How Has This Forum Affected You?

After Neil’s accident I found this forum helped me a great deal. The forum allowed me to communicate directly with people who were there. It was a hard time and the people on this forum were very supportive. Now I like to read up on the historic aviation scene in the UK from time to time. I also enjoy reading the pilot forum here. This is one of the best online communities I have come across.

:rolleyes: I am pretty new here and am already getting addicted, however I do find it annoying when I read flippant remarks which have no relation to the thread. There is a mine of information out there and certainly a lot of keen knowledgable members.

For some reason this forum seems much more ‘chatty’ to me, questions get answered much quicker here because there are more folks in here than on WIX, I keep a membership oing over there but only check it once or twice a week whereas I check in here every day, sometimes multiple times a day…I like this forum because I actually know a few folks in person on it and am going to be meeting more later this summer and that adds a nice aura of familiarity to it…

Mark

As a few have said, I find this forum in particular a great place to learn, not only about the history side of our hobby/interest/obsession (delete as applicable!), but also about the ongoing issues that preservation of our aviation heritage faces. A good place to see both sides of arguments and, as has been said already, make a better informed opinion.
I also find it a fantastic place to see the images captured by other members, both professional and amateur photographers, and a wonderful way to share and appreciate each others photographs. So much better to be able to view, compare and share our photos with like-minded people than friends and family who (no disrespect intended) are not able to fully appreciate them, or to make constructive criticism.
Since I have been a member and been able to post images of my own, I find I am now taking more photos than ever, and trying to capture the aircraft from more interesting angles, with a view to sharing them with others, and not just storing them all away on disk for my own benefit.

I also find I am now logging on nearly every evening just to catch up with the latest posts!

For me, it has become important to learn about historic aviation and I am pleasantly suprised to get into contact with so many great people. I only hope it doesn’t become an addiction. (if that isn’t the case already).

Stieglitz

I’ll tell you in a month!!! 😉

Mmm, yes it has affected me

Having been one of the “hardcore” (first WWW, then Vintage Aviator and now) WIX-participants, I noticed that I have drifted more towards this forum and are more a lurker on WIX these days. There are several reasons such as some of the other participants I enjoyed exchanging recovery/investigation information with left or otherwise due to personal circumstances and the mostly US-topics with which I have very little in common (not the fault of WIX mind you, Scott is doing a great job).

I like this board because of the mostly British feel of this forum (not only the participants but also the topics) and as I am very much interested in the RAF and British warbirds in general this is where I spent increasingly more time than on WIX. Apart from that some Could be a phase but let’s see. I would like to take part in one of the forum meets but living in Holland makes this a bit difficult however it is not impossible thankfully, but it’s a barrier.

This board is very much a spin off from FlypPast (perhaps even more so) with photographs of recoveries, derelict warbirds and things in general. This board however doesn’t detract from me buying FP every month as I still look out for the latest issue. Long may it continue.

Cheers

Cees

I’ve made a good friend through the commercial section, but other than that this is just a forum I view from time to time.

I think it’s excellent! 😀

Living so far away, it’s great to be able to stay in tune [when combined with WIX] with the action around the world. My job allows me regular UK visits, but you can’t make EVERY airshow. The photographers who contiribute are world-beaters and really put the icing on the cake.

Keep up the good work!!

G’day 😉

Through this forum I have been able to see many things that I would not have seen simply because I either wouldn’t have known they were happening or I wouldn’t have known what time and wouldn’t have been able to spend all day at a location. You also get to hear information straight from the horses mouth in many cases’s. The wealth of knowledge on this forum is astounding! 🙂

The bad points have been the period a little while ago when a certain group seemed to decided it was their forum and anybody they didn’t like wasn’t welcome, those days thankfully seem to be behind us now. From a Key Publishing point of view I haven’t brought a single copy of Flypast since I started using this forum as I no longer see a need for it, but to make up for it I am a subscriber to Todays Pilot. I also now spend alot more time at my PC and I think I will soon need glasses as a result! 😮

Long Live this forum!

All the above – plus the opportunity for a visit to the BBMF 😀

DS

Thanks Geoff,
done it – should cut down time and cut down the guilty factor “am not working”

Roger Smith.

If I consider the wording of the question, I’d like to think the forum, or more accurately some of the people on it, have affected me quite profoundly. Since first joining a few years ago, I’ve been priveleged enough to be invited to a number of events and locations which I otherwise wouldn’t have done. And in the course of these visits, I have learned a lot, not just about aviation, but also about the history element, and that’s the thing that really gets me buzzing. I’m thinking particularly of the memorial services and book signings I’ve had the privelege of attending.

There have also been the friendships I’ve made on here. I’ve been able to help people, and many people have helped me, some in ways that they may not even realise.

As far as the impact on my enjoyment of FlyPast and Aeroplane is concerned, yes I do find that the WOW factor has diminished when my copies drop through the letterbox, but then that’s a symptom of the internet age in general I think. I still subscribe to both magazines, and still store each copy.

On a positive note, when I read on here about the problems surrounding legislation changes, it’s possible on here to debate the changes, establish the implications, and come away with a more informed decision (and hopefully some idea of what I can do to help!). I can’t do that purely by reading about it on a printed page.

So in summary, despite some of the shenanigans over on GD, I value these fora greatly, both here on Historic and also GA. Life is about learning, and I can always do that here. 🙂

I have had the great pleasure of meeting and getting to know some great people over the past year. I too have been dismayed at the absolute garbage that some people are prepared to type and suspect that they would be far less vocal if discussing matters face to face. (Perhaps there is a message for a few members to think twice post once.)

On the whole it is an excellent way to spend a few minutes at lunchtime, catching up with what has happened over the weekend and to see some archive pics that people di out of dusty cardboard boxes in attics.

It is fantastic that we get news directly from collectors, restorers, owners, operators, pilots, veterans and enthusiasts. No other medium currently exists that could provide the level of exchange and involvement at such a mass scale. This is of course true of all firums but for aviation I regard this one as by far the best.

There are far more plusses than minuses for me, although I do find when threads degenerate I lose interest immediately and saunter off to find something more productive to amuse myself with.

Keep up the good work webby.

Roger,

You can display the newest post first by clicking on User CP (on blue bar at top of page, under thread title) and then on Edit opitions on left hand side of screen under Control panel. Scroll down to Thread display options and you will see a box called Thread display mode. Use the drop down list and click on Linear – newest first.

Hope this helps.

Geoff.

Yep, it’s got me

This is very addictive – only been a member for a few weeks but spending too much time on it.

Mind you that’s partly because of my antique pc being so slow – thinks, wouldn’t it be nice if one could open a thread at the newest posting rather than opening at the first and having to trawl through all the posts one has seen several times already (and all the download time if there are lots of pictures on it).

Roger Smith.

I agree with the comments so far, but additionally I have met some pretty decent people with like-minded interests through this forum and been on visits that I might not have made otherwise.

The only down side has been the “issues” that have occurred on the GD Forum, at which point I either lose interest or gaze in bewilderment at some of the attitudes displayed in what is supposed to be a hobby. All are entitled to their views, but some appear to take it too far in public, when maybe they should be settled outside the forum.

Oh – and “R.Weaver”, whoever he really is, gave hours and hours of endless amusement – sorely missed!

Certainly forums such as this and others have turned what was once a solo hobby into a much more social one. Information spreads like wildfire. On the minus side, there’s less of the “what might turn up” element when we go to airshows, as display lineups are posted weeks and months in advance!