Let's hear your suggestions

Bartman

Bartman

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Folks,

Just wondering what suggestions you might have about the site. Good? Bad?

Anything and everything is fair game so let's hear it.

Curious to see what kind of feedback is posted, I'll chime in once we see what all y'all have to say.

Bart
 
Bartman,

I sincerely appreciate your efforts in keeping the Website up to date and running smoothly. I'm sure it takes a good deal of your time.

Keep doing what your doing, it's great!

Merry Christmas to all and hopefully a New Year that places the Global Pandemic behind us.

Cheers, David.
 
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Definitely the best and easiest site to use associated with the Champ/Citabra/Decathlon types.
If increased traffic and exposure is a goal perhaps an " Other Tube and Fabric Birds " section would work. The same methods and techniques as well as fun and fails already being discussed here also pertain to Chief's, Funk's, Christavia's and Cubs...and while none of those mentioned are as pretty as the OUR birds you can sometimes learn useful things from an ugly relative. 🥸
After all...you DO have an EXP sub forum now!

But even if you keep it just as it is I think it's a great site. Thanks for building such an attractive playpen for us.

Chris
 
Might consider consolidating lesser used sub-forums. IMO your top level directory is too long. Also, pin the most popular sub-forums at the top.

Take a look at the forum directory at Pilots of America for an example of a well curated forum structure with no abandoned sub-forums. If a topic gets no posts for a year, there probably is not enough interest to justify a separate forum.

But overall it's a great site, kudos and thanks. This forum has a great tone too.
 
Form is very good I use the what’s new button and read all the time, I’m trying to get re-movtivated on my project this keeps me going. The pictures are a great help. My headliner has been a big issue so after staring at pictures realized the one from spruce was made wrong. Keep it going I’m sure it takes time and dedication and has been great source of knowledge so looking forward to meeting more members at air show.
 
Explorer said:
Bartman,

I sincerely appreciate your efforts in keeping the Website up to date and running smoothly. I'm sure it takes a good deal of your time.

Keep doing what your doing, it's great!

Merry Christmas to all and hopefully a New Year that places the Global Pandemic behind us.

Cheers, David.
Click to expand...

Thanks David!
 
Hiperbiper said:
Definitely the best and easiest site to use associated with the Champ/Citabra/Decathlon types.
If increased traffic and exposure is a goal perhaps an " Other Tube and Fabric Birds " section would work. The same methods and techniques as well as fun and fails already being discussed here also pertain to Chief's, Funk's, Christavia's and Cubs...and while none of those mentioned are as pretty as the OUR birds you can sometimes learn useful things from an ugly relative. 🥸
After all...you DO have an EXP sub forum now!

But even if you keep it just as it is I think it's a great site. Thanks for building such an attractive playpen for us.

Chris
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Thanks Chris! Together with what Ed said, we can do that.
 
Big Ed said:
Might consider consolidating lesser used sub-forums. IMO your top level directory is too long. Also, pin the most popular sub-forums at the top.

Take a look at the forum directory at Pilots of America for an example of a well curated forum structure with no abandoned sub-forums. If a topic gets no posts for a year, there probably is not enough interest to justify a separate forum.

But overall it's a great site, kudos and thanks. This forum has a great tone too.
Click to expand...
Ja, maybe it's time to cut off the dead wood. there are so many of these airplanes out there doing so many different things, it was impossible to know at inception what would go and what wouldn't so I packed it all in there. Not sure about pinning sub forums as that stops downward surfing but we can consider it.

How about access levels to different areas? I've set the classifieds so guests can surf and access photos. The rest of the forums is open to guests but photos won't load. Sites like biplaneforum.com limit guests to only the forum list, trying to get in to see any of the actual content requires registration and log in.

How do all y'all feel about those monthly highlights emails that sites send out? I find them annoying and more work than they're worth.

Advertising? Not random google but banners from vendors in the community? the thing about advertising, the site doesn't have enough members or traffic to charge much and once I start taking money for banner ads I'm going to feel obligated to generate content and improve traffic numbers. I'll end up spending five times more than I could ever make in revenue so it's a losing proposition. Without advertisers there's no anxiety and whatever happens, happens.

I've run forums sites for profit in the past, there's so much that can be done but I don't know if I'm up for all of the work! I've got a backlog of airplane projects! Truth be told, the site kind of runs itself and the hosting service is very helpful so it's a small fee each month for the server and the rest is easy enough. The anti-spam controls are awesome so I just have to clean out the riff raff from time to time.

Stickers? Hats? T-shirts?
 
This was really needed, and it looks like it has succeeded! You are getting almost as much activity as the J3 Cub forum. Tweak it, maybe, but don't change anything dramatically.

Have you put the restrictive club forum out of business yet?

Oh - me too - don't send me e-mails unless they are specifically for me.
 
I'm new here, I like the layout. There are several dead sub-forums. I'm still working my way thru the content..... good stuff. And I love that when I come back to a thread, it automatically goes to unread.

I get enough emails. I don't bother opening emails anymore unless I was expecting it or its from an actual person I know.
 
Keep the classifieds open to everyone. Ads are fine. Might be a way to inform all of us of Citabria/Champ/Scout/Decathlon products and services.
 
Bart,

Can you consider tweaking the Classified Section so we can remove our ads that are no longer relevant?

Thanks!
 
Explorer said:
Bart,

Can you consider tweaking the Classified Section so we can remove our ads that are no longer relevant?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
It's best to use the Lock Thread function so that your ad will remain for future reference to other buyers and sellers. You can also just post a comment saying it's sold or you found what you were looking for (if it was a wanted ad).

Go to the upper right corner of the thread and click on the button with three dots and a down arrow. Click "Lock Thread" and it will prevent future posts.
 
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One thing I have noticed is repetitive discussion of common upgrades that apply to multiple aircraft types. Example: aluminum gear upgrade. About once a year folks seem to rehash the weight loss, MGW gain, etc, usually buried in an unrelated discussion. Same for metal wings, big tires, tall panels, baggage door, etc.

Would recommend moving certain key discussions to the general forum, and the use of Sticky topics to highlight them. Alternatively, create a separate subforum for 7/8 technical discussion, put it directly below the general discussion subforum, and use sticky topics generously.
 
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All part of a lively discussion. Without a bit of repetition the site might become moribund - nothing new posted, and then folks quit checking quite so regularly, and then nobody posts, then nobody looks, and a valuable resource dies. c.f. the Aeronca forum?

I am deligted that Bart took the risk, and even more delighted that it succeeded!
 
There's a problem with forums sites where the old members can begin to intimidate the new people and that's when the party dies. New people need a jumping off point and if it's a question that many have already seen before, it's still a jumping off point and that makes for a healthy community. I bristle when I see forums posts that seem to scream at people to use the search function before posting. Maybe that's not a bad idea but forums search functions are notoriously bad for finding things although Xenforo forum software does better than Vbulletin with that.

When I set up the sub-forums I was just kind of guessing about how to organize things. With there being so much similarity even between an 8KCAB Decathlon and my 7ECA Citabria, the breakdowns don't really make much of a difference unless it's something really specific to one or the other. Ed, you're saying to simplify it as 7 series tech vs 8 series tech? Would the 8GCBC and the 8KCAB variants play well together in one sub-forum? Not sure if that's what you're suggesting.
 
Not sure. Just observing that when I wanted to post on topics such as U bolts and Aluminum gear, I wasn't sure where the best place to post would be. My plane is an 8, but exact same discussion applies to 7. So I put it in general.

My real point is to use sticky topics to make "hot topics" easier to find and contribute to. For example, a long consolidated thread over several years where everyone described their individual experiences with AL gear upgrades would be very useful to read through when contemplating such a project.

You are so right about regulars ruining a forum by enforcing doctrine.
 
Oh, man! One of my favorite model train forums is run like a police state. Put a topic in the wrong forum, and you get a personal nastygram from the censors. They even have a “report this post” button! No wonder we lean toward Fascism occasionally.
 
Bob Turner said:
Oh, man! One of my favorite model train forums is run like a police state. Put a topic in the wrong forum, and you get a personal nastygram from the censors. They even have a “report this post” button! No wonder we lean toward Fascism occasionally.
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I don't have any problem with the creators of a forum setting and enforcing standards as they see fit. Their platform, their rules, and they live with the consequences on traffic.

My issue is with long time users who impose their views on newcomers thru bullying and ridicule. That can be a cancer on user growth.

Crowds like us are usually pretty tame. Most older folks are strongly inclined to be polite online like we are in real life, because we understand the world works better when everyone shows respect.

The single most toxic online environment I have ever seen is the Tesla owner forum. For whatever reason Tesla has chosen to moderate as lightly as they can. The result is a boiling hot mess of hostility and online harrassment, an online Lord of the Flies.
 
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