RCgroups members hostility

[Bayboos]

You know, the best place I've ever found for "extensive balsa build threads" is... one very specific PC gamers forum, dedicated to all sorts of flight simulators, mostly military-oriented ones Keep looking and you will find what you need.

Hostility? Tribalism? Wait a minute, there is no rule that requires you to make everybody happy. You did your best, but apparently that wasn't enough for that particular guy. You can always try to understand him, live with him in peace, or maybe even - if you are strong an patient enough - use your own good will to bring him back to the light side (a side for friendly people, regardless of any differences); but if not - there's nothing wrong with leaving this experience behind and moving forward with your life.

There are tons of good people EVERYWHERE; don't focus on the bad ones if you can't do anything about that.

 

[Bricks]

I am part of both forums what I see on RCG is the same questions get asked over and over and many get tired of answering them. Times the original question not worded properly or being specific enough even here we see that how do you answer a question without all the information, so you have to post and pull nails to get the information needed to answer the question. Many that post never use the search function first generally that will find the answer your looking for if not mention I did a search and came up with nothing but be specific in your question.

 

[sprzout]

Yeah. "original community"... Does he know there was a time before the World Wide Web? Where newsgroups like rec.models.rc.air were the place to discuss things? =)

Darn it, Balu - yer makin' me feel old by mentioning newsgroups!!! LOL

Next you'll be using terms like Fetch, and Gopher, or harkening to IRC days and channels.

I don't want to lump all of RCGroups into that field either. They were where I first started learning about FliteTest, and most of my current club feels like a bunch of old farts (who readily admit that they're old farts, especially when they talk about flying prop planes in military service!), but a good portion of them use RCGroups, and after seeing my FliteTest planes, they're coming around to see that they're fun designs that don't break the bank.

I think maybe it was just this one guy who was a bad apple...

 

[makattack]

I think a lot has to do with how flitetest was initially setup to introduce beginners to the hobby while helping guide them as they grew/learned. I think that spirit remains with the FT Forums. I use both FTForums and RCGroups and in my mind both have their place. I use RCGroups more for going straight to the source. A lot of the developers and vendors maintain a pretty constant presence on RCGroups so it just invaluable to have that direct access. FTForums is often times more fun for me, and I find my ability to help and contribute is greater, because there's also a common design element that FliteTest itself introduced. With RCGroups you have to find specific threads for the models you own/have and then they all have their own little communities inside that varies greatly. Some are super friendly and similar to FTForums, while others can be intimidating.

 

[Bayboos]

I am part of both forums what I see on RCG is the same questions get asked over and over and many get tired of answering them. Times the original question not worded properly or being specific enough even here we see that how do you answer a question without all the information, so you have to post and pull nails to get the information needed to answer the question. Many that post never use the search function first generally that will find the answer your looking for if not mention I did a search and came up with nothing but be specific in your question.

That's the reality of the internet self-learning: to ask proper question, you need to know what do you don't know; which is not particularly easy. The same is true for search function; and even worse since most of the forum's search engines are not very useful. That plus most of the threads having meaningless subject lines plus many of them turning into tens of subjects being discussed over hundreds of pages of one single thread... and so on, makes digging trough the search results more confusing than helpful.

The only remaining question is: how will you react to new users "asking incorrect questions and not using search function"? You may ignore them, you may tell them "go search yourself". Or, you may "pull nails to get the information needed to answer the question" and then answer it to the best of your knowledge, and teach someone something new and make him/her feel important and appreciated in the process.

Side note: tired of answering the same questions over and over again? Then send a "Thank You" card to all of your teachers for doing exactly that every day, for tens (sometimes even hundreds) of kids, for YEARS.

 

[Beavis]

Side note: tired of answering the same questions over and over again? Then send a "Thank You" card to all of your teachers for doing exactly that every day, for tens (sometimes even hundreds) of kids, for YEARS.

Well said. I participate on classic car and race forums. Every so often somebody gets butt-hurt that a person didn't use the search function. These guys are usually shut down pretty quick by someone telling them to lighten up, and don't say anything if you can't be constructive. Each new "generation" gets to take the torch as they transition from student to teacher. Besides... forums like this are "social" sites, right? Repeat questions gives us more chances to be social, and we get better at answering questions with each rep.

Actually, one of the worst forums was ultimate-guitar.com. You would get chastised, warned, and potentially suspended for not exhausting all search options.

 

[Pigfarm1403]

Just don't mention Flite Test on RC groups forums

Last time I brought up Flite Test forums on RC groups I got slammed pretty bad for it. As far as bringing it up in a conversation though I have never had an issue.

 

[jaredstrees]

There's a Flite Test thread on RC Groups. Not very active, but I haven't had many problems over there. I don't visit there very often, though.