Back to the conversation. There are clubs that focus on gliders, there arr clubs that focus in multiroters, there are clubs that focus on big gassers and there are mixed use clubs. AMA is not the issue, grumpynold men are not the issue. ( i do see where there comeing from) it is the bad actors. I always sugest reserching clubs and visiting them to see what is flown and what is going on there before judging them..
Not to argue for the sake of arguing (because this is a valuable conversation and I'm glad you both started it and are keeping it going in a positive manner) but that's not the case everywhere.
For me there's one club. It's the ONLY club within quite some distance. (BTW, AMA's site could be a LOT better about this...took me 3 lucky clicks from the homepage before I found a "Find a club" link. As a professional web developer I have to say that should be either the #1 or #2 easiest to find link on their site, not buried 3 pages deep!)
A search for clubs near me returns 1 results within 25 miles. Bumping it to 50 miles returns another 42 miles away, who's website isn't even registered anymore...they do appear to have a paved runway (but I had to zoom out on the map AMA provided to find it) but no clue if they're really active since they don't even maintain their website. And they're an hour away in another state...so basically yeah, I've got 1 club.
Now I know I'm not necessarily typical. But I live in the 3rd largest metropolitan area in my state though and we have multiple military facilities around us who are actively training actual drone pilots. So you'd kind of think there may be a decent number of RC modelers around. Even so it's 2-3 hours of driving to the next city that's worth the label of city. But that's how it is out here in the west.
[side note: For this same reason I have more experience dealing with federal agencies than I care to relate. A lot of the land out here is federally owned and you end up dealing with DOI and BLM instead of state or local agencies. I've been involved in fights against the feds before. Short version: Last fight we were in the right and after 12 years finally prevailed legally proving that we were in the right all along...we still got screwed at the end as well as getting screwed for the 12 years fighting. This upcoming fight against the FAA isn't going to go any better. Go ask the NAR/Tripoli about High power rocketry and the BATF...or the San Diego Tripoli chapter about Plaster Blaster if you want to really loose faith in our government.]
Point is...I don't have multiple clubs to pick and choose from. I have one. Two if I want to drive an hour into another state just to find out if they're still active or not.
And I'm not the only one in this country like that. At the same time people like us probably aren't the ones the FAA is up in arms about. For the same reasons I only have 1 club to choose from there aren't a whole lot of ways I can annoy people with my models. Though even out of my 2 next door neighbors one welcomes me to fly over her yard and thinks it's neat all the stuff I build...the other..."Keep it away from my property line and don't point any damn cameras at me I've got guns and keep them loaded.". Kind of funny considering his day job is as flight director for a
government surveillance blimp. (He's a nice guy really, even gave me a chunk of their mooring cable to use as a tow strap for my truck...just values his own privacy.)
My point is that not every club is a one shoe fits all. Reserch needs to be done and questions need to be asked before passing judgment. Look around talk to and contact local clubs dont just rely on the website call or email and ask questions. Main focus is to have a safe fun place to fly with other pilots.
Except sometimes they do have to be one shoe fits all
Honestly though...the more I think about it the more my big problem with joining a club...any club (i.e. one that fits any of my interests - radios, computers, off-roading, photography, model rocketry...you name it) is that they tend to expect their members to be somewhat dedicated. Which is understandable, they're single interest clubs. But I'm just not a single interest kind of guy. I'm all about the symbiosis and melding of interests. I love multirotors because they bring together my love of electronics, my love of coding, my love of flight and my love of fabrication. I just hate to be pigeon holed. I have a lot of interests and I love to cross-pollinate between them. I put radios on my off-road vehicles. I love sitting out in the middle of the desert miles away from anyone else - and firing up a 5w HF radio then using it to talk to someone halfway across the globe. I love taking my love of electronics and using it to build my own EFI system for that off-road vehicle - or making my own flight controller for my quad.
But in clubs...I meet a few people who are interested in what I bring to the table with my various interestes. But I meet a lot more who are so singularly focused and only want to deal with others who are singularly focused...that I quickly get turned off not only to the club but to the activity the club promotes. And it ends up driving me away not only from the club but from something I love. And that is the exact opposite of what a club should do.
So bottom line I've reached a point where I'm hesitant to join any clubs because I don't want to kill my passions. I'd rather be a "lone wolf" pursing all of them than a club member focused on only one.
If I could find clubs that are more open and accepting and truly want to nurture the object of their focus while encouraging new members...I'd join a lot more. But at least around here I've found things to be the opposite. Thankfully on-line I don't have those restrictions
Note typed from my phone im sleepy have no computer so errors will exist.
I'm tired, I'm adjusting to new glasses after 15 years of not wearing them (Had LASIK in 99 and loved the results...but my astigmatism has come back. I still test 20/20 but wow did this mild correction for astigmatism make a HUGE difference in clarity.) and shared a bottle of wine with my wife over dinner. So sorry if my response is rambling or disjointed
I want to like clubs...I really do. I'm just sick and tired of only finding clubs that are too closed minded and singularly focused for their own good