating FACT that have no idea what fact is. Their real "knowledge" is often not knowledge at all, but simply confusion. In addition there are usually a number of different methods to accomplish any aero-modeling task. Far too many think their one-way is the only way.

The problems of getting on RCU are so many and so bad that who in L wants to bother with it? I have a few - very few topics in the whole realm of RCU - things that I read some of the postings. If it is not allowing me tro get on, so be it.

Facebook and such garbage pots are attractive to women and young folks, male, female, or inbetween. My wife wanted me to get on it some years ago. I seldom go there and delete all the emails that come from there. PPSSST! Wifey keeps up with her family and friends there. Young folks think everyone else is as interested in them as they are in themselves.

The sport of aeromodeling is changing. Small electrics and ARFs have degenerated the sport to a fad such as the old-time COX plastic CL models of years ago. Just more garbage that is a simple passing activity.

Take a look at the AMA Forum, not just here at RCU but their own forum. It basically died when AMA hired moderators that only allowed themselves to really say anything of importance. Now it's still there but the hooks are too dull to catch any fish. AMA hiearchy doesn't give a darn.

So there in a nutshell, the Forums will remain, and they will get new inputs from time to time. Overall with so many that have no specific directions, I don't see any real future for these forums.

Sure glad I copied my post because the proverbial "Timed Out" caught it. [:@]

TheEdge

My Feedback: (788)

This site has always been number 1. But I have to say the reason I have been spending time away from here of late is due to the weakness of the site. Internet Explorere cannot open the webpage.

Just had it today when trying to send this.

I hope this site remains as the greatest site on the internet for the RC community. It has been managed and moderated by people who make a positive difference to the quality of the output.

bogbeagle

"Degenerated" ... bit harsh, I think.

"Evolved", perhaps.


I speak as one who, in general, only flies what he builds.

I do know that the UK FPV forum has grown very rapidly, this past couple of years ... from single figures to about 2,500 members, I believe. So, there's a forum which is definitely NOT in decline.


Yeah, the hobby is becoming more fragmented than it was 30 years ago, when there was considerable uniformity. The fact that many people are flying in what I call micro-clubs, means that it can seem like the hobby is dying, when it's really just becoming more dispersed. Maybe.

Tjettzky

People come on to these sites looking for help - perhaps they are new to the hobby, perhaps they are new to a particular segment of the hobby - and other users call the things they love garbage, or a degenerating fad. Doesn't make a chap want to stick around this place so they go out and find another site. There is no shortage of smaller forums. This site is moderated to a standard above many of these little guys, but if people get shooed away (for not spending all winter building their plane, or driving an RTR buggy, or asking a LiPo question they didn't know was already asked, or not having an interest in joining a club in their area for any number of reason, or liking Traxxas more than Losi even though they don't know Losi exists yet, etc...) they never learn that this is (arguably) the top R/C site.

I copy my posts before I hit "OK" just in case it doesn't want to work.

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

Perhaps forums as a whole have lost some of their luster. When this site opened, this method of exchanging ideas was really new and exciting. But as time went on, folks learned what can be learned from them and there is nothing new or exciting to talk about. And, yes, some of the older folks on the forum have become very short (snobbish perhaps) in their responses if the question has already been asked. I know I sometimes ask a question that I am aware has already been asked but I am looking for and exchange of ideas about it, not someone telling you, very abruptly, to do a search, the question has already been asked. That answer is really unnecessary on any forum and it will drive folks away.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

My opinions are as follows. I could be wrong about crackbook and such since I don't use it much , but I know many who use it A LOT.

I don't think the RCU site problems are cause for a lot of decline. I also don't think there are less people involved in the hobby. I do think that the market crash or depression and the social media sites are the two big causes.

kurt2022

My Feedback: (18)

There are less people interested in the hobby! The hey day of radio control has long passed, we are the few last relics of the "rc era"!

TLH101

My Feedback: (90)

I think, that to a point, that is exactly whats happening. A lot of it has to do with loss of flying sites. Used to have a big RC community here in the Corpus area, but now due to loss of flying sites, there is very little. The diehards are flying wherever we can find a place to fly, and for the most part, they are small areas, so that means smaller, simpler, models and less to discuss.

kurt2022

My Feedback: (18)

I don't know if it has to do with flying sights, we have two great ones in my area, we have probably a million people living in the lower rio grande valley and had low winds this past weekend and we had 4 pilots at one field saturday and 3 at the other sunday! Five years ago it would have been at least 10-15 people at each of them. We would have had warbirds galore 5 years ago and we now have 2 warbird guys left.

TheEdge

My Feedback: (788)

I don't think there is data anywhere that will confirm whether there are fewer people in the hobby. I do think that hobby stores will reflect that more people are buying the cheaper products. These range from cars to planes and not a lot of these people have to join clubs. I think the hobby is changing from the Big stuff that people could afflord to stuff after 15 hours of assembly to using low cost electrics now.

outdoorhunting

Yuup!!! Our club for instance has always stayed around 30 members or so. They, I say they because I'm one of them that's just lost interest in the hobby & quit. Although I still enjoy RCU. The membership now is hovering around 11 or 12 members. The less members, the more the dues are.They probably won't be able to keep their field for much longer. What a shame, they've had that field for over 20 yrs.

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

There are probably a number of reasons that folks are not visiting the site as often now. Have to admit the site has had so many problems many have thrown the towel in - at least for about a year now. I spend 1/3 of the time I used to spend on RCU. It had gotten so bad you could hardly use it. Another factor to keep in mind is that over the last two plus years economy has had its toll on folks and people simple don't have the funds. It also seems to me that folks are not as interested in the hobby.

One of the clubs I fly at has about 70 members and only a very small handful fly. I went out last Saturday morning and it was beautiful day and only three people came out! We have had a slight resurgence lately and a few new member so hopefully that will boost flying some. I am not sure why not many fly anymore. I fly every chance I get, but I do work during the week so my flying is somewhat limited. If I had more time I would fly more.

The other club I fly at only has about 10 members and the bulk of them are very old and only two of us are in the 40s and 50s range. The rest are 70 to mid 80s. They only fly on Sunday evenings so the field is wide open the rest of the time. We have tried to recruit some new blood but no luck at all and it is such a nice field. Wide open space around it, very wide, and the field is probably 800-900 feet long - maybe even more.

Hopefull you get some helpful info.

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I left rcu a little while back because of the problems mentioned above and went to rcg. I check back here every now and then to see if its gotten better. I've cut back my hobby spending by a lot. Preparing to get laid off sometime later this year or early next. At least thats what the writing on the wall indicates. Another thing to remember, it IS flying season. Just speculating.
Edwin

Live Wire

Well when you have a soccor field, foot ball field, city park, or an open street Who needs a club,club dues and you don't have to drive a long distance to not get to fly because of bad weather. If you get tired of the hobby you do not have the investment and time involve. There are still people flying that are not counted. Man am I getting old [&o]

weathervane

I stopped using RCU because of the problems mentioned above and the negative comments that you receive in posts by some users. It's just not "fun" to post here anymore. Also, I am spending more time looking at the events posted on RCG.

-Andrew

guver

My Feedback: (325)

Looks like my opinions are so wrong. Site problems seems to be popular , but that wouldn't explain RCG going down too , right?

TLH101

My Feedback: (90)

I don't know about the rest of RCG, but the all the electric related sections are "booming".

JDHammer

My Feedback: (1)

The more ARFs there are, the less there is to talk about.

jayjay283

Its the quantity thats gone down, not the quality of members or posts. You want to see posts go over to Traxxas.com 500 posts about whats the cheapest chinese motor.

Johnny_Zero

My Feedback: (44)

Summer time!