come on chaps...

Well after being a member for just over 2 weeks now I must say it's pretty dull....no offence but as far as I can see there only seems to be 4/5 active members, dozens of topics that go unanswered and threads that start but then just stop ( presumably due to the author leaving?) it's all a bit strange to be honest.
could someone explain exactly why so many potentially interesting members have disappeared?
frankly I'm getting bored, I log on at least twice a day and nothing........

Hi Paul - it is a bit slow at the moment, but you need to know a bit of the history of the majority of the members.
Most of us are drawing our pensions, and therefore prefer the warm summer days - if we get any this year - for outdoor things like sunbathing, gossiping, and flying!
Only one or two of us are sufficiently hardy (or mad enough!) to be outside in the more adverse conditions!
Then again, it helps if you know roughly where we are - myself, Quorneng, and Pol (Phil Wood = Polyfilla!) are in and around Liverpool, so we are hardy sorts to start with. Bob, who occasionally butts in, is in Scotland. BB is from Cyprus, although temporarily in the UK, and Klippy is in South Africa!
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On top of that, this 'forum' was never intended to BE a forum! It began as a chat-room for a few pals who had been banned from one of the big-name forums for various reasons, as a means to chatter without the delays and hassles of e-mail, etc.
Most of the people you find listed in the 'contact me' stripe have just quietly moved on, so we don't know if they are still on this planet or not. One of the founder members, Garry, is not.
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So - and don't take this the wrong way - you complain that nothing is happening. What flying have YOU done this week? How abut a write-up and some pic's?

I had thought about a reply to Paul, then thought better wait and think about it. People come into this "forum" for various reasons, Some perform outstandingly, but for various reasons (again), decide that they do not like being restricted in any way. That was their choice. This little group now probably has the least "moderation", as we don't argue Politics, we don't do crude language, and only very light sexy leg pull and mild swearing. Some are contending with very serious medical conditions, yet still manage to give some input, some amazingly so.

I, and most others I think, miss the input from some great modelers but,, enough said.

I'm probably guilty of a number of 'stalled' threads, Radio Queen springs instantly to mind. When we moved to our retirement home 5 years ago a number of items got damaged in the move and got moved to 'storage'. We've paid forward the rent on this cottage for 20years, still another 15 to go. My downside is Mary who is an avid Do It Yourselfer. Read "here's what I want, here's what we've got, now get on with it"! My work space is being moved yet again! And to be honest when I can see interruptions in the immediate future I tend not to even start anything! That's where I am at the moment, lots of projects stacked up with nowhere to do them.
On the sad subject of ex members who have gone on to the big patch in the sky 2 more names spring to mind, A.A. Barry and Terry Lynock, may they rest in peace

Hi Paul, I sent you a PM on the 23/03/19 which you haven't opened.

So sorry if I've offended anyone, honestly wasn't my intention, think I may have been a little grumpy at the time!
Eric, I will post about what I've been up to, probably best if I make a new thread on the free flight section.
Mr Klipklop, so sorry I've only just discovered where the pm's are!!!! A very kind offer sir but I think I've found a solution closer to home but thank you anyway.

We all have off days!

Hi Paul, may I first apologize for my late reply, as owner of the forum I should have been the first to respond.
It is sad that we lost a few members, we had a disagreement about a post that required moderation so I applied the letter of our rules, unfortunately they still felt they had to leave.
It's possibly also quiet because I haven't been posting very much, I used to make a point about replying to every post and finding a way of starting conversations between members, this is how I made the forum grow from the handful of members that we started with. I hope that now my health has improved a little I'll be able to use this tactic once again. When I was a moderator for the RCM&E forum I created their "Cafe" and it became the longest running and most viewed thread on the site........ All it took was a little encouragement. :lol:
Now that summer is on the way I think you'll find a lot of members getting active again, it fact we've had several new members sign up recently, they just haven't starting posting yet.
Please stick with us and feel free to start your own threads, I'm sure you'll find the place gets a lot more interesting very soon.

Pol. [badass]

Hi Paul I'm one with not much to write about as I'm housebound at present. Bad hips However I potter about cleaning and fixing engines on my lap tray. I'm even known to offer advice from time to time. Hopefully useful. You will find all sorts of help from the bods on here. Practical as well as sound advice.And generous to a fault. stick with us and muck in. I'm in Meliden,Prestatyn N Wales an Ex pat scouser so also pretty hardy too.LOL

Paul said, So sorry if I've offended anyone.
No Paul you haven't, you made a perfectly reasonable observation that may have been moderated on another site, here we understand and move on. I'm glad you've found a solution to your plan request.

This may not be the right thread but I'm going to take this opportunity to put a delicate matter to bed, hopefully for good!
There are several members that want to know what the argument was about that caused two of our moderators to leave, well I suppose you all have a right to know so here it is.
Someone posted a joke that used the word "Nigger" .... This was rightly deleted as soon as possible and the member was advised that this was going beyond what even our laid back rules allow. The word is considered extremely offensive by an awful lot of people when referring to our Negro population.
A couple of posts followed about the history behind this (plus other similar subjects), and although there was nothing wrong with those posts one of our moderators deleted them because he argued that they were still going to continue a discussion that he had moderated.
We then received a number of complaints from both the senders of those posts, and several other members, complaining that their freedom to talk about any subject had been stopped, and that the reason that they joined this forum in the first place was because of its low level of moderation compared to other forums.
Our long serving administrator, (Klippy), even had one of his posts deleted by the other moderator.
I got notified of this dispute and dragged myself out of bed to see what the problem was. I agreed with Klippy and restored the deleted posts, I also used the word Nigger once again in a post, but not in an offensive way, I simply said that my son and a couple of his Negro friends greet each other with the words "Wassup honky" and "Wassup ma nigger." .... This in my opinion is simply reporting something that happens in real life!
I then received a PM ultimatum from the other moderator advising me that if I didn't re-delete the posts, (INCLUDING MY OWN!) that he would have to leave. He argued that the word could never be used in ANY context on the site.
I thought this level of censorship was going too far, plus I don't like ultimatums!
Finally we consulted my son Mikey Admin, the person who built the site, he normally keeps out of the running of the site but in this instance he said that there was nothing wrong with any of the posts (including mine) because I was using the word in the fashion of a news item, not as an insult. ...... My thoughts exactly!
The way I see it is you all should be able to talk about any subject you want, but we may decide to moderate your post if it's deliberately intending to hurt another person. ........ We may allow politicians to be fair game !!!! :lol: :woohoo:
I hope this helps you all understand what happened now ......... Can we now just make the best of what we have and let the forum grow once again?

Pol.

And if I recall, it all kicked off because of a reference to Guy Gibson's dog's name! [badass]

Eric wrote: And if I recall, it all kicked off because of a reference to Guy Gibson's dog's name! [badass]

I believe you are correct, I think that was mentioned Eric. This is what I wouldn't go along with when it come to censorship, you can't just put a blanket ban on a word in case it offends someone, you can only stop that word being used in an insulting manner.
Can you imagine a situation in a court where they say, " Mr. Smith, you are hereby charged with calling Mr. Jones a "******" How do you plead? :S :ohmy: :silly:

Pol.

Thanks for clearing that up Phil, much appreciated.
All sounds a little silly but hey ho!
Anyway let's all get back to talking about little model aeroplanes.
regards Paul

hi Poly how are you doing ive been worki ng 7 days a week so no flying but finish in 2 days and go back to working alone so should be better and hope to fly soon