I understand what you are saying and I agree with a lot of what you are saying here. I don't agree that everyone that doesn't think the same way feels they are necessarily "owed" anything or ungrateful if they choose not to join FTCA and say they preferred the way it use to be either.
The point I was trying to make is that everyone is being pigeonholed into one of two groups here and I think there is a lot more than only, for lack of better terms, FT fanboy's & ungrateful taker's.
The first group (#1) seems to be saying, you should be grateful for everything FT has done for the hobby and you should not think it's any big deal to join FTCA and if you do join, you will get perks for joining and (will probably/may still) get access to future plans but we are not going to commit to that. If you don't think this way like us, then you are being ungrateful for everything Josh and the rest of FT has done for you.
The second group (#2) is everyone else and many of those seem to be saying we helped FT get where it is today, we are not stealing from them by making commercial kits, and now we feel we are being penalized with no new plan access and made to feel like ungrateful takers by group #1 because we don't want to join yet. They may feel this way about joining because they just don't understand what is FTCA, how is it going to help the hobby or members, or has had what could be perceived as an unorganized and unfocused start.
Problems with this is that there are a lot of shades of grey in the middle of black/white debates and forcing people in the middle to be pushed to one side or the other never works, they just go away. For example, IMO, there are plenty here that have contributed to the success of the hobby over the years by helping others get into the hobby by teaching others to fly, organizing events, etc. and there are many here that have helped FT get where they are today by supporting them financially by buying kits & gear.
Where are all those other long time members today? People in this hobby come and go, but I see some that use to be here still fly & build planes, post on other hobby related forums, and they are not here now. Why? Maybe because of stuff like this, or maybe other reasons are to blame, or maybe a little of both.
Everyone here is on common ground and wants the hobby to survive, so let's not turn this into a tribal thing. There is already enough of that in everyone's real life, we don't need it in the FUN stuff too...
