RC Wiki

[HawkMan]

So I've been thinking of starting a Wiki site for RC aircraft.

While I could just do this by myself, it would probably have issues getting off the ground and getting content So I'm checking the FT community and maybe even FT if anyone wants to help out.

As you all know there's a LOT of information both new and experienced people need or should know when they dive into stuff, and this info isn't always easy to find even if it's out there. Take multirotors for example, how to program x Flight Controller, or how to setup the cheap GoodLuckBuy gimbal or any of the other million questions out there you have. All the answers are usually out there, several times over, but they're hidden deep in RCGroups topics of several hundred pages, or the slightly smaller topic on this site.

While forums and forum threads on these sites can have a great deal of information in them, forum threads are probably THE worst way to archive and find information. They're great for build threads and discussion, they're just horrible for storing and finding information.

So I'd say it would be much better if we had a Wiki Site dedicated to RC, probably aircraft to start with, but no reason to set artificial limits if anyone thinks it should cover all RC and wants to fill in other topics to.

So that being said.

First off, does anyone want to help with this, I can fix the domain and set up the Wiki site(I'll probably use MediaWiki for anyone in the know since it's... imho the best and most flexible). But we'd need lost of people, preferably people who know stuff (but if you know just a little that's ok to), to create and fill in and format pages with info on all the stuff, like the different FC's, what are the terms of RC flying, Safety precautions, what does all the numbers on motors mean, props; what where and how. and all that other juicy stuff. And maybe someone to help go around on RC groups and other sites and recruit people who have informative topics there to maybe help condense the information into a wiki page on the Wiki, or do it for them.

So before I start doing to much on this, Is anyone interested in such a site and is anyone interested in helping out.

Secondly, Name and focus. What would be the best name for it? some options are
RC-Wiki.com, RC-Flight.Wiki (or maybe get flitetest onboard for flitetest.wiki ).

any good ideas for a name and whether it should be flight focus or if we should cover all of RC. personally I feel flight and aircraft is big enough that we can just focus the site on that, after all anyone can build and drive a car/boat

Anyway, Keep the ideas and suggestions flowing and say whether you think this would be a good idea.

 

[bitogre]

I think a Wiki would be a great idea but this is not the first thread started discussing the idea of having an RC and/or Flite Test Wiki. The other two I know of were started by Balu titled "Wiki.flitetest.com?" and started by Washout titled "Flite Test Wiki - possibly one for input from 'the Chad'".

I still want there to be a Wiki and will do what ever I can to help get one started. I am good with using MediaWiki and have experience setting it up modifying it (I am a programmer by trade). Personally, I wish it would be hosted and tightly associated with Filte Test but my attempts to convince Flite Test to do something like this have been fairly unsuccessful. The specific response I got was:

Yes we have considered a rank board system as well as a wiki, however, unfortunately we have those ideas on the back burner for now as we have other items that are more of a priority like a destination location for example. We are working hard to keep growing and moving forward. When we get to the point where can start to pursue these ideas, we will definitely keep you in mind.

Thanks again for all your help Devin.

Flite Test Support

Maybe, if they see us do one on our own and be successful, they might change their mind. However, given the responses on the other two threads, I am not sure there is a lot of support for this. Maybe if we got it up with some good content, that might change but I would not expect that.

To start with, I think we should focus on items we can get good and quick content for: specifically, Flite Test RC Planes and beginner information. We can always expand the scope later if we get more support.

As for the name, I am cool with anything that include "RC" and "Wiki". We should avoid using Flite Test in the site name unless we can get permission to use it (not sure how likely that is).

Let me know if you are still interested in pursuing this given the information I have provided about previous efforts.

 

[HawkMan]

still interested as I think this is something the rc community really needs.

But we need people to help make content, I can do some but I'm not experienced enough to write advanced stuff and only gave limited experience in fixed wing and just started with quads.

so outside of some newbie stuff, all I can do is compress info from some RC group threads into hopefully readable articles

I also live outside the reach of decent foam, so I can't do much for the flitetest planes.

We'll see if more people sign up to help here while I wait for funds to get the domain and hosting up and running.

 

[bitogre]

I am a beginner too but I can write some advanced stuff regarding electronics given my education/profession (most of what we need for planes but only the bare minimum on multirotors).

Where are you thinking of hosting the Wiki? I have used Domain.com on occasion and you can try "hak5" for 15% discount there.

 

[HawkMan]

to start with I was planning to go with one.com food support and they cover it all at a good price.

 

[bitogre]

to start with I was planning to go with one.com food support and they cover it all at a good price.

Interesting. I will have to consider them for my future hosting needs.

Let me know when you are ready to create the Wiki.

 

[Balu]

I wasn't really thinking about an "all purpose RC wiki", but an FT wiki to collect information about FT builds, FT planes, materials, electronics and perhaps the occasional general "how to do this" that would work for everyone in the RC world.

My idea was to have some kind of ressource we could point to for things we always get asked. "My quadcopter instaflips?", "Will this motor work with this plane?" kind of questions.

Also I sometimes find it difficult to collect everything you need for a build. Like what size of push rods, how many servos and what kind, dimensions of wooden parts, etc. - or a detailed description on foamboards like differences between the heavy Kapa (PU) ones vs. lighter (XPS)...

 

[HawkMan]

That's why I want it to focus generally on flight stuff. once you start covering FT stuff you overlap with all of the rest of flight so you pretty much need to cover it all.

That being said, a wiki is a dynamic living thing, and if the editors to start with are primarily from the FT community, then it will naturally start as a "FT" wiki before it grows into more.

 

[HawkMan]

still having trouble coming up with a good name that isn't held by a domain shark and doesn't feel forced.

I kinda wish FT would just give a few of us access to wiki.flitetest.com domain. and we could do volunteer work and set up and run the community wiki for them. wouldn't require much if any work from them, but I can understand they don't want to trust just anyone on the internet with their brand that closely.

 

[bitogre]

I wasn't really thinking about an "all purpose RC wiki", but an FT wiki to collect information about FT builds, FT planes, materials, electronics and perhaps the occasional general "how to do this" that would work for everyone in the RC world.

That is one of the interesting aspects of a Wiki. The content reflects the needs/knowledge of its content producers. If the Wiki is spawned from Flite Test community then it will likely reflect FT Planes, multi-rotors, and issues of the Flite Test community. In order for it to be a true "all purpose RC wiki", the wiki will need content producers from outside of the Flite Test community and/or members of Flite Test community who have the knowledge an interest to write the articles that are more generalized.

Also realize that the information on the Wiki will evolve as its content producers evolve. It might start off as being Flite Test focused but may later evolve to be more of an "all purpose RC wiki". Though, it might not if it never gets content producers outside of the Flite Test community. So, it will be up to those that want an "all purpose RC wiki" to recruit content producers outside of the Flite Test community.

 

[HawkMan]

Ok, I bought the domain, so I'll set up Media Wiki after dinner. unless anyone has experience with other wiki's that may be better, I haven't set up a Wiki for a few years so, maybe MediaWiki isn't the best anymore, but last time the other where comparably pretty horrible

and well, once it's set up, I don't plan to change it around much

 

[HawkMan]

uploading new sites is so slow and annoying...

 

[HawkMan]

http://www.rcwiki.info/

a fresh blank wiki is up. Needs a logo and LOTS of content

 

[HawkMan]

I'm trying to start a couple of articles about Flight Controllers and Flight modes to start with, I won't be able to fully flesh them out alone but I can at least start.

So if anyone has articles they want to start, feel free, even if you don't think you have the knowledge to go in depth, start one and do what you can, others can come in later and flesh out the articles more and more, fill in details and correct potential errors. that's the beauty of a wiki, instead of someone saying something wrong on page 54, and the only way to find out the correction is to read the random post on page 68, we have it all in one page that can be edited and easily formatted and search


Also, I and hopefully others will soon be starting pages on actual flight controllers. It would be beneficial if all the FC pages have a somewhat uniform formatting and layout, without having to edit them majorly afterwards

So what are important categories that should be on a FC page and in what order. or if anyone want to do an empty template Flight controller page we can base them on, go ahead.

 

[HawkMan]

I also did a little fleshing out of the main page, but I'm terrible at these things, added links to FT and RCG and linked to 3 empty wiki pages, beginners guides for planes, multi rotors and heli's. If anyone wants to write, start to write these or knows someone who would be good at writing one of these guides. Go ahead.

 

[bitogre]

HawkMan, personally, I think you should disable anonymous editing. Allowing anonymous editing risks trolls and malicious changes. But it is your site (you paid for it), so it is ultimately your call.

 

[Raptortech]

I've started to fill in the general electronics section. Under the radio section, I think we are better off listing common brands than specific models.

 

[HawkMan]

yeah, but trolls/spam also register easily nowadays. I'm going to watch it closely and if it becomes a problem I'll change it, right now at the start it should benefit from being as open as possible.

 

[HawkMan]

True, radio models change. but it might be worth to point out some popular models where there could be confusion. I'm nor a spectrum person but I know for example there can be a bit of confusion between the different Dx6 models. other brands sorta only have one radio (FrSky). But yeah, in general its probably best to avoid to much brand talk there, pre-purchase questions like that are one of the things best left to forums

 

[bitogre]

What extensions did you install, if any? If it is not already installed, can you install the GraphViz and ImageMap extensions. These extensions will let us create graphs and other diagrams and make them have different parts that are clickable for more information.