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Display Case vs. aircraft sub-forums


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I think the display case thing came about because people were giving unsolicited critiques of models and it ruffled some feathers with some people who only wanted to show their model without getting the "the canopy frame color is wrong" etc... I can see both sides of that coin. If I post something I welcome, almost expect, for people to tell me when they think it's crap. But that's my preference. Some don't welcome and/or tolerate criticism and that's fine too. Thus began the Display Case section. 

 

Bill

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2 hours ago, janman said:

I also very strongly believe we have way too many subforums. Not just that, there are too many forums for finished models as well. I really don't see the point for having both Display Case and Critique Forum and even less individual finished model forums for cars, tanks and ships etc.

 

 

Some possible subforum combinations....if I may humbly offer:

-Display Case and Critique Corner into one. Maybe even have one subforum for aircraft, and only one other for non-aircraft? Display Case Flying, Display Case NonFlying? 

-Today's Birds could be part of General Discussion; since GD is like the living room; makes sense to me to discuss today's birds there instead.

-Classic Aviation absorbed into Props and Airliners, as is in each case appropriate.

-possibly merge SciFi and Real Space into one? Something like "Space Real Or Not...."

-Spares Box, maybe combine with Buy & Sell to make one basic Classifieds forum? Whenever I've needed a part etc I've always had better luck going straight to Jet Modeling, to be honest. After giving Spares a few weeks' chance....but not a whole lot of activity there.

-Merge most of the Ship-related forums into a couple, same with the automotive? Not sure about armor, looks like more activity there than the other two. 

 

As far as why we have two forums now for displaying finished birds, that arose out of a conversation years ago when some folks wanted to display without critique. Was meant well, but perhaps the best thing would be for the original poster to mention if they are open to critique....and when the occasional jerk is unduly harsh, report it quick!

Edited by Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy
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Hmm, I don't even pay attention to what sub I'm looking at. I click "unread posts" and scroll down through and open the stuff that looks interesting regardless of the sub category. I do get a little bugged when the same thing is posted in 8 or 10 places...

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Hmm, I don't even pay attention to what sub I'm looking at. I click "unread posts" and scroll down through and open the stuff that looks interesting regardless of the sub category. I do get a little bugged when the same thing is posted in 8 or 10 places...

 

This, right here. 

I've never understood this complaint about forums.  "Unread posts," just brings up all the new stuff, and I read what interests me. 

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On 23/03/2018 at 6:55 AM, niart17 said:

I think the slow down is kind of a combination of many factors. I know for me personally, I've never really come back as much as before the "crash" but also, and probably a bigger part of it, is when photobucket did their crummy thing and killed all the images. I realize there are alternatives but I just haven't mustered up the energy or drive to look for an alternate way to post images....yet. I will iikely get back into it stronger...but just not there yet.

 

Bill

I used to be a big reader of various forums, I'd vist 5 or 6 every day and sometimes spend a few hours in the evening reading through them. But over the past 2 years I've dropped of visiting all but 2-3 dramatically. And I generally only drop in once ever 4-5 days. I don't think I'm alone.

 

I spend much more time browsing modelling groups on Facebook these days than I do reading various forums. That''s because there is just more content posted there and this easy to do on a phone when i have a spare minute during the day.

 

So my theory is forums in general have declined in traffic with the rise of facebook ""groups. It's shame really because forums are, IMHO, "still the best medium for in depth articles/discussions .

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On 3/23/2018 at 11:27 PM, Don said:

Perhaps there are too many categories/sub-forums to choose from or some that get low traffic and maybe some amalgamation could help? This may work well with some of the non-aircraft categories. 

 

<snip - a whole lot of good common sense>

 

As has already been mentioned above, traffic (or rather active participation) around here has been seemingly dwindling the last while. Perhaps downsizing, condensing, amalgamating...whatever...may help people get quicker answers to their questions and help people post in the right area?

 

 

 

This was ALWAYS a risk when this style of forum became available, and the owners Balkanised the site to there and back.  It inevitably leaves those in more niche interest areas looking at a blank wall - excepting their own post from 2014 - and only those modelling  in the major genres satisfied. Breaking those up too makes matters worse with little real benefit and the loss of the opportunity to "cross fertilise" (learn special techniques which may apply only to a few of your own models, but all of those in say, a vcar or train forum)

Things will ge t worse. As noted, this and other forums are dwindling as people move off to Facebook, where posting is easy, but where they can actually avoid seeing anything they don't want to know - especially if it grinds their gears, however necessary

 

Shane

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On 3/21/2018 at 7:32 AM, RKic said:

You can't fix stupid.

If you try to idiot-proof something, you just end up complicating things for those who already know how to do it. 

 

Besides, if you idiot-proof - they'll just build a better idiot ;) 

 

This sounds just like my employers management plan......  write an encyclopedia worth of rules that we have to follow while trying idiot proof something that isn't idiot proof, and handcuffing everyone so badly in the process that the job productivity drops by 40%.... no joke! Instead of weeding out the 5% of employees that are the idiots, they bring the other 95% down to the idiots level. Like you said, you can't fix stupid, and it starts at the top :soapbox:. Fred K.

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2 hours ago, f5guy said:

 

This sounds just like my employers management plan......  write an encyclopedia worth of rules that we have to follow while trying idiot proof something that isn't idiot proof, and handcuffing everyone so badly in the process that the job productivity drops by 40%.... no joke! Instead of weeding out the 5% of employees that are the idiots, they bring the other 95% down to the idiots level. Like you said, you can't fix stupid, and it starts at the top :soapbox:. Fred K.

 

"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity." --Red Green

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My random thoughts...

 

- I too feel arc is losing its luster 😔. There isn't the excitement that in ~'09-'14. Some of the master builders I loved to follow are no longer active here. That's probably my biggest disappointment. In a given month, I see maybe one or two WIP that is of interest to me. 

 

- However, arc is still good for kit critiques/reviews, staying up on the news and rumors, and buy&sell. Also, the drama that ensues with the announcement of a new Russian kit or the CAD shots or the first plastic is as entertaining as it is useful. 

 

- One place that was extremely popular was the Research Corner, the traffic there has significantly gone down. I used to like that immensely. There was a mass exodus of folks with great reference pics. They gave up due to the discussions about the copyright issues. 

 

- I agree with the comments of too many subforms and subsubforums. At this pace, if we don't consolidate some of those or flat out do some major cleaning of the inactive ones, the attraction of arc will further dwindle. First world problems but I find it annoying having to scroll all the way down to the buy and sell, as there is nothing of interest to me between the Aircraft critique forum and the B&S.

 

- I am on SMCG. I have to admit I had not had a FB account until late last year. And I got one just to be able to be on there. I know many people find that to be a toxic place. But it has settled down quite bit IMO and I do find comparatively more interesting hobby-related stuff on there. The speed at which you can get useful answers to questions is attractive. But, I can easily see that if a few of the most skilled modelers there left, there may not be too much to look at. 

 

ARC is dear to me. It was probably *the* place to be when I got back into the hobby in 2006, and became really serious around 2010. I want to help in anyway I can to keep this place rocking. I have offered multiple times suggestions on what we can do (e.g., cleanup, reorganizing certain subforms etc.) but there was no interest (I understand we all have day jobs). Perhaps even with all such efforts these forums are destined to give way to FB groups, but if nothing is done, things will go down even faster.

 

Edited by Janissary
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On 3/25/2018 at 3:26 PM, a4s4eva said:

I used to be a big reader of various forums, I'd vist 5 or 6 every day and sometimes spend a few hours in the evening reading through them. But over the past 2 years I've dropped of visiting all but 2-3 dramatically. And I generally only drop in once ever 4-5 days. I don't think I'm alone.

 

I spend much more time browsing modelling groups on Facebook these days than I do reading various forums. That''s because there is just more content posted there and this easy to do on a phone when i have a spare minute during the day.

 

So my theory is forums in general have declined in traffic with the rise of facebook ""groups. It's shame really because forums are, IMHO, "still the best medium for in depth articles/discussions .

The really disappointing thing is that this thread was the most active one in this forum over the last week.  

 

Kinda illustrates how slow this site has become of late.  Don’t think that’s a complete reflection on ARC (although they probably own some of it),  I think FB is the way of the future (unfortunately).   

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4 hours ago, 11bee said:

  I think FB is the way of the future (unfortunately).   

Dang, it better not be!

 

As someone working in computing, I know I'm fairly typical in NOT being a member of that community. I was at a technical meeting where an FB tech leader was speaking. While the room was packed because of his topic, maybe 10% of the room raised their hands when he asked for a show of hands by FB members.

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2 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

Dang, it better not be!

 

As someone working in computing, I know I'm fairly typical in NOT being a member of that community. I was at a technical meeting where an FB tech leader was speaking. While the room was packed because of his topic, maybe 10% of the room raised their hands when he asked for a show of hands by FB members.

Hope you’re right. I despise FB, both for its inadequacies as a platform for serious content and for what it’s done to society.   Kinda looks like it is the way of the future though.  One day, ARC will be looked upon with the same nostalgia as rec.scale.models.  

 

 

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