I have searched this site trying to report this to the moderator. Where do I send a report that this should not really be in this section. Since it is something for sale. then it should be placed in the For Sale part of RCgroups. If this is a new requirement for the Advertisers of RCgroups, is this a new feature telling us that advertisers are more important than readers or users? I ask this question because evidently magazines and sites trend toward those who pay as the normal evolution of publications in any form.

So, if some can please help get this thread posted elsewhere and where appropriate, can you please help?

Thanks,
Chris

Chris,

Skip to the bottom of this post for help on how to fix this.

This (method of advertising) was (IMHO) the reason for the "update" they did a while back. It was touted as "better" for some reason I can't recall, but I think it really came down to reformatting for increased advertising visibility. This is also why I still have the unhappy Terry the Tranny pic as my avatar, and I still browse RCG in "Classic" mode.

I had a few heated posts back and forth with JBourke about it when they made the change. I made a few suggestions. He said he'd look into it. At first, I felt like he had blown me off, but I came to realize that he didn't even need to have a dialog with me. It's his deal and he makes the rules. In hindsight, I greatly appreciate the small bit of time he took to address my specific concerns.

He's no dummy, and he's not doing this for "us." He's not just running a website, he's running the RCG brand as a business, and I think he's doing a pretty decent job of it. RCG's popularity is being leveraged for profit. Those profits come from advertising...and paid "upgrades" to RCG+. I recall a while back when search results went WAY back. Then that was cut down, with the reasoning being faster, more relevant search results, which was not a lie. I saw the writing on the wall way back then.

I "try" to look at the positives in this situation. For having to sort through a misplaced add, or blinky, seizure inducing banners, we get a place to share ideas, communicate with friends, sell our old or new stuff so we can replace it with other stuff, etc.

Though a sailplane, this is a bit of a cross posting. I wouldn't mind the advertizing so much if it were specific to the topic of that particular sub forum.


Chris, pick it up back here.

Now that there's another post, you should be able to click somewhere on my post to report it. When you do, there'll be a drop-down box to select the reason you're flagging the post. Select one of the spam variants. Also, there's a box for comments, make sure you spell out your issue with the thread as advertisement in that box, and note that you're not upset with what I have said, but the thread, in general. Otherwise, I'll get a Point. I can afford one here or there, but they don't give out gold stars for playing nice on RCG.

FWIW, if it were a ad/thread on a new DLG, I'd be totally cool with it. I've only ordered once from SoaringUSA, and they made it super simple to place an order, they alerted me to options I was not aware were available, and did it without a pushy "up-sell."

Interesting. I guess you could hand launch it if you wanted to. At over two grand it will definitely bump the Concept as the most expensive hand launch model.

Unfortunately it's span is too big to use in competition, so you'll be stuck fun flying it.

Guys-

Put this in perspective-

Bob and soaring USA has been an unbelievable supporter of DLG through raffles, and direct payments, sponsorship's etc. I mean he has always come through when Ive asked him for team support, constest support, pilot support.... and Ive always paid him full price for anything Ive purchased from him. He obviously is a paying site sponsor for RCGroups, and I would think, one of the sites best clients. Why would he open a thread on an F3J plane on an f3k forum? He probably doesnt know anything about it, other than hes already paying the site money to advertise. Is it really so offensive that one of the leading advocates of soaring in the world accidently showed up on first page? No, and no reason to get cynical about the way the world is deteriorating online.... Soaring USA (and the other shops that supply us with all our cool stuff) deserve this little thread bump im giving them, even if the post (oh my god!) broke a rule.

Still love you chris.

And the next time it happens, and the time after that? Accept it, and you'll have to keep accepting it.

Gerald

First of all to all the complainers, get a grip. This is part of RcG now, get used to it, sometimes I see things I don't agree with, but more often than not it gets me looking at something that I might not otherwise see, ALL parts of the RC hobby are great, lighten up and relax. And SoaringUSA is a great company and sponsors a heck of a lot of Sailplane stuff.

Take this one up with Jim himself. The moderators won't be any help and its clear the OP wasn't started by Soaring USA.

Originally Posted by Thermaln2

I have searched this site trying to report this to the moderator. Where do I send a report that this should not really be in this section. Since it is something for sale. then it should be placed in the For Sale part of RCgroups.

Chris, if something looks free, then you are the product. If you don't like it, stop using your RCG account...and your Facebook account...and online search engines...and ALL your free email accounts.

Originally Posted by Thermaln2

is this a new feature telling us that advertisers are more important than readers or users?

Not at all! We users are a critical component here. The advertisers pay so we don't have to pay. They subsidize our free use of this forum. This is a good thing for us. In economics, we call this a two-sided market. (I provided a link to Wikipedia somewhat out of irony. Wikipedia is one of the few "high-value" sites left that are still free...and they are constantly trying to raise funds without having to resort to advertisers, and they struggle to do so. I don't know how Wikipedia will remain truly free for long. Enough of that, back to two-sided markets.)

Why do you think Google offers their search engine for free? Because they really like us and want to be our friend? Maybe...but really they are maximizing their joint profit from providing a search engine to us and ad space to advertisers. Google really offers two products: a search engine and ad space. Our demand for the search engine is independent of the advertisers' presence, BUT our demand for a search engine is nested in the advertisers' demand for ad space. The advertisers' demand for ad space is dictated in part by the number of people using the search engine. The more users Google has, the more they can charge for ad space. Google recognizes if they offer their search engine product for free, they can attract the largest userbase possible (short of paying us to use it) and therefore can price their second product, ad space, higher making more profit from advertisers alone than charging both us and advertisers. The same holds true for RCG which offer two products: a forum where we adults can talk about toy airplanes and where advertisers can pitch us their gear.

The advertisers cross-subsidize our use of the this forum. Thank you, advertisers!
Paul AKA Oscar Martinez

maximizing their joint profit

Plenty of advertising already in the margins of this website, don't need to put this crap within the forum threads. Accept this if you want to be reading Harbor Freight, GM and Toyota adds next in your DLG threads. I will be disinclined to buy from vendors who do this in the future,

+1 Paul.

I think you nailed it.

RCG is a terrific forum provided at no charge to us. Absolutely invaluable as a source of information, support and also trading in used stuff.

As an RCG participant one can always vote with ones feet.

Frank

Originally Posted by rwait

Plenty of advertising already in the margins of this website, don't need to put this crap within the forum threads. Accept this if you want to be reading Harbor Freight, GM and Toyota adds next in your DLG threads. I will be disinclined to buy from vendors who do this in the future,

If we intentionally stop purchasing from the vendors that advertise in this forum then advertisers will not recognize an ROI for advertising, they will discontinue to advertise (i.e. cross-subsidize our use of RCG), and RCG will then cease to be free or exist all together. Perhaps RCG could offer an "ad-free" version for a monthly/annual premium? The RCG Plus status would be a nice way to implement this feature and serve as a panacea for any backlash over unwanted advertisements. If we don't want ads, then we have to pay for it. Whatever it is, we pay somehow by either patronizing the advertisers or paying a premium for access to RCG. This concept has already been used by app developers by offering two versions: paid and lite. Once we recognize there is nothing free in life, we recognize value in what we have.

....but back to the Perfection, it's one sweet plane! Sexy and sleek!

Joint profit. Dang, Finchie, I can't believe I never thought of that! I thought I was cool...but apparently I'm a dork.
Paul

As Rick said, there is already a healthy dose of advertising within the pages of RCG. There comes a point where enough is enough and it appears Jim is pushing that boundary.

I wonder how many people are now going to purchase a Pike Perfection just because they saw the advertising thread about it here in the hand launch forum? If that advertising doesn't produce any results but it drives off the content providers (us) then maybe Jim might want to consider a different approach to the advertising on his website.

I hope this is not the future direction for RCG. FYI I do browse SUSA's site occasionally on account of the banner ads.

Hugh