Aussie Focus

[Admin]

Hi All

 

As you may have noticed over the last couple of weeks there have been some subtle changes made to the site which shows that I have abandoned my quest to take the site International but rather take the site back to being an Australian focused community and resource.

 

You can now see that Australian upcoming events are displayed, our local clubs and schools will be created in their own section and I have engaged a graphic designer who will be creating a new header for us that really indicates that we are an Australian community of pilots helping each other out.

 

Moderation has been relaxed, all bans and restraints (except for 2 users) were lifted and the site will get back to being all about what is happening in recreational aviation in Australia.

 

This has been the result of asking many of you, that I have spoken to on the phone over the last few weeks, what you really would like as this site is yours, it is your community and I have been told to butt out so your wish is my command. But, in doing so, the site has to pay for itself so as you have seen, some advertising is coming back to help pay the costs. The shop is coming back to within the site and as you have seen, the International forums have been removed.

 

The only thing left is the name and I have received mixed responses on Aircraft Pilots or Recreational Flying so that is 50/50 at the moment. Hopefully those that go to NatFly will be able to spend a moment and have a chat with me so we can resolve these types of things once and for all...I still like the Aircraft Pilots name but that is up to you.

 

If you are going to NatFly, please get there safely and those that are staying home with their loved ones...I hope you have a fantastic break and a fun filled Easter

 

 

[fly_tornado]

good move

 

 

[rgmwa]

Appreciate all your hard work Ian. I like `Recreational Flying' because that's what I do, but no big deal either way. However, maybe it's my imagination but opening posts seems to be taking a lot longer than it used to. I access the site from home and also from my work computer now and then. My home computer is faster, but the work computer tells me it's downloading around 150-200 files every time I open a post or another page. Is it just me, or have others noticed a download delay?

 

rgmwa

 

 

[Guernsey]

Recreational Flying. If you wanted to specifically highlight a search title then perhaps 'Flying for Recreation'.

 

Alan.

 

 

[terryc]

Yep, recreational flying for me too.

 

 

[biggles]

Recreational Flying for me also Ian , although I am slowly getting used to Aircraft Pilots which seems to me to have some GA type overlay but ,when its all said and done , 'whats in a name anyway' . Tex I agree with your comments about the "downloading of 100-200 files", something that never seemed to happen under the old system .

 

Bob

 

 

[loro]

Another vote for Recreational Flying and another thank you for all your effort .

 

 

[Admin]

The downloading of many files sounds like a cache issue however, I received this email from the network company that houses our server in the US:

 

"Recently it has come to our attention that some clients are having performance issues due to poor routing of upstream providers. As these issues have caused severe degradation of service for some clients we're unfortunately forced to push up the time table for our network upgrades. We will be scheduling a 4 hour window starting at Saturday 11PM PST to Sunday 3AM PST. Projected impact on network connectivity is minimal but as such major upgrades don't always go according to plan we wish to give network admins time to back out the changes. The new network will be based around multiple redundant Cisco ASR 9000's and performance optimized by Internap FCP hardware. We apologize for the short notice but we firmly believe this action is needed to keep the WebNX network at peek performance, we appreciate your understanding."

 

If it is not a cache issue then it could be a performance issue of the network and this is causing you to now actually see the files being downloaded due to it being slower...remember the files are just all the files that are displayed on your screen like every image, every block etc, they are not files that you consider as "Downloads" in the traditional sense.

 

Off course the whole question of the server could be considered again due to me abandoning the International focus. An Australian located server might be a better option down the track if we want to make the site extremely fast again as the need to have a server in the US as a world wide centralised location would no longer be needed.

 

Lets see what happens after the network upgrade happens our Aust Sunday morning

 

 

[Deskpilot]

Got to echo #2, good move Ian. I thought you were trying to take one step too far by going international.

 

As for the site name, go 50/50..........Recreational Pilots. That covers both RAA and GA. Better still, Aussie Recreational Pilots.

 

 

[Admin]

Unfortunately those names are taken by someone that tried to mimic our site and pinch our name years ago so I had to retaliate and protect our name as much as I could...he even registered "Australian Recreational Flying" and "Recreational Flying Australia"...but he didn't stop there, he even registered "Recreational Aviation Australia", yes that's right, even the full name of RAAus...he sold the RAAus name to RAAus just recently though

 

So, we have available Recreational Flying with either .com.au, .com, .net, .org, .co, .us, .co.nz, .co.uk, .ca, .co.za etc

 

Or Aircraft Pilots with .com.au, .com, .net etc etc etc

 

Hopefully I will get feedback from you guys/gals going to NatFly and I will do as instructed and leave it at that for good...the name "Recreational" Flying is only relevant in Australia as everywhere else it is still Ultralights, Microlights or Sport...the name Aircraft Pilots was suppose to help break down the barriers between the aviation segments as we are all Aircraft Pilots...that was the thinking.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

for twitter http://bit.ly/apilots

 

 

[Admin]

The other thing as well is as I am getting everything ready for NatFly, there are all the Recreational Flying key chains, mouse pads, stubby holders, shirts, iron on transfers, flags, signs etc etc etc

 

 

[Admin]

Got to echo #2, good move Ian. I thought you were trying to take one step too far by going international.

Yeah, I think I was going too fast for everyone which has caused a bit of loss of the "community" aspects so that is what I am going to focus on now...getting the Australian "Community" going again...perhaps it's time to have another one of our own Flyins again (Queens Birthday weekend), start some competitions again, throw some more money at promotion etc and yes, apologise for some of my actions whilst I was ill last year and under the influence of drugs

I hope many of you that are going to NatFly will drop in to our tent and have a chat...some feedback from you is what the site needs now...the free tea and coffee will be on for all

 

 

[Guernsey]

Ian, I have been a Forumite for some time now but have never met you. It is possible that I may have seen you in Paris or London, in a movie, in a surfies outfit, possibly in first class on an Airbus A380 etc, etc. Unfortunately I will not be at Natfly soooooooo how about a photo????

 

Alan.

 

 

[Ausmo]

I won't be at Temora this year, but Recreational Flying gets my vote.

 

Thanks for all you do Ian.

 

Erik

 

 

[Admin]

Unfortunately I will not be at Natfly soooooooo how about a photo????Alan.

 

 

[Guernsey]

Thanks Ian but you now have me guessing.......WHICH ONE IS YOU. .

 

Alan.

 

 

[eightyknots]

[ATTACH=full]17010[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]17011[/ATTACH]

Which one is it? the left or right picture

 

Ian, it has taken a while but I am now used to recreationalflying.com. However, if my arm was twisted and I had to make a choice, I'd go for Recreation Flying, because that is what we do (....including quite a number of GA pilots who post on this forum).

 

 

[Admin]

Left - first thing in the morning

 

Right - at the end of the day

 

 

[pudestcon]

Left - first thing in the morningRight - at the end of the day

You must have had an "All nighter" the last time I saw you:roflmao:

Pud

 

 

[Guernsey]

Left - first thing in the morningRight - at the end of the day

Then I hope I meet you at the end of the day,

 

Alan.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

[ATTACH=full]17010[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]17011[/ATTACH]

My favourite actor in my favourite movie.

 

"woof woof, that's my other dog impersonation"

 

 

[Admin]

After talking to many that dropped in at our tent at Temora it seems Recreational Flying is still the preferred name and the change I have done to bring the site back to having an Australian focus is also what you wanted and are liking

 

So, although my preference is Aircraft Pilots, the site will go back to Recreational Flying and permanently left at that...YOU have spoken!

 

(Note the name in the header is already done...the couple of other things that will be done to complete the change will be completely painless, you will probably not even notice any difference to the site at all except the the text of the name)

 

 

[Admin]

Over the years I personally believe this site has greatly stimulated the Recreational Aviation arena and has helped in its growth, professionalism, friendliness and safety however over the last 12 months it has, in my opinion, failed dismally in this area. For the rest of this year, this site, this resource, this community, is going to go back to having that focus...professionalism, safety, knowledge, along with a strong friendly community of like minded aviators, getting together here at Recreational Flying to help each other and create new friendships.

 

With this we can move forward in a better collective way for our Association which I am sure the results will be reflected at NatFly 2013...with YOUR help

 

 

[Guest Howard Hughes]

I nearly gave the site away some time ago Ian, but decided to hang in because the people that I like to read and respect are still around. Thank you for returning the site to something more akin to when I joined.

 

Now if only we could get the people at Facebook to listen!