I happen to think this is one of most civilized ARF vs. kit threads I've ever participated in. Patriot, I agree that all said and done, we don't really have much to disagree. We are simply observing the same phenomenon from different perspectives and with different values.

Change in inevitable in this hobby of ours. We win some and we lose some. However, I do firmly believe that we RCers gain much much more with the ever increasing popularity of ARF than we lose in the traditional process of kit building. That's not to say building skills are destined to become extinct. There is just no avoiding learning the craft, when one starts to play with model aircrafts more and more.

Oh, yes I do fly a cheap ugly Stik much better than I do a high-dollar airplane. I guess the absence of high pucker factor allows me to be more relaxed and actually become a better pilot. Maybe that's why Stiks still rank high on my favorites list, even after I've acquired many other supposedly precision giant scale aerobatic machines.