New User Field

[motzartmerv]

Where I disagree, I've generally said so. If I don't say so, you can assume I have no particular issue. None of us is right all the time . . .

True, and none are wrong all the time either..

 

 

[cscotthendry]

Defeats the main purpose i.e. providing me the information needed to improve the site and enhance it for industry segments...it is this continual improvement over the last 10 years that has enabled this site to grow to the point that users use the site rather than me sticking my head in the sand

Just out of curiosity, what would the "improvements to the site" be? The phrase "enhance it for industry segments" suggests to me that it would be used as some form of marketing tool for the benefit of advertisers. If that is the case then how would that benefit the users?

 

 

[Admin]

I am really having trouble understanding the motives behind the posts in this thread...it has NOTHING to do with advertising or anything like that, it has nothing to do with being a "court specialist" and as I have said, several times, it is for enhancing the site so it can better target its audience however one needs to know exactly what that audience is first. As an example one thing that is coming is schools and clubs...do I spend the time adding commercial training institutions, PPL and RAAus training only etc...the aircraft section, do I spend my valuable time making it comprehensive or just targeted to certain industry segments etc etc etc...

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Ian, I would assist you in a private survey with pleasure and I'm sure I'm not alone.

 

 

[Ballpoint 246niner]

I sort of covered this thought process in my tag line to try to give a snippet to those who could be bothered to ascertain some credibility, but I'm with greybeard and others, user posts will give any one an idea of knowledge, objectivity or prejudice. I note the instructors forum gets very little use where a subgroup with credentials was set up.

 

There's an old saying " rather be silent and be thought a fool than talk and remove any doubt!"

 

 

[Admin]

Ian, I would assist you in a private survey with pleasure and I'm sure I'm not alone.

Last time I ran a survey, a few years ago now, I received little over 100 responses and whilst that does give some slight indication it was by no means accurate enough...the 100 responses was probably because I gave everyone who responded a free Recreational Flying key ring so the cost of that plus postage made it an expensive survey.

 

 

[David Isaac]

This might sound a bit odd Ian, but you could force every user to go back and update their profile in a private survey before they could read any further posts. Do it in a nice way and there will be minimum objection.

 

 

[Admin]

This might sound a bit odd Ian, but you could force every user to go back and update their profile in a private survey before they could read any further posts. Do it in a nice way and there will be minimum objection.

Thanks David, I had thought of that and most probably the way it may have to go...however it was decided after a few phone calls this afternoon that it is going ahead one way or another

 

 

[Geoff13]

I don't see a problem with what Ian is asking for.

 

I have nothing to hide and certainly do not profess to be something/someone that I am not.

 

I believe transparency is a good thing.

 

 

[Bandit12]

See, you have it wrong there Ian. You don't ask people to complete a survey. You require them to as part of the conditions of membership of the site. It is pretty simple really.

 

• The site costs a lot of money and time
   
   
  
• Most people using it regularly contribute nothing financially towards it (generalising, but probably true)
   
   
  
• Advertising is a viable way of keeping the site going
   
   
  
• Targeting advertising towards the users is more effective if you have more details about the users themselves
   
   
  
• Data collection *might* also be useful for other projects which could be beneficial to recreational flying (depending on going into research design etc)
   
   
  

 

 

You can't prevent people from entering bogus information anyway, but you can limit it by not making it too onerous with too many questions, and keeping the details private - declaring that individual information will not be shared, and that aggregate data only will be used to further develop the site. For example, having an extensive background on Bandit12's 350 or so GA hours, including 1 written off Tomahawk and 1 airspace incursion in the last 15 years is of little use by itself. Knowing that ~150 predominantly GA pilots access the site at least weekly may be of interest to advertisers, and also may help in allocating development resources, especially if it turns out that ~500 predominantly RA-Aus pilots also access the site weekly (numbers made up of course).

 

As David Isaac says, make everyone go back to add details to their profile. Maybe yearly force it again to check/update information, and make the forums not visible until the profile/survey is complete.

 

 

[Dafydd Llewellyn]

I've no objection to providing the data either; and how you use it is up to you; my analogy of an expert witness was not intended to suggest that you are aiming to use it in any adversarial manner - merely that the sort of information it seems to me that you would need is not dissimilar. I would merely observe that any person's point of view depends on the whole of his experience, and merely focussing on (say) pilot licence qualifications is likely to be only a small facet of that - and therefore, misleading.

 

 

[gandalph]

Ian, Whatever you need to do to make this site even better is fine with me. However, I agree with those who would like to see the aircraft field remain. Perhaps the "qualifications" section could be in the background and accessible by clicking on the poster's name or avatar for those of who want a bit more info about correspondents?

 

 

[Admin]

Ian, Whatever you need to do to make this site even better is fine with me. However, I agree with those who would like to see the aircraft field remain. Perhaps the "qualifications" section could be in the background and accessible by clicking on the poster's name or avatar for those of who want a bit more info about correspondents?

The Aircraft field is going to remain, it will be a "required" field and those that don't fly can use "Enthusiast" as their aircraft and the field will perhaps have a little more explanation with it. Location will also be a required field however locations can be somewhat broad if the user wishes it to be however locations like "Australia" or "Victoria" will be considered to be a lack of respect towards this site and what it provides for everyone and to the people that work hard to maintain the site's integrity. These will be deleted forcing the user to continually have to update the fields before they can access the site every time they visit.

Initially the License field, which will also be a required field and will be in the user's settings and profile only.

 

The Pilot Tools section is currently being redeveloped under the new name of "Resources" and provide such things as Downloads so users can upload such things as pilot manuals, aircraft manuals, planning spreadsheets etc etc etc and share with everyone else. What is also being considered in the Downloads section is the ability for downloads to be either free or the user can charge a small cost for them...the software being used has this feature however that is still under consideration. The Resources section will also have all the current Pilot Tools merged into it along with having State by State lists of Flying Clubs, Training Schools and resources, contact details for aviation stakeholders and more.

 

I am very very interested to hear from you what resources you would like to have included in the new Resources section so I can make it as comprehensive as possible.

 

Subject to the analysis of licenses that users hold, the Aircraft section will be properly populated and a bigger invitation to aircraft manufacturers, importers and distributors sent to contribute to the site for you.

 

We need to keep evolving with the site and what it provides for everyone as the biggest and best recreational aviation resource for everyone

 

 

[gandalph]

Wow! it's in place already, Slick work Ian. One question though: my aircraft is still in several separate bits and isn't likely to be re-assembled and flying for a few months yet. It will be Jabiru, unless Rod gets cranky and makes me call it something else. Would you prefer me to put that as my aircraft (even though I don't actually fly it yet) or should I stick with enthusiast until it all comes together?

 

 

[Admin]

Wow! it's in place already, Slick work Ian. One question though: my aircraft is still in several separate bits and isn't likely to be re-assembled and flying for a few months yet. It will be Jabiru, unless Rod gets cranky and makes me call it something else. Would you prefer me to put that as my aircraft (even though I don't actually fly it yet) or should I stick with enthusiast until it all comes together?

In terms of aircraft you are the best judge of that however if you are building a Jab it makes sense I suppose to put Jab in there.

Everyone else, please keep the Aircraft entry as short as possible as not only does it say "an" (as in one) aircraft, it makes your user info on the left of posts rather long and silly...otherwise the only option left would be to place a maximum character count on it...why can't things be simple

 

 

[Downunder]

No problems providing info but why does it need to be public?.....google now outsourcing?

 

Quite willing to fill out surveys or whatever for your...ah.......marketing.

 

In the modern world identity theft is rife. I try to maintain a minimum online footprint.

 

 

[Guest Nobody]

If it keeps asking me for a location and aircraft every time I come to visit I can see my visits becoming less frequent.....

 

I like to stay a little bit anonymous on here as it allows me to contribute more than if I was "known"...

 

 

[red750]

Although I held a PPL for 18 years, its 28 years since I last flew. My interest is now as an aircraft photographer, so I listed Enthusiast. Is there any way to update other info on the Profile page?

 

 

[Downunder]

I'm on a few forums and none have needed so much private information to be viewed publically.

 

 

[turboplanner]

I see some have managed to elude the system, posting without information.

 

 

[Admin]

Firstly the fields of Aircraft, Location and Country have always been on the site...as been pointed out by users the Aircraft field is wanted. The Country flag helps other users know where the user's post my be related to and Location helps to bring like minded people together to catch up when flying to different locations. The only new field is the License field which is not displayed in posts and if you are really that concerned about your privacy to people outside of the site then simply change your privacy settings to members only.

 

Every day fields will be checked and any user that is trying to be a smart ass will have the fields emptied requiring new entries inserted till they are right or as always, you don't have to use the site as smart ass's are not really welcomed to use the site's resources anyway. This site needs to move forward and get better and it can't without information

 

Incidentally, I belong to many sites that even require your real name

 

 

[Admin]

An initial analysis of the information in the database so far is opening up many new opportunities for the site, for example:

 

1. We have dedicated sub forums that are specific to a limited number of aircraft type. Knowing what aircraft users most often fly is going to enable me to update those aircraft specific forums to forums that are relevant to you the users...a great asset for the site and for you to have maybe have a dedicated forum to the aircraft that you fly

 

2. I am surprised that the ratio of International users i.e. non-Australian licenses, is a lot lower than I had thought. This opens up the opportunity to make the site faster for everyone by moving the server back home to Australia. Currently I spend around $250 every month on hosting costs to provide the site so when I analyse the current server loading I can look for hosting in Australia to suit the site loads. Couple this with the Location field information and it will help me to position the server in the best location i.e. Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane etc thus also making the site faster benefiting the majority of users even more.

 

There is a lot more steps that I can take to make the site even better for you and everyone else from this information.

 

Incidentally, I have made the Accidents and Incidents forum locked to visitors with its content only viewable to registered users. This forum was to help everyone learn from accidents whether they were a registered user or not however for site and user protection I have had to disable visitor viewing of this forum's content as it is now wrapped completely within the site rules in terms of using the information that is posted in that forum.

 

 

[Guest Nobody]

I suspect that this will be my last post on this site for a while. I plan to log out after this but continue reading as a guest from time to time. If there is something particularly worthy of commenting on I may login in again. I won't be so quick to ask for my account to be deleted like some others who have posted in is thread and whose posts have now disappeared.

 

This site has some very useful information on it. Technical posts by some of the experts like Dafydd and others provided real insight into aircraft certification and design. Knowing what events are going on in the community is great.

 

This site also has some negatives. It perpetuates folklore regulations that aren't in the rule books and misinformation quite regularly. Some of the jokes in the aviation laughter are likely to cause some people offense. These things can be forgiven for the good that the site brings.

 

Like all RAAus pilots I seek freedom from illogical regulation. Requiring the added information tags and making this information public by default is a petty rule that really serves no useful purpose. It makes the site not welcoming of outsiders whatever their background and interest. In the long run these things will hard this site more than any gain from having the knowledge of people's training or aircraft.

 

I understand that the site owner can choose to run his site how he chooses and this is something he has chosen to do. Now more than ever It makes the case that there should be an official RAAus forum especially since the accidents and incidents sub forum here is now locked to non members.

 

I am disappointed in this outcome.

 

Goodbye all.(for now)

 

 

[Admin]

Goodbye Nobody

 

For everyone else please note that I have set the Privacy settings default to Members Only...if you wish to change any of your privacy settings just go to your site settings and they are in there

 

 

[ahlocks]

I suspect that this will be my last post on this site for a while.

Don't let the door hit you on the a$s on the way out. Actually, after reading the rest of your little dummy spit, it's a bit of a toss up whether you'll be getting a choice...