Change of site name

[Admin]

Hi all, lately I have been thinking about the site's audience and the site name has come to mind. The site has a lot to offer and not just to the sport aircraft segment of aviation. Whilst the term Recreational also refers to PPL etc, many recreational pilots still consider the site to be targeted to just the old "Ultralight" fraternity and not all other forms of recreational flying.

 

Funny as when the site first started it was called Ultralight.com.au and after a while the times changed and the site was renamed to Recreational Flying.

 

But again I see myself thinking that times have changed and to be more appealing, not only to Google search, but to the greater aviation community that the site name be changed to Aircraft Pilots (.com). This I believe would cover ALL segments of "Recreational" including PPL. Yes I know the site's name of Recreational Flying has a known brand however this may well be both a positive and negative.

 

Do you have any strong objections to renaming the site to Aircraft Pilots (.com)...your input is important

[yampy]

Changing the site name to Aircraft Pilots (.com) certainly would “ cover ALL segments of Recreational including PPL “ , however it would also cover absolutely all aspects of piloting aeroplanes from rag and tube to A380’s and the like , and may attract the pilots of the like in greater numbers than what could be termed recreational flyers , is that what you want ? . I feel that this site may lose its long time identity as a home for recreational flyers to come together , however , change is your prerogative 

David 

[Admin]

Thanks @yampy my assumption is that commercial pilots i.e. Airline pilots, would not bother with a site like this, the old Ultralight industry has moved to plastic fantastics (pseudo GA) and that combined with the PPL "recreational" numbers combined would far outweigh that of commercial also providing a barrier to Airline Pilots. But, on the bright side is those few Airline Pilots that still get the buzz from flying GA may come on here not to talk about Airlines but to talk about fun flying which could also help with valuable input to discussions for everyone...Look at @facthunter as an example

 

That was my line of thought, perhaps it is wrong or just simply naive, definitely worth a discussion

[red750]

Changing the name would be like making it another Pprune.

[onetrack]

If you desire a change to another site name, it would need to be for compelling and overwhelming reasons, to ensure a massive increase in site searches and hits. 

 

So, I'd suggest "Recreational Sex and Drugs Flying" will achieve your aim.

 

However, you may end up with many disappointed site users if you go that way - particularly when they find the site is merely one catering to a select group of mainly middle-aged and older farts, who are well-heeled, and can indulge in what is largely seen as a "rich mans sport".

 

About the only reason you would want to change the site name, is if it was linked to another confusing site, or had a similar name to a dubious site, that had a bad smell/reputation about it. In that case, you would certainly want to change the name.

 

But as it stands, you have two words in the name that accurately describe what the site covers, and I see no compelling need to change the name.

[old man emu]

Compare site names with the names of our newspapers.  Take the Sydney Morning Herald. "A herald is an official employed (historically) to make proclamations, carry official messages, and oversee tournaments. - a bit higher up the scale than a town crier. Courier Mail - the information that arrives by courier. The Telegraph - information coming by telegraph. The Advertiser - commercial notices.

 

Each person has a different need satisfied by a newspaper. Some are more interested in happenings; others in sport; others in finance; others in fashion, and others in the various classifications of advertisements. All of them will reach for the same newspaper and go into it where they wish.

 

The same applies to this site. "Recreational Flying" implies that the site is concerned with flying for recreation, but look at all the subjects it covers. Does every person visit every part of the site every day? Hardly. But the people who visit here are interested in flying as a recreation. 

 

So count me amongst the faction with  strong objections to renaming the site . The site has proved itself able to deal with the evolution of online forums and still remain true to its initial concepts. 

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[facthunter]

Getting back to your original topic then the issues for the future are reduced spare cash and getting the young involved and perhaps reduced opportunity in airlines. . I wouldn't be on this site if I thought there is NO future. Flying also has to compete with many other possibilities for amusement and often the reward (gratification) must be quick as attention spans and motivation wane. Building a plane over a period of years has the potential to be immensely rewarding  with personal skills development but how many would easily approach that task these days.? Nev 

[facthunter]

 WE went through great drama deciding on Rec Flying. It's definitive, simple, It's OURS  (sort of because the final decision is Yours), It targets the audience you need to reach and it's  about as good as you will get. It's not a problem which needs fixing. It ain't BROKE. Nev

[Admin]

Another assumption I made is that with what you are saying in the thread "has recreational aviation collapsed" in that the sector is doing a roaring business still with flying schools flat out then why doesn't this site get new registered users? Years ago we use to get many each week and now lucky to get 1 a week. The site is bigger and better than it ever was and moderation is not really needed any more. Is the name not of interest to all these people, people who must be doing Google searches on various recreational aviation things, is the name Aircraft Pilots more their thing now with flying these plastic fantastics and they call themselves "a Pilot"? if the industry is in better shape than it ever was than has this site kept up with the changes in the mindset of the recreational pilot. Just a thought brought about by that other thread!

[turboplanner]

If I remember correctly, the last time you changed the name to Aircraft Pilots it was an absolute disaster, and had to be changed back quickly.

The name doesn't aim at any flying segment except perhaps RPT pilots, and last time round they didn't come, and a lot of recreational flyers dropped off.

We've seen from the other thread, where posts are coming from people actually visiting airfields, the recreational flying scene is very healthy with good bookings and near-full hangars, and people using the Covid isolation policies to restart builds, so there will be more people looking for answers to build problems, service problems soon.

[turboplanner]

7 minutes ago, Admin said:

Another assumption I made is that with what you are saying in the thread "has recreational aviation collapsed" in that the sector is doing a roaring business still with flying schools flat out then why doesn't this site get new registered users? Years ago we use to get many each week and now lucky to get 1 a week. The site is bigger and better than it ever was and moderation is not really needed any more. Is the name not of interest to all these people, people who must be doing Google searches on various recreational aviation things, is the name Aircraft Pilots more their thing now with flying these plastic fantastics and they call themselves "a Pilot"? if the industry is in better shape than it ever was than has this site kept up with the changes in the mindset of the recreational pilot. Just a thought brought about by that other thread!

I think the biggest problem is the constant changes; people are dropping off with each change.

When I log on I stil see posts many years old, one being from a deceased member. Maybe there's a way to stop that, but there's no easily found "Instructions thread. You're looking at the site structure every day, but most people only have to time to have a quick look at the things that inerest them. Make that easy and people will look and stay.

 

[facthunter]

I would suggest it would NOT  be encouraged by Flying Schools (coming here or most online sources of a similar nature.)  where very diverse views emerge.. You serve?  a different   demographic of Pilots. We have lost a lot of knowledgeable people. We don't have a lot of females either. The situation is dynamic and where we are headed remains a question to be answered.. Nev

[turboplanner]

4 minutes ago, turboplanner said:

I think the biggest problem is the constant changes; people are dropping off with each change.

 

I notice Tomo featured on a thread. I was only talking to him a few nights ago and said we were talking about him. He said he had tried to get on but his log in didn't work.

Since Tomo regularly posted there have been different site names, .com.au, .com, and I think back to au, and each time we usually have to clean out our memory for all time which means re-logging all the site we use, and if people haven't kept their passwords from sometines years ago, in separate files, that deletion can be a big issue for them. Go through is several times and they will drop off.

 

[horsefeathers]

2 hours ago, Admin said:

Do you have any strong objections to renaming the site to Aircraft Pilots (.com)...your input is important

Respectfully, no more changes please. Increase existing "brand" recognition by any and all means, but dont go chopping and changing. 

[RFguy]

yeah leave it as rec flying !!!!

 

name change no thanks !  and CERTAINLY NOT  "aircraftpilots" no no no

 

(opinion) - glen

 

 

[FlyBoy1960]

Playing devil's advocate, you need to work out why you are only getting one new user every week whereas before you are getting several every day. Personally, I don't like all of the changes all of the time, it confuses me and being an old person I like things to be simple and the same all the time, I don't like change.  This could be why some people are not coming back again. It could be their interests have changed and they are no longer interested, it could be that they have found better platforms which do things differently. I know I discovered the few places on Facebook three or four months ago and they are also pretty good with a lot of the same people here and there as well (or at least I think they are the same by their usernames) are the Facebook sites any better than this site ?  that is an answer I cannot give because they all seem to be about the same to me although I find the Facebook feed the just give me information I want to look at and not have to go searching. Maybe it is better to follow the masses and change to Facebook but I do know that you lose control of everything from what I can see and the sooner can find a way to push advertising and monetise a platform for your group they will !   There just seems to be a lot more people on Facebook rather than the 10 or 15 names you see here every day

 

 

[gareth lacey]

I have used this forum for the last 8 years and there is a wealth of experienced people that give out good info,but i have seen a lot of the old names disappear and not much is being posted about building which is the area i am most interested in,however i do log on daily to see what is happening around Aus by rec pilots, Rec flying is what we do so i say leave it at that,but its your choice Ian

Cheers gareth

[Admin]

I think it is pretty clear that Recreational Flying it is.

 

I think you know me by now...I am always looking at ways to make the site better for everyone, so I had to ask

[old man emu]

There are no stupid questions. Only people too stupid to ask questions.

 

At least Recreational Flying allows the voices of its users to be heard on whatever topic arises.

[Hongie]

improvements are welcome. but..

 

I'm a member (and have been for 20 years) of some forums, that have had the same name the whole time. Aside from a few changes of software, usually functionality and names stay the same. Continuity is what most of us users want.

 

my 2c. Leave the name as it is, leave the forum to act as a forum, the "feed" style front page is not as useful as discrete forum categories.

[Blueadventures]

On 16/11/2020 at 11:38 AM, turboplanner said:

I think the biggest problem is the constant changes; people are dropping off with each change.

When I log on I stil see posts many years old, one being from a deceased member. Maybe there's a way to stop that, but there's no easily found "Instructions thread. You're looking at the site structure every day, but most people only have to time to have a quick look at the things that inerest them. Make that easy and people will look and stay.

 

Hi Ian  Perhaps for the good members who have left us in the member line you could edit to include the words at the start 'past'  and at end 'RIP'.

 

I and I am sure others appreciate their contributions.

 

Cheers