Greg Covey

Hi Marc,

It seems that some folks still feel that you have Admin privs, likely due to your screen name. Other than being the founder, you have no ownership or privs at RCU. I wanted people to clearly understand the situation.

You stated the following:
This similarity in decline eliminates any of the connectivity issues seen on RCU due to the Internet Brands server changes.

I have also seen several articles recently on the decline of Facebook. I posted one below as an example.

[link=http://www.switched.com/2008/02/25/facebook-popularity-declining-in-u-s/]Facebook Popularity On the Decline[/link]

If the answer to your question (and the thread topic) is Yes, then perhaps it lies outside the hobby itself.

Regards.

eddieC

My Feedback: (2)

The similarity could also be circumstantial, since no supportive data is available. I'd say, given the 'connectivity issues', RCU is lucky it's declined so little.

Airplanes400

My Feedback: (349)

The thing that gets me, is the repeat problems the site is having ... over, and over. Who needs that?

I get on this site less and less every month because of the problems. And I don't buy or click on the advertizing junk that appears on the right side of the screen. So RCU isn't making any advertizing money off me. Some of the advertizing is way out there too. So, I assume that RCU is actually worried about their advertizing $$ potential since traffic is dropping off.

Besides, most people have, or have gotten back to their life outside of this forum, this website, and the internet itself.
This is not life!

Moreso, Internet Brands has mismanaged the site. They have no business being in this hobby.

TheEdge

My Feedback: (788)

+1
that really is something to be said.

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

When I first saw the title of this thread I nearly choked...SERIOUSLY????[X(]
The comment about how RCU is lucky to be alive after all the problems and more importantly the lack of communication about them is the truest thing in this thread. RCU used to be the best, now, not so much.

I have made some of the best friends I have ever had thru this site and it pains me to see how far it has fallen over the past 2 years.[&o]
Mod quality and how the site functions are the two biggest factors in my personal participation here. I would estimate my post count is down by 60% over the last two years for these reasons. No my post count on RCG did not go up by that amount but it has increased in the last 6 months primarily due to frustration over site function. [:'(]

PropsnWings

My Feedback: (9)

I agree. And the only reason I have been back each day the last couple of days is to "watch" this thread. Other than that, I have "moved on" to other forums that dont have page load issues. I stil stop back when the site is working to browse the classifieds, but other than that I dont even go to the forums unless there is something interesting on the front page, such as this thread that grabbed my attention for a short bit.

PropsnWings

My Feedback: (9)

I am not quite understanding... you believe this has nothing to do with connectivity issues the site has had?

I believe facbook to be a different breed, and not a forum, where a true comparison could be had, and also the article you linked is from Feb 2008.

Your opening statement, could be percieved to be somewhat supportive of what others have stated in relation to mods. I dont think Marc was trying to imply anything other than that he was the founder and asked a very good question, that has sparked a good conversation.

IB cannot go back and change the past and how they handled the move, but they could be more proactive in how they move into the future with the information obtained from the mis-handling of the site.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

Has hobbyking forum been declining?

topspin

It has been declining in quality since day one and continues to do so. Since it is nothing more than a shill site and a place for cyber bullys to beat on anyone with a problem it really doesn't count as an RC site anyway.

topspin

Marc, I honestly think the decline is due to the changes in technology and the fact that fewer people build anymore. There is not much information to exchange about a bind & fly or plug & Play model. Experienced builders don't really need much help and so probably don't get on the RC sites much. The similarity in decline between this site and RC Groups is interesting and I think is really and indicator that the hobby is changing direction away from bulding to buying ready to fly models. Sad to see it happen but I am pretty sure that is what is happening.

RCNCMAN

My Feedback: (29)

I think good content is harder to find as many in the hobby have gone to smaller models, electrics, foam, chinese engines to fill landfills with. I still love the site and it has a great purpose but if I need to get technical I go to RCScalebuilder for specific information. I hardly ever have a problem loading the site since I got away from Microsoft and got an Apple I Pad. These guy's are more about the consumer. I think Horace Cain (hossfly) had some good thoughts at the front of the discussion up to the AMA comments which I can't speak for. We have 3 large hobby shops here in central NC and they are busy so people are buying something. I do think customers have scaled down although I like larger scale planes like we have had for years.

Uncas

My Feedback: (1)

1. It is summertime and there is always a decline in the summer. You need to do yearly comparisons.

2. There is a decline in the hobby. I think due to:
a. The economy
b. Lack of Interest by both young (20 - 40) and old.
c. Big Birds. This sounds dumb but I have seen guys get bigger and bigger planes and I think it took a lot of the fun out of the hobby for them because they were too nervous to fly the plane. I know some others who love big birds and it has greatly enhanced the hobby for them.

The RCU tech problems were really starting to chase me away - and I love this site. The problems seem to be fixed now.

We lost our club this year due to lack of membership and our rent doubled. Very few members were actually flying anyway. So I am in a new club. This club has some flyers that love the hobby. They have all kinds of fun events that are cheap to do. Like glider contests, fun fly events and they are going to try pylon racing. Some fly Pattern - those guys fly a lot... some are older and have surprisingly good skills.

I think if you are not challenging yourself or having fun at this, then you get bored and leave.

DESERT RATT

My Feedback: (7)

Y'all had to notice that Greg came in to Put Marc down, But he never answered any of the problems this board is seeing! Nothing about how he's going to fix it or even work on it..

he limped out of the real issues.

Now I can see what Y'all have been talking about.

Ratt

Iron Dog

I started a thread and try to keep it going, but RCU's server wouldn't let me connect for 2 and a half months. I just managed to be able to connect again within the last two weeks. The errors are extremely frustrating. RCU has to get their bugs resolved, or they're going to keep losing existing members and potential new members.

bendaklak

Hi everybody,

I need a engine RC car 1/8 and 1 pcs started box .

Greg Covey

It would probably help if I could articulate my thoughts better…so here is another attempt.

The thread topic is, “Are all RC forum's activity in decline?�. The question doesn’t look for particulars of one site versus another but takes a look at a higher level. Perhaps it is a higher level of the hobby or perhaps it is outside the hobby’s control. (e.g. Social media sites, technology, economics, society)

Marc is well aware of the pain caused by IB. RCU is simply a small fish in their corporation. He is simply asking his question as a member, not an owner that is in a position to make changes at RCU. I know that Marc will get a kick out of the thought that I was “putting him down�. Most people don’t know our relationship.

As for “fixing� the issues at RCU, I’m afraid that even the RCU admins above the moderators do not have that under control. Again, the issue with IB has always been that they have bigger fish to fry. When RCU was sold, against Marc’s wishes, it lost its original startup premise and slogan, “Created by R/Cers for R/Cers�.

wendypearl

"A guy told me the other day I must be very smart,......I told him "No!, I''m REALLY dumb, But learning from my mistakes!!"" 

TimBle

This is a natural event.
If you look at an instant in time, the Web basded forums have 0 members while the target audience is 1000 (just an arb number, not an actual).

In your first fe months on line you will see 60% of rC pilots move over to the forum indicating a growth of 60%.However your population of Rc pilots is only growing at 5% per annum.
So after your first year you start to a decline in new members simply because the percentage of new members is much smaller when measured against the numer fo people signing up initially.

Eventually the population growth of the forum stabilises at the growth of the number of people entering the hobby.

Naturally I did not accound for people leaving the hobby and for people leaving the forum due to other reasons including frustration etc.

The decline in growth is indicative of the forum reaching maturity.

What should be concerning is if the total population is in decline

PropsnWings

My Feedback: (9)

If we were to follow this thought process, then we should all just give up now and move on to bigger and better things, as IB has better things to be doing as well.

I appreciate the fact you came back to try and explain your post, however perception is reality to people, and when they read that post, most read it is somewhat bold and belittling and explaining things that were not implied in Marcs posting. Not everyone knows your relationship with Marc.

Also, one cannot just read a title and answer the questions, or understand the post from just a title. In the post it was more definitive of the question he was asking in regards to this site, at least that was the way I took it from reading it.


At any rate, I do hope one day IB will take charge of the site as it should be, or sell it off to someone that does want to keep the site with "created by R/C ers for R/C ers" , as where it is headed, it wont be long before RCU is a distant memory.

GerKonig

The other thing I hate are Vietnamese that post always in the wrong forum....

My 2 Dongs

Gerry

Hill202

My Feedback: (24)

What in this thread leads you to believe that anybody cares about what you hate?

GerKonig

What in my message gave you the impression I do?

Gerry

DejaD

As someone who only started flying RC last spring I looked around and found several different forum sites and tried to become involved as much as possible given my very limited knowledge.I joined RCU mid last yearand in one of my very firstpostsI was relaying the story of a mid-air that resulted in the complete destruction of afoam P-51from Airfield.I made the "mistake" of referring to it as a "fatal" mid-air and was promptly roasted for that remark bysomeone named Charles who evidentally isthe verbage police here on RCU. He said many things to me that were totally out of line, "You need a spanking" is the one that really sticks out,he did howeveredit thatpost before myresponse was posted. There were also comments made to the affect that, if I was flying a foam replica ofan airplane that I wasn't really flying and should only fly a plane that I build from scratch myself. ?? As moremembers got involvedinthe thread, is became quite obvious to everyone, except Charles thathe had clearly overreacted and should apologize.He did not and thethread was eventuallyclosed or locked ormovedby the moderators. That was probably for the best.

But as I said in that thread, something like 11 of my first 14 posts onRCU were spent defending myself against this person who did nothing but belittle, berate, chastise andinsult me. And supposedly he was a senior member here in addition tohis claim of beingalicensedpilot of full sized aircraft.I guess I felt he sould have been able to find a more suitable way to get his feelings across. Appearantly not. And appearantly nobody in charge here felt he was out of line.Now tell me, whatabout that would make me want to come back to this forum? Let me direct your attention to the paragraph that appears above this window...

Hill202

My Feedback: (24)

You obviously beleive it. You took the time to post your venemous, off topic remark.

People are inquiring as to why RCU useage is declining. Here is a perfect example of why. A man joins RCU,makes his first post in the wrong place and look how he was greeted. He is probably on FG right now asking his question.

airborne2.4

LOL