Idea for a new forum.

I've been away for awhile and nothing seems to have happened..........I guess this one is going nowhere.

It would have been nice if at least one of the FSM staff posted here......HINT!  

I don't think it's any secret that FSM staff members read these forums - it'd be stupid of them not to, seeing as how this is their livelihood that's being talked about on a daily basis.

That said, getting any of them to respond to a specific issue or request regarding these forums has been, in my personal experience, on the far side of impossible. I have utilized the PM feature of these forums, the Contact Us e-mails and forms from this website, and even personal letters (remember those?) to the editor of the magazine about a problem I felt strongly about.

I never received any replies to any of those communications. Not one. Ever.

That is a shame. If someone like yourself has taken the effort to do all of that then a reply in at least one type of media would be courteous.

This website is FSM's property, and its the webmasters that make the pages happen, but its forum members that keep it going. My thinking is that out of over 30,000 plus members, only a relative "handful" showed interest in the idea. 

Therefore, from the webmasters point of view its a numbers game and not enough poeple want the new forum. Well, we tried.........

Mind you, next time there's a flame war over criticism, we will be able to say "I told you so..."

Thanks to everyone who expressed their point of view, it was an interesting debate and its a shame that we could'nt get more people talking about it.

TANGO 1 wrote:

My thinking is that out of over 30,000 plus members, only a relative "handful" showed interest in the idea.

...but the "relative handful" of people that showed interest in the idea are the "relative handful" of members who post things to the forum out of those 30.000 members! I am probably understimating the count but there are probably only several dozen members(at least here on the aircraft forum) that actually post things here. The FSM gurus should listen to the people that post things here and have something to say rather than the 29,950(estimation here!) members who do not speak up. I have contacted the web wizards about issues with the pages and they just responded with a "We can not do that now". Maybe it is too much work for them to add a simple forum. (Or maybe it is harder than I think-NOT!!!!!!!!!)

Chris 

Critical feedback can be achieved through the topics already instated on the FSM forums. If you build an aircraft, go to the aircraft forum, post your picture, and request feedback, then, you'll not only the desired feedback, you'll be getting it from others with similar interests. Same goes for armor, ships, autos, etc.

I already see this done. A builder posts a picture and asks for feedback, sometimes it's praise and sometimes it helpful hints for the next project. 

The inclination to help and encourage one another is what makes the FSM community great! 

Thank you, 

I'd like to read every thread on our forum, but as there are some 200,000 of them, there are some I miss.  

Here's a question, MFSOB: Who did you send private messages to? I have an archive of ALL the PMs that have been sent to me, and there are none in my archive from "MFSOB."

As to your e-mails and personal letters, perhaps you could share your actual name and e-mail address with me. I'll check my e-mail and letter files first-thing Monday morning. Clearly there's a misundestanding and I want to keep this kind of problem from happening again. 

I can be reached at editor@finescale.com, and for the record for all of you, that's the best way to reach me regarding the magazine or the website/forum.

Matthew Usher

Editor, FSM 

mfsob wrote:

I don't think it's any secret that FSM staff members read these forums - it'd be stupid of them not to, seeing as how this is their livelihood that's being talked about on a daily basis. That said, getting any of them to respond to a specific issue or request regarding these forums has been, in my personal experience, on the far side of impossible. I have utilized the PM feature of these forums, the Contact Us e-mails and forms from this website, and even personal letters (remember those?) to the editor of the magazine about a problem I felt strongly about. I never received any replies to any of those communications. Not one. Ever.

OK, the thread has been unlocked. Thanks.

The whole idea for this new forum was to bring people together and share various disciplines of our hobby.

A lot of people do not get the feedback they want or need because the overwhelming majority of members here are really very nice people who do not wish to "step on peoples toes" so the feedback they give is lets say.....restrained.

If we had one critique forum where Aircraft/Armor/Auto/Helo/Ship/Sci-Fi/Space builders could all see a finished model and offer critcism instead the usual "atta boy" comments, a lot more members would post and reply to threads on Completed models. Not everyone gets to a local model club so a critque forum would be a great resource for us.

Plus, think of the wealth of information that would be exchanged by so many modelers who not normally be on the same subject forum. This, in my opinion could only do our community good.

I hope the FSM moderators read our threads and look upon our idea favourably.

Thanks,

Darren. 

Shellback wrote:

Wow !!! A thread got unlocked !?!?

Yes.

Strange.............but true. ...........................

Now how about that Critique forum..........?

Well, you can't blame a bloke for trying!

Looks like this has'nt got much more interest here. If you happen to read this and like the idea, please post as we need as much support as possible.

Thanks.

Alright tango you convinced me, you got my support. If a seperate forum will help get honest input on a subject then I'm all for it. I for one can't beileve that some people on here will not comment on obvious errors or improvments on a persons model even when asked. In the aircraft forum that happens all too often. I understand that it's meant to work the way the mods indcated (and it may in the other forums) but it does not for the most part in the aircraft forums.  I understand that not everyone will be knowledgeable on all aircraft, But a few people who respond to post HAVE build more than one of that subject and you can't tell me that they don't see the samething I do. If a seperate forum will loosen up some of the users and enable people to get some descent useable feed back to inporve there own skills then that would only go to improve an already excellent forum. There are some very intelligent people on this forum that will not respond or point out flaws due past problems. I find this a waste of knowledge and talent.  Padding an ego is fine and sometimes needs to be done, but does nothing to improve the modelers skills.  

  Yah, call me the luftwaffe police I know some of you want to. But the bottom line is I do give a honest,knowledgable critique and do help out when I can. And yes like everyone worng sometimes too, but that is how you learn.   

I vote for a seperate forum.      

Now thats exactly what we've been talking about. Well said sir!

Luftwaffe police? I have'nt heard that one before. Still, it would be nice if you could check out some of my Luftwaffe builds. They are not great, but it would be good to learn a few tips.

I spend most of my time in the Helicopter forum and I do see a fair amount of constructive criticism there.  I also see alot of (I am quite guilty of this my self) attaboys.  If pics are posted without specifically asking for comments, most people seem to point out the strong points of the finished product.  If, however, comments are solicited, the members there are very good about helping people to improve their skills.  This is where I would post to get comments on a helicopter.  If I build an airplane, I would post for comments on the airplane forum.  The idea being that these are the subject matter experts and could provide more specific comments.

While a critiques forum would make it quite clear what a modeler is after when posting pics of their latest masterpiece, I think that the subject specific forums are the best source for critiques, just make it clear that is what you are after.  The idea does spark an idea though.  Why not have a Forums Gallery?  It should be clear that comments and advice are to be expected here but the primary goal would be to give people a place to go and see finished work.  If someone who is not currently a modeler were to come across it, it may inspire them to give modeling a try.  It would also give those who focus in one genre a place to easily admire the work of others who build different subjects and be inspired to build something a little different.

I hope that I haven't said anything that would bog this movement down.  I actually hope that this will help to put the idea in a different light for the moderators and maybe help to get it off of the ground.  I would really like to see a single forum where I could go and see finished work without having to search through threads in multiple forums to do so.  It really doesn't matter to me if it is called Critiques or Gallery.

Mac

Mac,

I like your idea! Might be more politically acceptable to our Webmaster friends as well.

LESS PEOPLE ASKED FOR A STRATCHBUILDING FORUM AND GOT IT!!

We need to be noticed! Post here! 

Drew, Marc,

thank you very much for taking the time to show support. I am no where near as good as you fella's but I too want to recieve criticism purely because its how I learn in this hobby. 

Darren-

I'm totally for it bro.  As has been so eloquently stated above, as long as people are aware that some criticism received might not always be complimentary, then it's a great idea.  I'm for it!

Thanks for your support lads!

OK......Mods....are you reading this? C'mon! You gotta realise by now that it can't do any harm to give it a go!  

Thanks Joe,

I have no problem with chatting on the forum, its something that I enjoy myself, but like you, I also enjoy serious model building as well. There is enough room here for all walks of life and all interests, so I don't see why the mods are sitting on this.

But spread the word wherever you post, the more folks that respond the better. My aim is to get this thread hundreds of replies so eventually, the mods see that the critique forum is needed around here.

I`m defiantly in favour of this idea. I`m now a very experience modeler and I could use other people`s advice.

Alain