the rc guy

can I see the offer ? plz

TIME MACHINE

iTrader: (74)

Because I was a lurker for many, many years before registering. You may have noticed that the forum is wide open to non-registered users.

I care about the banner. Sprucing up the place never hurts. You may be content, but I’d love to see the forum like it was in its heydey.

DirkW

iTrader: (1)

I agree in so far as yes, the forum does look a bit dated / old-fashioned. Yet, I do not think a new banner would generate any more new users or more activity. As for content, IMHO this forum is still the no. 1 online resource for RC car racing - by far. Perfect? No. Yet still best.

Personally, sometimes I wish the Mods would be be a little more active in keeping things friendly here (i.e. reining in the toxic people some more) And for users to at least post into the right section of the forum (not only newbies, also veterans of 10+ years with 4-digit-numbers of posts seem to be either too... challenged.or simply do not give a sh... crap. If the search function was better, I'd be even more annoyed (currently only mildly), when new topics are created for questions that have already been answered literally a dozen times or more. Unfortunately the search sucks (and not everyone knows - or cares - how to utilize Google to search within this forum. But it's not the search's fault alone - some people really just are too lazy and/or feel to entitled to do any research by themselves, when just dropping a (usually short, poorly phrased) question (most of the time with inadequate information) anywhere, will have a couple of helpful little elves doing all that boring work for them and even spoon-feed the information to them. But I guess it's just a mirror of modern society.

Roelof

It always amazed me how rude people can become if you point them to the search or other topics.

True, the search isn't everything but still useable if you take the time to let your mind filter the found topics and read them. Saddly that seems too much....

Google has an option to add a search to your own site, just a small efford with a great result, if people really want to search.....

DirkW

iTrader: (1)

That's what I was referring to.

Roelof

TIME MACHINE

iTrader: (74)

Why not point them to the rookie zone where they can ask the questions without getting scrutinized or “flamed”? Why can’t the offending topic be moved by a moderator?

Nothing junks up a forum more than people talking down to someone with a “use the search feature” type or answer. I would rather see the questions answered a million times…..and hopefully that new user will keep coming back.

In the end, people don’t have to click on, read or respond to topics that do not interest them.

DirkW

iTrader: (1)

You really think that junks up a forum the most? More than all those unnecessary, born-out-of-lazyness new threads to begin with? Come on, you can't be serious! I agree it's not the most welcoming thing, but posts within a thread certainly do not junk up a forum as much as useless new threads - by a fair margin, I dare say. Also even when people immediately get the friendly answer they were looking for, the vast majority never show up again (not even to say thank you).

TIME MACHINE

iTrader: (74)

Again, why not move those posts to the rookie forum? Why do those that take RC forums way too seriously feel like they have to click on something that they know has been asked before OR something that clearly won’t interest them? If I see something that has been asked before, I might skim right past it. There will always be others that will want to chime in and give advice.

I would definitely say the bad attitudes are a major factor behind pushing away new members, along with the forum whores who think join date or post count are something to brag about.

We are talking in general terms, not directed at anyone in this thread.

Roelof

And how rude is it if they do not take that advise but start a discussion that they want a clear answer? I have seen topics where such users where happy to get an aswer after a week of discussion about the search. In that time the topicstarter could have become an expert reading the found topics regarding his question. I am willing to help and give answers but not on every day or every week same topics. That totally does not show any effort by the topicstarter, for sure if he reject the advise to use the search.....

Like this topic: "it's in the books" - Can someone help me?
I did google it and was flooded with the explanation. So trully I do not believe his efford he did search for it.

But it seems normal for today internet use. Also a member of my village facebook group I do see daily questions of the opening times of shops, wrong delivered letters so where to find the right adres etc while all the info can be found online. Just drop a question and waiting to be answered by someone else seems normal but that is never learned at school......

DirkW

iTrader: (1)

That would just put additional work onto the moderators in addition to the work the helpful elves (that BTW usually also includes me - to a certain degree, at least) already have in typing or even researching the answer. I'm not into bashing people's heads in for asking (sometimes really dumb) questions, but I'm also not for rewarding general ignorance/laziness. You have a problem, you want a solution/help, you put at least a minimum amount of effort in it yourself. That's at least how the real world used to work. In the age of social media this seems to change (and I don't think that particular change is a good one).
Also the rookie section is where I have actually read some of the worst/most dangerous "advice" given on this forum.

fyrstormer

iTrader: (1)

Yes, the search function would be much better if it were integrated with Google. The default vBulletin search is very unintelligent and reminds me of Yahoo circa 1999.

fyrstormer

iTrader: (1)

The difference between a new thread asking a duplicate question, vs. a new thread asking a slightly different question, is highly subjective. I've seen conscientious new members ask related questions in existing threads and being told to start new threads instead.

Sir 51D3WAYS

Actually, I'd second an improved search function. It's really crap right now, it can't even find simple things.

TIME MACHINE

iTrader: (74)

Here is another suggestion. As I scan through the various categories, I find moderators that haven’t been in the forum for 6 months to a year. I didn’t do a thorough search, but we might have some that are not even in the hobby anymore.

It was mentioned that some changes like moving threads might be too much work for the moderators. Why not strip the moderator title from those who do not come here and give it to someone who is active on a daily basis? You could pick the most active members who positively contribute to threads around here. Or maybe promote the current moderators to Super Moderators?

Inactive moderators are of no use to the forum. A little cleanup might be in order. The mods do a good job here as spam is quickly eliminated and the scammers are dealt with. No complaints here. Sure, an occasional bad attitude from some moderators and unnecessary taunting occurs, but overall it runs pretty smooth.