help or hurt your hobby

[spinout180]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm ALWAYS friendly...so BITE ME! :rof

Obviously, I'm kidding! I try to help out the noobs when I can, and at the track I get tons of questions (usually when I'm trying to wrench on my stuff) but I feel like it's my obligation to try and answer if I can. After all, they'll be the next crop of racers and rc'ers. Friendly advice don't cost nuthin' anyway, and it's like welcoming them into a hobby I love. I may have to race against one of them some day and I want them to be prepared as best they can to succeed (or at least not mess everyone else up!) For me, rc'ing is as much a social thing as it is friendly competition. Just my 2 cents...


:rock
Troy.

 

[Savage03]

[/quote]I barely ever post on rccrawler and barely ever even read over there because everyone is a jerk and I don't like the atmosphere. People in the real world don't behave that way...[/quote]


Same here, those guys are so full of themselves it suks. I signed up and tried asking not really a newb question but if anyone had put losi lst shocks on a clod and I got hammered for it, never posted again.
Me and a friend are running a board now and no question is stupid and I would never come down on anyone asking. Just a quick way to kill a forum to have rude posters. Everyone here is very friendly :rock :tmb

 

[pettycash]

You posted again as I was typing out my book :tmb

Type a little faster, and that issue would be solved too.:tong

 

[william g]

I actually wasn't talking about a R/C board when I made my original post. I was on a large scale train forum.

I will admit RCC used to be pretty rough, but has really changed for the better, been browsing there to recently because of the x-trail chassis and I bought one. The information available there, and the amount of creativity is endless. But I like scale and monster trucks more than crawling. I prefere a basher that can run over more so than crawl. I have to be able to jump :trk even if it's a 4wd sedan :tong

This one train forum though, it made pirate4x4 look like sunday school. I cancelled/deleted my membership. I had maybe 10-20 posts from a long time ago and popped in when weeding my bookmarks and after reading deleted the bookmark as well.


And a shout over to new member Nick, have any pictures? And on a 1-10 scale how does RCMT rate to a new member?

 

[spinout180]

:rockthat says it all right there. I've been to a few other boards that make me wish there was a "smack 'em upside the head" button on my keyboard:rof


Keep up the the great work!

Troy.

 

[HawnMT]

Having gotten into and out of this hobby more than a few times in my life, I've had to start over as newb a lot. I just got back into the hobby at the end of 2006 after being out for about 8 years, so I consider myself a newb now.

I have never flamed anyone (except a scammer or two) and don't pick fights on any board I belong to. And while I would never chastise anyone for wanting to learn I also think it's important not to spoil a newb.

[Speaking in old man voice] Back in the days before the internet you were limited in the knowledge base as far as who to go to when you had a question. It was pretty much limited to a handful of friends who didn't know more than you. That made you have to figure out a lot of stuff on your own. Now with the internet and RTR trucks that experimentation and learning process is being lost to the " I want it right here right now" way of thinking. Newbs have to learn to think for think for themselves or they will never last in this hobby, unless they have a ton of money. Thre are polite ways of steering a newb to an answer instead of flaming. But in the end I would still rather have a someone post whatever question they want rather then live in fear of being flamed for it.

I also belong to RCC, and there are a lot of great(and nice) folks there. Sure it gets out of hand sometimes but it's very small minority that starts trouble. It just looks bad sometimes because the really young kids like to jump in on flamefests.:mad As said before the tech there is the best.

OK this went on too long, so I'll end here.

 

[pettycash]

I too am a train fan, both full scale, and model, and most train forums seem to be brutal to everyone. I posted in one thread where I found the reason to an odd mis-match (NS locomotive on a WNYP train) about my cluelssness about the occurance, and the seeming oddity about it. A mod deleted my post, and sent me a very nasty, insulting e-mail to go back, read the thread again, and see if I can find what the deal is. There is only one forum on that site that I find pleasant, the live steam/ride-on scale forum. Everyone there is very kind, extremely welcoming to those of all exprience levels. There's another, similar train forum that is like the live steam board in the other one all the time. Needless to say, that's where I now go for train stuff. What I find odd is you think of the railfan/model railroader as the nice, old, kind man wearing an engineer suit, but from that one forum, I no longer think that about all railfans. I will now find out more before I'm so quick to judge.

 

[Nick]

And a shout over to new member Nick, have any pictures? And on a 1-10 scale how does RCMT rate to a new member?

Not yet. I finished my first High Lift, and the body was being painted at my lhs in Germany. It will be painted just how it looks on the box, and the place has a good reputation so hopefully it will come out good. I had them do it because I know someone who knows them well, and I got a very good deal. The paint almosts costs as much as what I am paying.

I'm in the Army, and my wife is in Germany, so I was there for Christmas and she got me the High Lift as a Christmas present. I became instantly addicted.

I am getting out of the Army in a few months, and going back to Germany. I wanted to drive the High Lift so bad, that I had to buy another one. I just couldn't wait. The one in germany will be on display, and the one I build now will be the beater.


I like the forum, but I wish there were some more people posting. So far attitudes have been ok I guess.


To HawnMT: Hey, I am being impaitient because I am excited and right now, I have plenty of money to throw at this hobby, and I am sure that isn't going to last forever. While I can afford it, I want to buy the best stuff and build the best trucks I can. I don't have the cash to be playing around with stuff I don't like. You know what I mean?

 

[twisted8]

I'm a member on more than a few boards like most people. Most are friendly, some not always.

Not pointing any names out I was kind of shocked.

A new member, sounded kind of young was ripped on for asking a ''dumb'' question, and or not using search.

I hope we don't do that here? I don't believe I do?

I honestly believe no question is to dumb, well ok if you are thinking of one then it isn't really isn't is it :willy

Search, yes we have a functioning search, some may not know it. If it's an ongoing question, point them in the right direction, maybe mention briefly we have a search to help next question. At least that seems more hospital.
Then add it to a FAQ, or start one or ask somebody to. It may help the next guy.

I'm know sometimes we forget, or the same question just asked a few days before. But try putting yourself in a ''newbie'' position and if it was you slammed when all you wanted was help... you'd probably never be back.

None of us are perfect, myself included. But I'd like to think on RCMT we try a little harder? Who knows, maybe someday I'll master spelling and no typos :rof Oh, then picture taking... then...:tong

will i couldnt agree with you more.

 

[Insane Stampe]

Another vote for Pirate4x4. That place is brutal if you ask a "dumb" question without searching. Albeit, they are very knowledgeable and helpful, just in a roundabout way. Always good for some humor though! :tmb

 

[Gimbal]

On some boards its hard to tell the sarcasm from the BS :reye I guess Ive done run out of patience for it. Im too stressed out from work to care any more. I just want to chill with my rigs when I get home.

As far as the bashing newbs on searching topic. I see their point in some cases. There are those individuals who just have to get instant gratification and are not willing to do a little reading, searching, for the right answer. So in that case they proabably deserve it.
On the other hand there are also guys who are genuine virgins to RC off road. They definetely deserve some slack. Thinking back I remember how excited I was about it at first like Nick here I didnt know an outer axle from an inner axle. (Not saying you dont Nick )
But unless you read every post on every forum, how would you know the difference? I typically dont worry about it and just answer the question if I think it will help. I like Mcfig's method better now that I think about it. Link, then answer included :tmb

BTW- a big shout out to all the mods who keep the order around here :trk RCMT has always seemed friendly to me.

And in RCC's defense it is definetely a LOT better now than it used to be

 

[Locoboy5150]

RCMT is kind of rare in my experience in how welcoming it is to newcomers. You're right Will, there are some train forums that can be brutal on newcomers. Thankfully, being kind and helpful to newcomers has always been an RCMT trademark. That friendly atmosphere is why I've been here for *WAY* too long!