There are always going to be those who want their own board or want to try and do it better. Darwinism I guess. What many will realize (even I had no idea when I started) is that there is ALOT more involved in running a site like this then anyone can imagine. Unless you plan on spending 100% of your time (not 8 hour days...16 plus hour days) they rarely thrive. Member demands, support and cost rise significantly once traffic increases. Not a big deal for boards with few members or few posts but start to get big and the dynamic changes quite rapidly.

RCU was created to try and bring all these 3rd tier boards and RC sites into one place. There are efficiencies in both running a site that has an enormous member base that benefits members, guests and also eventually making it worthwhile for the owner(s) to justify the time and expense necessary to run it.

I've spent almost 2 years full time, 6-7 days per week and 16 hour days typically and so far have not profited a dime on RC Universe. Matter of fact there is still some hefty debt to payoff for hardware and development before I'll see my first dime of profit. In essence I've been working for free for almost 2 years full time + and will likely not take a dime of profit for the next 6-18 months unless a HUGE amount of people join/upgrade this site. So for all those RCU wannabee's...be forewarned and don't say I didn't tell you upfront what the future could hold if you want to be the next RCU. The road isn't the easiest one and isn't paved with riches (despite the optimistic accounting attempts made by many on other sites who said RCU would make me a multi-millionaire - if only they were correct....). I'll be happy if I can make a living at it and have a few RC toys to play with.