***Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in my posts are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.***
This isn't anything new. I've been around a long time, and since the beginning there's been people who wanted to be upset by a direction change or a choice that FT has made.
Most recently it's been about if/how Flite Test is distributing the free plans.
Let's clear the air.
If what you love about Flite Test is just the free plans, then you're missing the point.
If you're only here for the free plans, then to be blunt,I really don't care about your hurt feelings, because chances are you are just taking, not contributing. So I really wouldn't want your decisions on FT directions to have any weight.
Flite Test has so much more to offer than just free plans. If you're a forum member, and you still think the best thing about FT is the free plans, then that's a shame!
You're missing the community that is the real Flite Test. The friendly helpful people that make up the majority of the forum users. What other online social interaction group could you go to that is as welcoming to "noobs" as this group is?
That's what I love about Flite Test, and that hasn't changed.
I have seen the same people, answer the same questions from new member, after new member, after new member. Yet you never see them tell them to "use the search feature" or complain that "your question has already been asked 100 times!"
That's what I love about Flite Test, and that hasn't changed.
I have seen people inspired by the designs that Josh has shared, and that encouraged them to try their hand at it as well. They took the results, some better, some not so much, and they posted them on the forums and the resources section. And other community members encouraged them, and thanked them for their efforts. They then went on to build those designs, and the creators got a chance to see other people flying something that they had thought up.
That's what I love about Flite Test, and that hasn't changed.
I have been to RC flying events, and watched Flite Test community members welcome strangers to their spot on the flight line and explain to families all about the fun of flying sheets of foam. Tell them the best ways to get into the hobby on a budget. And when the kid's mom panics and tells her son or daughter not to touch the plane, that community member picked it up and handed it to the child with a smile, and say "it's only foam, I built it, I can fix it."
That's what I love about Flite Test, and that hasn't changed.
I have been to Flite Fests, and seen community members volunteer away the days of their vacation, to make sure that other people attending the event could have the best experience possible. They smiled as they manned the registration tent, they smiled as they teamed up to pull trash bags from cans. They absolutely beamed as a kid they helped build their first foam plane came back to show them a successful, or almost successful first flight.
That's what I love about Flite Test, and that hasn't changed.
And that's not even touching on what I'm seeing from the show, or at Edgewater. I love what Josh and the team are doing. I have enjoyed the show, some episodes more than others, for over ten years! They've kept to their mission statement of Educating, Entertaining, and Elevating.
If after finding Flite Test, and being surrounded by all that they've built and encouraged, and you still find that the only thing you love about Flite Test is your access to the free plans, then I think that says a lot more about you, than what it says about them.
This isn't anything new. I've been around a long time, and since the beginning there's been people who wanted to be upset by a direction change or a choice that FT has made.
Most recently it's been about if/how Flite Test is distributing the free plans.
Let's clear the air.
If what you love about Flite Test is just the free plans, then you're missing the point.
If you're only here for the free plans, then to be blunt,I really don't care about your hurt feelings, because chances are you are just taking, not contributing. So I really wouldn't want your decisions on FT directions to have any weight.
Flite Test has so much more to offer than just free plans. If you're a forum member, and you still think the best thing about FT is the free plans, then that's a shame!
You're missing the community that is the real Flite Test. The friendly helpful people that make up the majority of the forum users. What other online social interaction group could you go to that is as welcoming to "noobs" as this group is?
That's what I love about Flite Test, and that hasn't changed.
I have seen the same people, answer the same questions from new member, after new member, after new member. Yet you never see them tell them to "use the search feature" or complain that "your question has already been asked 100 times!"
That's what I love about Flite Test, and that hasn't changed.
I have seen people inspired by the designs that Josh has shared, and that encouraged them to try their hand at it as well. They took the results, some better, some not so much, and they posted them on the forums and the resources section. And other community members encouraged them, and thanked them for their efforts. They then went on to build those designs, and the creators got a chance to see other people flying something that they had thought up.
That's what I love about Flite Test, and that hasn't changed.
I have been to RC flying events, and watched Flite Test community members welcome strangers to their spot on the flight line and explain to families all about the fun of flying sheets of foam. Tell them the best ways to get into the hobby on a budget. And when the kid's mom panics and tells her son or daughter not to touch the plane, that community member picked it up and handed it to the child with a smile, and say "it's only foam, I built it, I can fix it."
That's what I love about Flite Test, and that hasn't changed.
I have been to Flite Fests, and seen community members volunteer away the days of their vacation, to make sure that other people attending the event could have the best experience possible. They smiled as they manned the registration tent, they smiled as they teamed up to pull trash bags from cans. They absolutely beamed as a kid they helped build their first foam plane came back to show them a successful, or almost successful first flight.
That's what I love about Flite Test, and that hasn't changed.
And that's not even touching on what I'm seeing from the show, or at Edgewater. I love what Josh and the team are doing. I have enjoyed the show, some episodes more than others, for over ten years! They've kept to their mission statement of Educating, Entertaining, and Elevating.
If after finding Flite Test, and being surrounded by all that they've built and encouraged, and you still find that the only thing you love about Flite Test is your access to the free plans, then I think that says a lot more about you, than what it says about them.
