Has WiX gone too America-Centric?

Tony · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2004 8:44 am

Just checking in after a gentle nudge from an Antipodean chum

Looking through the board, has it gone quiet compared to the old forum, and are a lot of the topics very US-centric?

Seems to be less talk about recovery and preservation too.

Just an early observation, I'll read a bit more

Hey Scott, nice colour scheme etc, tanks for the hard work u always put in

Tony

)

RMAllnutt · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:22 am

Yes, I had noticed that things have gone a lot quieter, and content has drifted more to North American interests, since the forum changed formats. I'm not sure why that is. There used to be a lot of chat about recoveries, and restorations, especially from Indiana Tony, but he never seems to post any more, which is a real shame. Anyway, it's still a great place to chat, and find out breaking news. I for one still check in several times nearly every day.

Actually, I do have some news in a sense, as I was at Kevin Smith's place yesterday, working on his Dauntless. Things are progressing pretty well. The Helldiver project has generated a lot of interest too, as I think you'll see from the article in Classic Wings. There's more on the website too. Cheers for now.

Richard

Dan K · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:23 am

Tony,

Permit me to rephrase the question: "Are many of the topics at Flypast forum too UK-centric?"

Personally, I like it here. IMO much less petty bickering than FF.

mrhenniger · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:23 am

I would suggest that the topics on WIX have developed a more North American lean in the last year or so. This same question was posed to me earlier this summer, so I have had time to think about it.

Perhaps the question we need to ask is... What can we (the regular WIX contributors and the lurkers) do to make WIX more globally inclusive?

I am not really sure how to answer that question.

A factor could be a language barrier influence. So how does someone like me (who only speaks and write english) help to bridge that gap? Not much can be done I think. I would be will to listen to suggestions.

Another factor could be geo/political awareness. I could make a remark on WIX in a purely innocent manner, but create great offense to someone else if I am not aware of the potential impact of my statements or the sensitivity of a particular issue. Over the past few years I have been on the receiving end of comments that I have considered offensive, but since I have a thick skin, and know enough to walk away and count to 10 I can recover and come back to WIX ready to contribute.

The question that has been posed here is a very good one. People will come to this community and people will go, and for various reasons. We have seen a number of people drift away, but then we have seen people join in like Mr. Setter in Australia. Maybe if we simply thank people for their postings (especially new posters), and do our best to act like diplomats from our particular region, then there is nothing more that we can do as individuals.

From a forum point of view, Scott has been doing an excellant job. We all owe him a big thanks. To get back to a specific point, perhaps we need a separate forumn for recoveries and wreck explorations? This way we can group and track such interesting and important work in this area in one place. A forum like that would become a database almost itself.

Thoughts anyone?

Mike

RMAllnutt · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:30 am

Hi Mike,
I liked what you said, it did cover a lot of points I have experienced too. One thing you mentioned though did trigger a thought though. You mentioned forming a separate forum for recoveries etc. I think perhaps part of the reason the forum has changed, and not necessarily for the better. There are so many different fora now that it is hard to keep track of each. I much preferred it when all of the topics were kept in one forum, with a few, more highly charged topics, like NavOps, and the Iraqi war were split off. I love the WIX, and think that Scott's been doing a terrific job, but I do miss the wider variety of topics being held under the one forum banner, rather than been splintered off under narrower topics in other fora. Just my tuppence worth of course.

Cheers,
Richard

mrhenniger · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:41 am

RMAllnutt wrote:

...but I do miss the wider variety of topics being held under the one forum banner, rather than been splintered off under narrower topics in other fora. Just my tuppence worth of course.

I was hoping that point would be challenged as I wasn't sure if I should raise the idea as even I am not sure if I agreed with it. I tend to agree with you. However... One thing that WIX could capitalize on gathering the knowelge about aircraft recoveries (past, present and future) in one package (a new forum).

Perhaps other forums need to be consolidated into one (the Hanger), where useful utility forums like a Wreck Recovert Database forum and WIX Gatherings be kept separate for easy reference.

Any thoughts anyone? I know I would like to hear from Scott, but he might be "away" this week.

Mike

Guest · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:44 am

Lol Richard

It's me!!!!!!

Just an observation on what was going on, still chasing rumours and other bits, nice chunky rumour concerning a rare WW2 type somewhere in Africa , which I'm trying to get some more info on.

Maybe, the bit I miss about WiX, was the willingness ny everyone to "pitch in" what they knew about things, or more research information etc?

Anyway, glad to see you're still knocking about!

Tony

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mrhenniger · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:58 am

Great to hear from you Tony!

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe, the bit I miss about WiX, was the willingness ny everyone to "pitch in" what they knew about things, or more research information etc?

I am not so sure that isn't there. I take myself as an example. Now that I am involved with Project North Star, I now have connection "on the inside" and when I hear something that I can share I do so. However... not everyone has those connections.

I think that it is important to say "thank-you" when someone has taken the time to post a great bit of info. The power of politness and the power of the "thanks" is often under valued. At the very least it makes people feel more welcome and willing to contribute again.

Mike

Dan Johnson II · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 1:49 am **Posts:** 659

I'll offer a suggestion as to why it has become more quiet. The previous board was in some ways easier to use and easier to track the topics.

Now the board is similar to the Flypast forum.

When it was easier to negotiate and post on the old board for some reason, at least me personally, I tended to post on WIX more. Now since they are the same, I tend to gravitate to the Flypast board as there is more of an RAF flavor. While I'm from Minnesota, I'm an RAF fan.

I'm not complaining about the format here. But the ease of use on the previous WIX board made it less desireable to negotiate the Flypast forum. Now with them being similar, using the Flypast board is the same as using this one.

I hope that makes some sense. I know the mustangsmustangs board really dried up with their format change too.

Dan

Scott Rose · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2004 12:50 pm

I think the forum is more North American centric due to the majority of people that post being North American. We seem to have lost quite a few of the UK posters. I'm not sure what to do about this.

The move from the other forum was mandated not by me but by the limitations of the old forum software and the demise of the programming language used to write it. It was not supported ANYWHERE. The exsisting host was well over the space and bandwith allocation and was costing much more than my budget could afford, hitting $100 a month in some cases. I searched for a year to find a solution but there was none to be found. I chose this format not because of any overwhelming likeability but because ALL forum software is written in a similar vain.

With this software we can search posts and its easier to keep track of posts (if you've signed up). And there is the option to log you in automatically whenever you get on the forum.

I don't understand why people loved the old forum so much. I rather disliked it. It was hard to keep topics going, the search function was bad. and every 3000 messages I had to back it up and start a new one. It was very limited and people had trouble posting links and pictures. And the biggest restriction is you couldn't edit your posts.

The new forum has much more functionality and I think if people would take the time to explore and use it they would like it.

I have collpased two of the section into the hanger as they weren't seeing much use and only served to distract.

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2004 1:03 pm

I would agree Scott about that style forum. Planes of Fame still uses it and so does the HAG (if I remember correctly I only stumbled on this site once or twice before the change.) Topic get lost or die way too fast if they aren't brought up to the top when added too.

I also wish that the Restoration section was used more and news about finds or “treasure hunts”. Plus I love to hear what is going on in England, Europe and Down under. So please stay and keep the info coming. I also wish I was an insider with such things to add to the forum, But I’m not, just a buff that will travel 12 hours to see that same warbirds I saw last year and in many cases a month ago.

Guest · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2004 1:03 pm

Scott WRG Editor wrote:

I think the forum is more North American centric due to the majority of people that post being North American. We seem to have lost quite a few of the UK posters. I'm not sure what to do about this.

The move from the other forum was mandated not by me but by the limitations of the old forum software and the demise of the programming language used to write it. It was not supported ANYWHERE. The exsisting host was well over the space and bandwith allocation and was costing much more than my budget could afford, hitting $100 a month in some cases. I searched for a year to find a solution but there was none to be found. I chose this format not because of any overwhelming likeability but because ALL forum software is written in a similar vain.

With this software we can search posts and its easier to keep track of posts (if you've signed up). And there is the option to log you in automatically whenever you get on the forum.

I don't understand why people loved the old forum so much. I rather disliked it. It was hard to keep topics going, the search function was bad. and every 3000 messages I had to back it up and start a new one. It was very limited and people had trouble posting links and pictures. And the biggest restriction is you couldn't edit your posts.

The new forum has much more functionality and I think if people would take the time to explore and use it they would like it.

I have collpased two of the section into the hanger as they weren't seeing much use and only served to distract.

I don't know if it was loved the old forum so much, as we were used to it and it seemed easier. My point at least, was that made it easier to hit the WIX forum and more of an effort to navigate Flypast, for example.

Dan

RMAllnutt · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2004 1:17 pm

Hi Scott,
I really hope that you didn't take my comments as criticism. This site is one of the very few I really love, and I have met so many interesting people through it, as well as learned a hell of a lot too! I don't doubt that it takes tremendous time and effort (as well as cash) to keep going too, so please accept my heartfelt thanks that this site is even available, let alone how much you have put into it. I was just noting some of the changes. One of my favourite attributes of the new systme is that a topic doesn't die off quickly, and can be bumped forwards. However, I guess I did like it when the WIX was a more all-encompassing forum, rather than being split into more venues. I think the real reason for this is that more people visit the one space, and when they see a topic that they might otherwise have missed, if it were on another forum, they post a comment. That's by no means a criticism, just an observation. Keep it coming Scott... Thanks very much again for your efforts!

Richard

PS. Tony.... great to see you back here again!!! I wondered if it was you when I re-visited the thread and saw "Tony" on the by-line.

Mike · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am **Posts:** 3333

One of the disadvantages of the software used by this board, from a personal point of view, is the difficulty of posting photographs. Here is where the FlyPast board wins hands-down, with its ease of posting photos as attachments, which leads to an unrivalled, up-to-the -minute photographic coverage of significant warbird events, certainly from across Europe, and from the Antipodes too.

I too have noticed the drop-off in postings from the UK and Europe over the past year or two, and a change in emphasis away from wreck recovery, leading to a much more North American-centred feel to this board developing than had previously been the case.

Warhawk · **Posted:** Mon Jul 26, 2004 4:55 pm

Being one of the "new guy's" here I'll chime in with my two cents worth. Having only been coming to this site for the past couple of months I cannot compare it with what came before. As some of you may have gathered from my very few other postings my first and truest love is ground transport, military vehicles especially. While I love warbirds and vintage planes I am not involved with any nor shall I be in the foreseeable future and I'm not flush with a great many research materials. I come here to see whats being said by those on the inside as to whats coming up next and whats been discovered on the bottom of Lake Wreckalot, too talk with folks in the know and to people just like me.

Enough rambling.

North American centric, yes I would have to agree that it is the case. I visit the Flypast forums as well and compare the two as being the world and local news. I wanna know whats going on across the pond I go the the Keymags boards. I wanna know whats going on close to home I come here.

As for the forum software, I was visting g503.com for a full year before I came here and they use the same software. No mystery about using it for me, I was already used to it when I got here. :supz:

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