Our Global Community for Experimental Canard Aircraft

[Jon Matcho]

This post addresses a variety of old, new, and recent topics and developments that I hope will help make for a great Canard Zone and overall community experience going forward. This is a discussion, so feel entirely free to throw in your 2 cents worth of feedback. Actually, please do!   
 

I am very quickly coming to the conclusion (as most people far more knowledgeable than I am who monitor the mailing lists and fora have before me - obviously I'm slower than they in recognizing reality) that commenting publicly, at least in canard specific fora, is mostly a losing proposition for folks that know what they're talking about.

I thoroughly doubt your observations are at all unique to canard-specific-anything.  The general behavior you describe is typical throughout the entire online world, even earning its own name:  online disinhibition effect
 
There are, however, some unique forces at play in our canard world (for which we may deserve our own named syndrome, although I doubt it's much different than other knowledge-oriented communities).  Here we have intelligent people with a variety of skills, accomplishments and experience desiring applause and/or to lead the pack (alpha male stuff) along with others who feel compelled to establish credibility (more alpha stuff).  This doesn't even include those who just want to build and/or fly a canard aircraft. When someone reads "offense" into a sentence fragment, all heck occasionally breaks out.  This "heck" is like a virus; contagious.  I once thought this was an 80/20 thing in terms of keeping people happy, but I now think it's more like a 5/95 scenario, where oftentimes a single malcontent goes on a "rampage" (at least that's how their posts often read, even if just a couple sentences) and will unknowingly cause community-wide damage to the general camaraderie, goodwill and appreciation that no doubt exists.  
 

...I have largely found that dealing with people on a one-to-one basis (my customers, or phone/email) is far more likely to result in positive outcomes for everyone.

Absolutely agreed.  That's why the meet and greets at fly-ins are so much fun.
 

I can't tell you the number of folks that monitor these lists that know WAY more than I do and never say a word - they just don't want to deal with the crap.

 

I think Jon is determined to control the crap and maintain a friendly tone...

As both of you already know I have sought suggestions from everyone for how to improve our overall community. In the time away from The Canard Zone, and prior to its reboot, I realized how attempting to pacify everyone was actually holding The Canard Zone back. I now think of our community as a club, where we have some very basic rules and guidelines. Everyone should appreciate the fact that we have a clubhouse at all (even if there are several loosely connected houses at the moment), along with product and service providers (which indicates a healthy market), builders, flyers, and fresh new "faces" from time to time. All are welcome and appreciated.
 

...so if people are reading and staying silent, maybe they are just "aging out".  Not me!  I post my little canard threads and pics here because (1) I enjoy it and (2) Jon controls the crap--so far.

Your posts and feedback are most appreciated Kent -- you, Marc, and many others are valued here and throughout the entire community. On behalf of The Canard Zone and its membership, thank you!

The Internet term for joining a forum and then just reading the posts is 'lurking'. All of you who are reading but not posting: Please post something, even if it's a picture (pictures are always good). I assure you there are many people out there that have far less canard knowledge who would appreciate learning from your own experiences.