Does anyone else feel lost here?

I appreciate the frustration. Look how fast this thread grew! The problem is it is so difficult to search the forum to get answers to the questions that get asked over and over again. Stickies are a possible possible solution. I notice in some forums
Ike heli freak, you go to a sticky that's a year or two old and the links to all the pictures have expired.

Not sure what the solution is. I try to help people, but I'm so new at this I'm not sure how much help I'm providing.

By the way, what's the best transmitter to buy?
 
5 pages in... best get my Sat Nav out ;) :

Seriously though I take the point made here but as many others have pointed out it is purely the nature of the beast. This forum exploded in a way I'm sure Adam himself never expected. If he was doing it full time I'm sure he'd consider moving to a different platform to accomidate some of the suggestions but for ever positive function of other forums there are always negatives.

I know a good few people here are on RC Groups also and personally while i love the blog element too it the thread structure is, frankly, hellish compared to here. Its not the forums fault it is simply the sheer number of posters. The one plus point over this forum is the thread searching which is better.

I too think some good stickies would help. People still ignore them but 'please refer to sticky' is easier to quickly point a newbie in the right direction without coming off too blunt which I do think is important cause we were all new once.

The other thing to consider is that, while not cheap, the nature of the Phantom makes it very much a 'everyone can do it' product. It is frustrating that people don't read the manual but there are so many products out there where you don't need to that I can understand why it happens and it is always important to remeber that anyone that posts even the dumbest of questions in here has at least taken the time to find the forum, create a log in and reach out. That in itseld is commendable and always makes me wonder how many people just 'chance it' (these are the ones that would get the bad press when they fly next to an airport... no stopped by DJI for that very reason).

As for moving to another forum... I see no point to it. A forum is a knowledge base and only as strong as its bulk of users (on the hope some of them have some clue on what they are doing :lol: )

I would like to get Adam's perspective on this but I don't want to pressurise him to making changes. The fact the site is here, free and is for the most part perfectly useable for 95% of queries is a testiment to what one moderator can do.

Good thread either way shrimp. If you don't ask, you don't get afterall :cool:
 
Shrimpfarmer said:
Your going to need one hell of a watering can ;)

I actually think the effort is not that much. A little water can go a long way. If Adam is up for it.

DeweyAXD said:
I know a good few people here are on RC Groups also and personally while i love the blog element too it the thread structure is, frankly, hellish compared to here. Its not the forums fault it is simply the sheer number of posters. The one plus point over this forum is the thread searching which is better.

RcGroups is like an enormous chat room! There's some great knowledge there but the P2 thread is 650+ pages long and there's a ton of "I broke my Phantom again, how do I fix it... again, so I can break it in 5 minutes and post all about it" posts that go on and on and on.
 
Like I keep saying people have already offered to be mods in the past. It grates a bit when I hear that as a suggestion as a way to improve things because Adam does not want any mods, he prefers a hands off approach.

I don't get why people think millions of posts are a good thing? There is nothing 'vibrant' about repetition. If you have seen them all before then they just stop you seeing what is really new.

New people are joining the other place all the time and every forum starts with just a handful of people and a few posts. I like to see structure and whilst I know nothing about forum software I love some of the things the new forum can already offer. He turned on the video wall yesterday. Anyone who spots a good video can link it in a few seconds. That harnesses the power of the crowd to find good content for the members.

Yes its Multicopters and some have said they prefer the focus just on the Phantom but surely people don't want to ignore what else is available? Competitors are not going to let DJI have all the fun. Give it a year and there will be other machines to rival DJI. Until they arrive those sections will just remain empty but I can guarantee they will be catered for.

I thought I was going to get booted for having the audacity to create this post. Some will no doubt think I have a dam nerve speaking of the other place. I have done my bit here and even though some may be annoyed with me maybe this post will end up giving you the structure you want and need.

I really wish all my friends here well. I have enjoyed your company, chat and support. I hope Adam does right by you all. If he won't then you know where a warm welcome awaits you.
 
Yeah I get tired of stupid questions all the time. But the search here is lacking.
I think a lot of this being lazy , I've seen questions asked that were just answered two post back !
Sometimes I wonder if theirs just a bunch of kids on this forum. And really what's up with the order countdowns on this forum , who gives a crap what your order # is ? Why is that so important ?
 
DeweyAXD said:
I know a good few people here are on RC Groups also and personally while i love the blog element too it the thread structure is, frankly, hellish compared to here. Its not the forums fault it is simply the sheer number of posters. The one plus point over this forum is the thread searching which is better.

The other thing to consider is that, while not cheap, the nature of the Phantom makes it very much a 'everyone can do it' product. It is frustrating that people don't read the manual but there are so many products out there where you don't need to that I can understand why it happens and it is always important to remeber that anyone that posts even the dumbest of questions in here has at least taken the time to find the forum, create a log in and reach out. That in itseld is commendable and always makes me wonder how many people just 'chance it' (these are the ones that would get the bad press when they fly next to an airport... no stopped by DJI for that very reason).

:cool:

I have to agree here on reflection, we do need more stickys, and moderators to move stuff and direct questions to the right area, but as stated above if someone has bothered to log in and ask a question then it's our duty if we know the answer to reply.
It makes it all safer and more fun.
If I can help someone overcome and miss out on a potential problem from learning as all situations differ, as much as some have on here.. Again we know who these people are, and credit to them,
 
So many of the repetitive "help" questions receive the answer "Read the Manual!!" How many people, especially kids, do you know who will read the 58 page manual before caving in to the excitement of getting their Phantom out of the box and putting it up in the air? Many people these days are used to getting instant answers and instant gratification. Of course many of them will ask first and go to a search engine later. Parenthetically, I found Colin Gwynn's instructional videos exceedingly helpful, and now I read parts of that 58 page DJI manual only when trouble-shooting.
I commend JDot for sharing his experiences in a thoughtul and useful primer that we "experienced" pilots can refer help-seeking newbies to, so we don't have to write the answer to the same question day after day. I agree that this forum needs stickies to cover the "what should I buy?" questions, and "today was my first flight" videos.
All of us who complain about the newbie questions need to remember that we were once newbies, too.
 
It's interesting to see this topic pop up here. Like many people, I've been around internet forums from day one, and one thing that's clear is that the discussion being hashed out here isn't novel or unique. Almost every single forum goes through the same phase.

Good moderation is an asset to most forums, but it brings about its own baggage, including politics, bias, and even abusive behavior. And throughout it all, it never solves the problem of new folks coming in and asking questions that have inevitably been hashed out before. All that happens is the tone of the moderation shapes the attitude towards those who ask such questions.

I think I'm in the minority here, but I don't mind seeing and answering repetitive questions. Many folks have quick questions that can be answered quickly. Others have more involved, philosophical meta-questions that could be best pointed to an existing thread/sticky. But how we treat new members is a reflection on what kind of community we are.

And save a few unnamed individuals who take advantage of the lack of administration to exercise their own deficiencies and verbally lash out at others (and in those cases do I ever wish for a banhammer), "this too shall pass," and I'm pleasantly surprised at the equilibrium we have here. I'd hate to see it change too much for the sake of eliminating questions some of us are tired of answering.
 
Ozzyguy said:
I just signed up over there with the same user name. But you will now see me on both!

You will see me on both as well. Its just that I will be investing my real efforts over there as I know its not going to get lost. I have agreed to be one of the moderators of the new place and I will certainly do my bit to keep the topics I can help with in shape.

I am not actually complaining about the newbies questions. I welcome questions from newbies and the new place will as well. The proper way to help them though is not to thrash out a hasty reply to everyone but to craft a really helpful guide that is reguarly updated and refined so that a newbie can read it when the time is right for them. Our job becomes easier as anybody can just quickly point to the guide sticky.

I have always enjoyed helping people but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. You have to keep a forum tidy. The analogy is your neighbourhood. It starts as a small settlement. Everything is lovely and people are happy. New families arrive and some let their kids run around dropping litter and making a mess of the place.

The shout goes out for some law and order and for the town to be cleaned up. Along comes a sherif and some deputies and the town is neat and tidy again and grows into a thriving city.

On the other hand when nothing is done about the mess and unruly behaviour windows start getting broken, people dump their crap on their lawn and all the nice people start moving out.

This happens in real life and its happening now on this forum. The Sherif is absent and he never hires deputies. Even if those deputies were here they have no structure to enforce.

As Pull_Up would say Just saying...... :twisted:
 
pault said:
I can understand the feeling that long time members look back with nostalgia to the days when there was just a handful of them all discovering these amazing drones together. However this is just the nature of all product focused forums as they mature.

Very true. Before I moved to France in 2003 I owned a Honda S2000 and I was a very early, and very active member of a UK S2000 owners forum. It was a unique, niche car, a real driver's car with low production quantities, and in the early days the forum was a great place to be. However, by the time I sold the car to move here, I had little involvement with the forum, becoming bored with the same old threads cropping up again and again: "Which tires are best?" - "Anyone reached 160 mph?" - "Another S2K crash - lifted off in a corner" - "Looking at superchargers" and "What polish do you guys use?" are just a few I can still recall :roll:

Anyway, four weeks tomorrow, our season starts here and we will have our first photography and painting holiday guests arriving. My favourite model will be back from L.A. (unless she lands a movie role in the meantime! http://www.lise-marie-albisu.com/) and I can then continue with two unfinished projects I'm working on with her.

Add to that the arrival of my P2 + H3-3D + GoPro + Pirate-Eye kit at the end of this month and my efforts to get my RX100 up in the air, and I can see that I'm going to be more than a little busy.

It will be a good opportunity for me to review my feelings about Phantompilots.com

OK, I'm now going to spend the rest of the day opening up the swimming pool and repairing some decking. So, no time for Phantom stuff. See it's happening already! :lol:
 
This thread is a well timed alarm bell. The forum is Adam's baby and it has grown exponentially and now needs to evolve to survive; the hard part is realising this and accepting help and making the necessary changes.

There are some fundamental issues with the forum setup, groups, plugins for URL, pictures and search spring to mind. I run and have moderated on many over the years and would be happy to do so again or assist in configuration etc.

Other obvious areas in desperate need of improvement are theming, moderation, stickies and FAQs improved.

The question is, is Adam listening and prepared to make the necessary changes?
 
I'm curious just how many members we have on here now?

It seems about 10x as active then when I first joined back in Jan 2013.

It certainly is tough going thru it all.
- and wish I could somehow filter out all the Vision/P2 thread stuff that doesn't really apply to me.

It really does seem like the same 100 questions being asked over and over and over tho. :|

with all the clutter, it's really easy to accidentally miss a thread that might be interesting and relevant
 
Shrimpfarmer said:
Peter
All I can say is it must be blooming horrible doing your job. Imagine having to photograph her all day, you poor sod. :shock:

To be honest I don't think I will be. She's a fabulous girl in every way: extremely beautiful, unbelievably talented, completely dedicated to her craft, and a joy to work with, but I doubt that she'll be back here for quite a while (assuming her application to switch to an artist's visa for the USA is successful) which means I probably won't get to finish the two projects we were working on together last autumn. Which is a big bummer :(

However, I only have myself to blame for that as it was me who told her that those projects were less important than her desire to make it in Hollywood, so she should stop worrying about an old has-been like me and just bloody well book her flight and go fulfill her dream.

In return for my sacrifice, I made her promise that my wife and I would be invited to her first film premiere and her first Oscar ceremony :cool:

My apologies for side-tracking the thread, people, but at least it makes a change from 'What's the best FPV system?" :D

So there you go. Keep your eye out for the name 'Lise-Marie Albisu' , take a look at these http://www.lise-marie-albisu.com/creative.htm and these http://www.lise-marie-albisu.com/fashion.htm, and remember, you saw her here first! ;)
 
Why are we still looking to "Adam" for a response.? Adam is fictitious. It's a software string. In order to start a forum, there needs to be at least one registered user., hence Adam. If the software required 2, the second would be "eve". First and foremost, we need to establish who really created the forum. Adam is fictitious.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
It’s the electricity, the feeling of flight that keeps me here. Don’t you see it? Sure it’s not clean and tidy like a lot of places, but I have admit I call it home. Shrimpfarmer you got me through the winter with your flight simulator thread. I am proud of the fact that I am approaching 5,000 crashes and to think what my propeller bill would have been if I hadn’t had it or the experience that I have developed using it. And Gizmo your contribution to gimbals on this forum as they have evolved for our Phantom and I hope they continue to improve. This forum turned me on to the GoPro, what a work of art it is on its own and I haven’t even tried Fatshark goggles, yet. ElGuano, your expertise on batteries, propeller, and maybe consider lightning the load before we hang more stuff on our little bird, have been priceless. Also, to all those who got me through the setting up of a Futaba 8J, thank you.

Where do we go from here? I don’t know, but I for one am very grateful for this forum and all the noobes out there. I only hope I will always be a noobe as I travel this road of “The Discovery of Flight.”

Thank you Adam.

Phantom 1 (1195 grams so far)
Futaba 8J
XPROHELI XPG Brushless Gimbal
KumbaCam Basic FPV Monitor Kit
 

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