K-Bob

My Feedback: (1)

Ummm..... Have you ever tried to post a link to Flying Giants on this site. Does your theory hold on this sites censorship?

Oops. Those asteriks are censoring F-L-Y-I-N-G G-I-A-N-T-S.

bogbeagle

There is no censorship issue, or "free speech" issue ... because the site is private property, not public property.

The owner is at liberty to control the postings, as he sees fit.

topspin

Only one screw up Frank, Jim Bourke owns RCG, Jim Graham is an employee. Other than that you pretty much have it correct. Besides, everyone who has been in this hobby for a long time knows that RCU is where the real RC hobbyists and modelers hang out. RCG is for kids and noobs and is run like a school yard sandbox with rules that change from one minute to the next but always favor certain folks and discriminate against others. I'm perfectly happy right here in the RC Universe..

TheEdge

My Feedback: (788)

I echo the remarks and observations spoken about by Topspin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmCEiyyPdBs

K-Bob

My Feedback: (1)

Limiting one self to one source of information does one no favors.

I guess by tailspin's account, giant scale folks are not real modelers since most of them are over on FG. The giant scale forums over here have practically been entirely abandoned.

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

This thread has become a painful reminder of why I backed out of the AMA forum a year ago. Same punks, same methods of degregation, and the same scumbag (ala bottom feeder) tactics.

It's kind of messed up that as an AMA member, CD, and leader member I can't stand anyone in that forum.

topspin

I completley agree with you, it was the gang up and bully mentality. That same MO is alive and well on several vendor forums. If you have ever bought anything from Hobby King go to their forums and look at the complaints forum. It's like the same four of five people who simply bully the tar out of anyone who has a complaint. Even the mod chimes in, it's not user friendly, the post count is low, and only about 10 or 15 of the same people post there cause everyone else is afraid.

The AMA forum on RCG is no better and there are constant battles going on between the same few who ruin it for everyone else. Same goes for the Hobby King forum there also, anyone with a complaint gets bullied and management allows it in the name of profit. That is why people don't post there, certain posters are protected and can do as they please while all others have to walk on egg shells.

exeter_acres

My Feedback: (2)

Service Unavailable

HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable.

Bill G

It is disgusting and disheartening.
As of this year, I'm no longer even a member of the AMA, due to all this nonsense. If the AMA won't disconnect themselves from these scumbags and stop promoting them, it will stay that way. These people include another website and their staff, along with the unethical companies they are teamed up with.

K-Bob

My Feedback: (1)

I may be mistaken, but I think the AMA forum he was referencing was the one on this site, which has absolutely no ties to the AMA. Why you would cancel your membership over it is beyond me. What "unethical" companies is the AMAteamed up with?Horizon?Tower Hobbies?Futaba?I don't get it.

Microz

I think that they are in decline because i USED to be over at RCGroups, but the people there bash you when you state your opinion, or say something they don't agree with.

countilaw

I used to post over on RCGs, but I got banned for life because I spoke out against Hobby King and the shills. Oh well, no big loss for me.

There are plenty of other forums where you can say your piece and agree to disagree. Besides, I like it here.

Frank

Max_Power

I think as well as people posting their real names they should have to post their age LOL Maybe a blanked out picture.[8D] Some people like me have a more aggressive personality than some but arent hiding behind anything and would gladly give their real name and idenity. On many forums(especially cars) there are just too many people who call theirself "Senior Members" using their post count and not real experience as a reference. I learned as a youngster that often the wisest person in the room is the one who listens the most and says the least!

As far as moderaters I think the worst issue is that some of them seem to me to wait until their side has a few recent comments to "Moderate"(Which is usually too late to actually lessen the impact unless a post is deleted) And I absolutely believe that a Mod should not have His/Her opinion in the same post as Moderation.... Sometimes it seems like they come in at some point a dispute has been active for a while and say "So and So is exactly right and everyone should do it that way and THIS IS THE CORRECT OPINION, The thread is now closed and Locked" They use it as a way to express their OPINION, and then take the ball and go home. This is absolutely not moderation and should be in a seperate post from the moderators opinion! There was recently a thread in which a mod turned a post into a "Dirty picture post" , and then a page later came in and reprimanded people they were going too far without even moderating HIS OWN post!!..And it seems often post are closed because someone is firm and well worded in support of their opinion but hasn't necessarily broken rules. Yet others (to me seeming to have far left opinions usually) are let go pretty far off of the edge as far as name-calling etc. if that is the way the moderator leans....Honestly if people aren't using foul language and are confining it to the related thread there is no reason people shouldn't be allowed to debate until one of them gets bored and it falls off the page and leaves! I mean all and all its still the internet and a voluntary read?...And if foreign language posts are removed so should be text-speak Jibberish!!!

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I'm not sure if you are referring to RCU's moderators with this comment, but if you are I would like to apologize on the behalf of RCU for this happening. This is definitely NOT the way we want our Moderators to act in any forum. While we realize our Moderators do participate in discussions and we encourage them to post thier own beliefs on subjects, we definitely do not want to them to use their positions to influence their moderation of any thread. That is something that we don't like to see happening. If you feel that a thread is being incorrectly moderated please feel free to drop me a PM about the situation and I will most certainly look into and see what's going on. We tell all our Moderators here at RCU to "error on the side of the members". By that we mean that if we are going to make a mistake, or do something wrong, we want it to be in favor of the members of RCU and not against them. We realize that members are what we are here for in the first place. I know that this doesn't happen all the time, and sometimes it's going to come out a different way, but we do want to make sure the members are first whenever we possibly can. If this isn't happening someplace I do want to know about it so I can fix any problems that we may have.

Ken

hopkimf

My Feedback: (56)

I think the whole RC universe concept has been beaten to death. It takes me lots of work to learn anything, and I'm tired of ignorant opinions.

As far as RC universe market is concerned, I used it for 10-12 years without any problems. Buyers and sellers acting in good faith and delivering what's advertised. On my last transaction, it didn't work out well. Took forever to get an incomplete package followed by promises after I complained and seller was suspended.

I believe both buyers and sellers need protection. RC Universe does not provide that. Nor do they mediate in problems. I am finished using RC universe for buying or selling. You can just go away as far as I'm concerned.

TheEdge

My Feedback: (788)

What did paypal decide when you claimed?

You did use paypal right?

Why do you feel that RC Universe should offer you protection? Which other sites do this?

Goodbye.

countilaw

He used a check as he stated in his earlier post. I don't care how bad I needed the part or whatever it was, if I had to send a check, I would just do without.

I wouldn't expect RCU to be responsible or even get involve. If you run an ad in the newspaper or CL, they aren't going to help either.

RCU only provides the medium for one to advertise. I really feel your anquish with the sob and know you feel helplessy screwed. But don't blame RCU. Give his local police department a call, they may make a courtesy call on the rat, you never know.

Keep up the good work RCU

Frank

mvigod

Some great comments and opinions here.  I didn't expect such a huge response but am thankful of the interest in this.  It shows that there is certainly room for improvement in this space by the incumbent sites or a pesky startup of some kind.

I just checked the  June numbers as reported by compete.com and it shows another decline in unique visitors year over year (this comparison takes out seasonal issues).  Compete.com reports RCG showing 23.53% down and RCU a decline of 15.19% both year over year.  

I know many posted that it was just seasonal but must not have read the actual post of how the Compete.com numbers were reported.   They are not in decline simply due to seasonal fluctuations but in decline when compared to Compete.com numbers the same month in the prior year.

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

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

topspin

By unique members I assume you mean new members? So are there any statistics that the post counts for existing members are steady, rising, or falling?

By the way, in my opinion those pesky startups are good for RCU as they draw attention to this site and others. If it makes people look that can't be bad.

mvigod

Unique visitors is simply a measurement of actual humans hitting the site. It does not count repeat visits by the same person/computer. So for example if you had 1000 unique visitors in a month that would mean 1000 distinct people visited that site at least one time during that period (in this example one month)

topspin

I think I understand what you mean, thanks for explaining it.

On another note it looks like karma may be dropping a hammer on the toe of "that other RC site" who's owner dissed RCU. Lots of discontent among the ranks over there, seems they can't seem to apply a single set of rules in a fair and unbiased way. Too bad for "that other site" because all of those people will have to post over here on RCU now.

TheEdge

My Feedback: (788)

Have to agree, don't ever let this place treat it's members with such disdain, which is getting beyond a trend and into a way of life.

kentishnomad

Well, as a new member, it seems I have it all to look forward to!

I was recommended this forum by a friend so if it's any consolation it still has a reputation as the best RC discussion venue on the net.

ssautter

Forums are in decline because surfers, posters, and bloggers are keen to the idea that our intellectual property is no longer safe with you.

Yes, facebook is a culprit too.

I can recall a specific contest, through the Thunder Tiger / Tiger America facebook fanpage, in which the winner of the contest used a publicly postedpicturefrom one of your forums, and won the photo contest with the intellectual properties of another.

Thunder Tiger now watermarks all of their posted photos....so do I....and so should you!


The AMAalso reported their first rise in membership, in approximately ten years, approximately when you started this thread: http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/A...y-May-2012.pdf

I'm still a member of the AMA, and the AMYA, because I still find value in the periodical snail mailings and the liability insurance.

However, I uncerimoniously dumped ROAR, the national division of IFMAR, after a year because I paid 25 USD....for nothing more than a plain-paper membership card and a renewall notice. No value.


The question of where people are spending their time online now, may be better restated: where are people spending their time offline?

Flying, racing, and maintenance are a large part of any modeling hobby which simply cannot be done online.

The aging population has removed its proverbial training wheels and decided that flying ismore fun than buying.


And, if your looking for a direct answer: the best trend I can remind you if is the shift towards ready-to-fly, ready-to-sail, and ready-to-run models.

When a model is pre-built there is much less of a need to seek consultation for the operation of model.

Unfortunately,there is also a certainamount of planned obsolescence built into the model.


It's interesting that you mentioned facebook, because model manufacturers are now holding more online contests through the social networking site.

Personally, I loathe this promotional technique - yes it's nothing more than another form of advertising - because my time-management strategy would have the HR and PR specialists of these companiesreading resumes and hiring employees, as opposed to blowing capital and giving handouts!


So, my answer to your question really boils down to a simple cost-benefit analysis.

If modelling forums, RCU included, have me flamed, trolled, infracted, while your advertisers are paying you to solicit me, then situationbecomes a lose-lose situation.

And that - ahem - is why all "free" forums are experiencing a decline in traffic.