I subscribe to too many mailing lists, read a few web forums like RCU and got involved in Usenet 20 (yes, 20) years ago. I cannot tell you how many mailing lists and newsgroups I gave up trying to read because for every good post there were 5 or 10 or 50 more like so:
thanks,
no - thank you,
you are too kind
congratulations
your mother must be proud
thank you
no, thank you
blah
blah
etc, etc, etc, etc....

It is enough to make a grown person SCREAM.

I discovered RCU a few weeks ago, read it for a while, got an ID and read some more. Depending on the subject, RCU often has a higher signal to noise ratio than Usenet. And some subjects are indistinguishable from Usenet. Even here, there is an incredible amount of no content, conversational fluff. And here too, there are way, way too many armchair experts who, "I have no experience to answer your specific question, but blah blah rocks - it flies like it is on rails, 2S's blow, 4S's blow, XYZ is better"...

Out of curiosity, I just searched "on rails" - 1241 subjects! That's kind of like searching "dude" on a surfer list.

Okay, having said all of that, depending on the forum, there is some really good and useful stuff here. You just have to be a little careful and wade through the fluff. I am a newbie here. I am a newbie to the hobby again after decades of no R/C joy. If I forget to post a thank you for ever person who responds to any question I may ask, please know that I do appreciate the help and I may just be trying to keep the fluff down to a dull roar for the next newbie that spends countless hours using the search function instead of asking some FAQ for the 347th time.

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

thanks,
-- Jan