Konrad's departure

[Konrad]

Konrad, sorry about your dad getting injured and all the family issues. I know these things can be all-consuming at times.

Thank You. All is good. After a day or two he was up walking with a slight limp and some trepidation with regard to balance. Beyond that he is in better shape than his 60+ year old son!

Guys, Thank You for your support. But the core issue remains, Wayne sees where folks are upset with my posting behavior.

In the absents of specific examples I can't analyze the merits of these complaints. But based mainly on the responses in this thread, I see that some folks feel that unsolicited advice as a form of attack. Others see it as being highly valued in avoiding unforeseen issues. Others see that my bull dogged insistence on management being held to a higher standard as being belligerent and offensive. Others do or don't like that I frame my position in forceful terms, often black and white.

These are valid observation and concerns. But in a technical forum such as this one, ideas will be argued over to the n'th degree in an attempt to get to the "best" solution, not the only solution but the best solution. This is normal in my social economic standing, engineers and scientist. Ideas are open to detailed analysis (attack)!

As to the forum structure, I've asked for stickies on a few topics. But for reasons I don't understand these have not materialized. I'd really like to see Aloft's fantastic graphic as to what differentiates FrSky's RF firmware protocols (ACCST (v1) (v2) & ACCeSS) from that of OpenTX's firmware be added as a sticky. Also the forum's search engine is horrible. I as a user have no control over these forum formatting issues. So I keep regurgitating the same info.

I'd like to see a notice placed on a thread where vendor/designer threads are highlighted. Wayne has removed some of my long running posts where I for example critique Johnathan Well's new offering. That thread was posted to inform us of his new product and to generate interest. My posting my findings and concerns were inappropriate in a vendor thread. These should have been saved for my own build thread. If I had known who Well's was and that this was a vendor thread I wouldn't have "attacked" his offerings in his thread.

Now the only education I claim to have, is that I graduated from the School of Hard Knocks with honors! I'm sure most here are of a higher intelligence than I. Having scored ridiculously high in the IQ test when I first came to the states, I can say I that I don't place much if any validity to the test results. (50 years later the methodology might have changed). Now I don't like people, so this might put me on the spectrum.

All the best,
Konrad

 

[Wayne]

I feel like I need to explain my basic duties for this forum.

• I do my best to make this a friendly and positive place to discuss subjects for the hobby.
• I try to keep threads on topic.
• I try not to delete or edit messages, but will to maintain the points above.

I do my best to be be hands off and let the site self manage, and only attempt management when I feel things are getting out of hand.

My days are spread very thin with my duties at Aloft, but I still try to read all messages on the forum and try to answer many questions here with an accurate answer. It all takes time. When suggested that I do pinned threads on given subjects, etc, I agree, but it is a matter of time to do them, that is my failing, I simply do not have the time. I wish my only job was this forum, but I need to keep Aloft moving forward.

When I see someone I know or someone I invited coming onto the forum and posting here and not having a good experience, it really bothers me. When I get emails, customer visits and private messages on this or other forums complaining about a given user, I know things are getting out of hand and I better take a closer look. Sadly this has been the case with Konrad over and over. Yes, he means well, but he really does upset folks on a regular basis, typically every 2 weeks. His delivery can be harsh, even though he may have the best intentions. Perhaps Konrad will share with you how much time I have spent contacting him or talking with him in person to try to guide better behaviour. I do this because I know him well, and I value his content he shares, but I generally like him and consider him part of the Aloft Family, I want to see him improve his delivery, that is all.

The other issue:
I have heard from a few people that thought Konrad was an employee. Konrad has never been employed by Aloft. This was another issue I am very concerned with. Some folks were thankful for him, and some were letting me know they did not care for his feedback. Konrad has posted on this forum that he does not work for Aloft, so he is aware of this misconception.

Konrad is very aware of my efforts to help him improve. He is very aware of my desires for this forum (and he has helped a great deal in building this forum). I could have simply banned him like many other forums, but I really only ban SPAMMERS, and Konrad is no spammer!

I hope I am not the bad guy here, like Konrad I have the best intentions.

 

[Txmustangflyer]

If I may inject,
Wayne, you do a heck of a job as one of the main "faces" we see at Aloft here, so, bear in mind that my previous comment, and this one are in no way, shape, or form, an attack on you, or anyone, at Aloft.
I've had a post removed as too political, ok. I've had another one edited to remove friendly jibes at another member, also ok with it. Those jibes, apparently, offended someone so be it.
However, if there are valid concerns over a product, some rules need to be abided by. Wayne and staff are very good about answering pm's about concerns with the products they sell.
So, if there is a structural concern a. Do a build thread and address those in the build, or b. Pm Wayne or another member of his staff or however they prefer to be contacted. Then they can address it with the designer or manufacturer. This keeps them on friendly terms with their suppliers.

That being said, if someone here comes looking for help, remember, those that are trying to help will be succinct, factual and it may come across as abrupt. Even from Aloft staff it may just be a single sentence and a link. We cannot be thin skinned when looking for solutions that work.
A "you did that incorrectly", or a "that's not strong enough" is not a personal attack. They are pointing something out you want to address.
Wayne has been on point, very fast, and very short responses to some of my questions, even if it's just a terminology correction (Wayne....daisy chain lol) It's all good, I didn't get upset. My terminology was incorrect in how it was used.
This hobby, on its many forms is about pushing our knowledge, our skills as rc'ers, builders, and designers. In the quest for factual information, emotions need to be left at the door.
There's a bunch of intelligent people in this forum, Konrad included, who are doing some of the best, scratchbuilt work I've seen anywhere.
Even to sanding blocks (Doc) they show their prowess in creating things that will work better, by miles, over anything you could buy.
These are the guys you want here so when you run into a snag, can't figure a way through it, you get help, to the point, not convoluted, boom, it's done. I like Konrad's posts for that reason. Doc's and Wayne's too. Some still leave me head scratching, but they'll further explain when they can.
Just my .02

 

[Wayne]

Yeah sorry, I will typically kill political comments as I think we all get enough of that from the rest of the world these days. I also try to keep threads on topic and will occasionally remove off topic posts in a thread especially if it is a thread we are driving people to for information. For example if the thread is about setting up a complex receiver, but there is a conversation about dogs, I will probably clean out the dog comments. I like to keep a strong signal to noise ratio. The General Discussion area is the best place for the non-RC subjects.

 

[Konrad]

Guys Wayne is NOT the bad guy here! He is seeing the forum stagnate. As I'm a large part of this forum (20%) it is logical to look at me as a place for improvement.

He has asked valuable members of the hobby community to contribute only to hear them complain. While he hasn't named names I can think of 2 maybe 3 members where my initial interaction could be seen as less than welcoming. Johnathan Wells with his introduction of the Magnus. (Again, if I had known he was the designer and that the thread was a product introduction thread, I'd 'attacked' things differently).

And then recently Mike B, his first posts were to ask for an ersky forum heading. Not knowing who Mike was and his contribution to the RC community I questioned the need for a separate forum heading as I had never seen this OS. I didn't want to see these forum headings looking like an index in the back of a book. While I think there are only 2 threads under that heading validates my concern for the forum structure. The contributions that ersky and Mike have made to the RC community are far far greater than the thread count would indicate. My comments as to questioning the need for a separate forum heading could be read as a form of discounting the contribution of ersky and Mike's efforts. Again that wasn't my intension, rather I wanted to keep the Forum headings a bit more inclusive and not as fragmented, as we see in other forum sites.

I think fragmented forum headings leads to silos mentalities. I like to see broader inclusive forum topic headings. I for one learn a lot by reading other topics. I often pick up on these topics by scanning the first page under a forum heading. Now I did ask for a separate forum heading to differentiate between electric powered aircraft and electronic (servos, RF, batteries etc.) issues.

Also my distain for false narratives often results in an adversarial atmosphere. My concern is that false reality can lead to me having to pay more for product and services. So I appear to hit this a bit hard. Did I need to address these? No. But think how much different our society would be if the false narrative of our political leaders was addressed head on earlier. Aloft (Wayne) as a customer first organization, won't make the bad customer feel uncomfortable. I as a paying customer will. Some examples are: How About It Wayne, Retailer's Responsibility and the microPro 8000 .

In that micropro thread, Wayne felt I was attacking the new poster. By my read that was not the case. I was countering his assertion that the microPro was the best radio ever made. This was an attack of the great products Wayne sells today. We later learned that he had racist views about Japanese products and that his assertion had nothing to do with technical merit. I dropped any further discussion. But Wayne, in my talks with him, labeled me as the aggressor, even though I never attack him or his time management skills.

Wayne also feels that my rapid response to posts hinders the growth of the community base. He would like me to allow other a chance to respond first. I see his point, but my counter to that is I feel that if too time passes guys will often go down the wrong rabbit hole and make things worse waiting for a learned response to a technical question. Now what is too much time is open to debate. He felt this was such an issue as to put my account under an hour timer between any thread action.

To Wayne's comment, he has spent over 2 hours in face to face discussion with me over 3 sit down session. I also have receive notices of moderator action every 3 or so months. Many of these notices are for topic violations. While I understand he can't spend too much time policing the forum I feel I get these sanctions at a much higher rate than warranted. Like what does a cabin in the woods have to do with this thread? Then again it just might have to do with my volume (20% forum content).

For the last 2 years Wayne and I have been coming to the end of our rope. I think he wants to build a community and I a place to find reference materials and guidance in a timely manner. I'm not sure how my actions undermine the over all community aspect. But as there is some friction here, it is best that I curtail my activities and allow the forum to develop as Wayne sees fit.

All the best,
Konrad

P.S.
Thank you Hank GB Z and Wayne for this thread and allowing me to try to explain my position.

 

[Joe Garfield]

I wonder if something like a "community sub-forum" and "deep technical sub-forum" could work? I understand the point Konrad made about the two different approaches to this forum. I see the community thing, which is great, but also feel that I need to restrain from digging in too deep on technical details, which doesn't make sense since half of the stuff we're talking about is at the forefront of technology in our hobby.

 

[Txmustangflyer]

I wonder if something like a "community sub-forum" and "deep technical sub-forum" could work? I understand the point Konrad made about the two different approaches to this forum. I see the community thing, which is great, but also feel that I need to restrain from digging in too deep on technical details, which doesn't make sense since half of the stuff we're talking about is at the forefront of technology in our hobby.

Well, for those of you who have high amounts of technical training, you can dig deep. But for those of us with just high school educations...well...we'd be breaking out dictionaries, thesaurus, quitting our jobs and enrolling in college just to try to understand.
Things that are common terminology for you leaves us googling our butts off for hours to try to digest the info.
I have to include Wayne, Konrad, you and a few others in this, but, it's not wrong, just over my head sometimes. I get the gist, just not the substance.
I don't take it as an insult. I fully recognize I am dealing with people much more intelligent than I am, who also have highly technical backgrounds, but it doesn't dissuade me from trying to interact to gain understanding for myself.
To others, they see it, in some way, as they are being spoken down to, and therein lies the error. None of you are doing it on purpose, nor do you mean any ill intent. You are speaking, and typing, how you normally interact on a day to day basis with the people you normally interact with.
I've been out of this hobby for 8 years. I'd just barely heard of Frsky or Freesky back then. We were all using futaba or spectrum dx. Frsky was for them fancy planes the 3d aerobatics guys, not scale warbirds.
Now, it's different. Models are more complex, telemetry benefits, etc. It's a new world almost and I'm having to relearn every aspect of it. HV servos were 200 to 300 bucks back then, an Now, they are considered the norm. Battery technology has evolved. Lipo was the hot battery to have at the field, now we have LiFE, and trying to figure out what's compatible with an ignition that's basically been around since the 99s that still uses Dean's connectors, vs LiFE...I feel like I'm drowning with it all at times so y'all see some really basic questions from me trying to close that gap.
As long as you can stomach me asking those questions, I can stomach the technical. If you lose me, I'll say so. Everyone else should be the same.

Different strokes for different folks. We just have to try to be a bit understanding.

 

[HENNY]

Different strokes for different folks. We just have to try to be a bit understanding.

Well you are correct but, if you want to confront it you will never stop learning.

 

[Txmustangflyer]

Well you are correct but, if you want to confront it you will never stop learning.

It's not confrontation when you allow for different intellects and understand, to some degree, how minds like my grandson's and Konrad's work. Their brains are in warp drive all the time.

 

[Kentish]

I only ever had help from Konrad.
I’ll miss him. Shame!

 

[Txmustangflyer]

He's back after overwhelming support.

 

[Konrad]

I don't mean to be a contrarian (thanks Hank GB Z), but now that I'm back in the S.F. Bay area with my normal distraction, I'll have to do as Wayne wishes and let the forum develop without much input from me. Wayne and I both have the same goal, in that we hope you all get the best hobby experience from both this forum and your hobby dollars.

I'll still stop by from time to time if there is reason. Such as a call out directed to me with the @Konrad notice. I'll also try to check the PM section.

I'd like to thank all those for their candor and support, really appreciate it.

All the best,
Konrad

 

[Txmustangflyer]

I don't mean to be a contrarian (thanks Hank GB Z), but now that I'm back in the S.F. Bay area with my normal distraction, I'll have to do as Wayne wishes and let the forum develop without much input from me. Wayne and I both have the same goal, in that we hope you all get the best hobby experience from both this forum and your hobby dollars.

I'll still stop by from time to time if there is reason. Such as a call out directed to me with the @Konrad notice. I'll also try to check the PM section.

I'd like to thank all those for their candor and support, really appreciate it.

All the best,
Konrad

Konrad, please stop in on my build thread regularly. If I get stuck, I'll need it. Lol

 

[Hank GB Z]

Konrad, et al.

Well i know i started this whole thing then didn't say much else. But i'm glad it seems everybody has aired their piece and that there is more understanding of where people are coming from and what the goal of all this is, to share information to increase the chances of success, and there by have more fun.

I'll try to post more as well, helps share that information i have buried up in my noggin. It seems only fare since i learn something almost every time i come on to this forum (Other forums not named i don't learn so much, hard to read through the advertising).

Hank

 

[Wayne]

@Konrad - I never asked you to leave. You are welcome here. Just use a little moderation at times.

 

[Konrad]

Wayne, You did not ask me to leave. Nor have you banned my account. I thought I made it clear that this is a self imposed exile

From my perspective I have been exercising great constraint and moderation. And that is the crux of our friction here on the forum.

By now I think that a certain radio manufacture should by now have a robust QC/QC program embedded into their culture. ( I wish they had/would learn from their dealer network as to the issues that drive customer dissatisfaction) On the hardware side you as their dealer have gone above and beyond addressing my concerns, warranty or customer induced issues. On the software side I see no improvement in the original as released SW/FW.

I know I'm also a pain in the belief system of many on the internet. That is objective data trumps personal (even mine) and subjective data. I'm also loath to place much importance or read much into what I see on You Tube videos. Again this critical thinking is often at odds with today's internet mentality.

Some of your comments to and in support of some of our valued forum members has made it painfully clear that 'MY' perspective is not currently valued. As it often takes me an inordinate amount of time to write, draw and annotate documents in support of my position. It has become clear that it is not worth it to me to go through these efforts only to get spanked.

You and I have the same goals for the membership of this forum. I just think that at this time the way we accomplish this are a bit at odds with each other. This is your site, I think it is best that I give it time to develop in the direction I think you would wish it to go. Maybe after a while, we will have enough input from other to balance my hard hitting take on the merits of what I see as being core problems with the products and services we use.

All the best,
Konrad

 

[Txmustangflyer]

Wayne, You did not ask me to leave. Nor have you banned my account. I thought I made it clear that this is a self imposed exile

From my perspective I have been exercising great constraint and moderation. And that is the crux of our friction here on the forum.

By now I think that a certain radio manufacture should by now have a robust QC/QC program embedded into their culture. ( I wish they had/would learn from their dealer network as to the issues that drive customer dissatisfaction) On the hardware side you as their dealer have gone above and beyond addressing my concerns, warranty or customer induced issues. On the software side I see no improvement in the original as released SW/FW.

I know I'm also a pain in the belief system of many on the internet. That is objective data trumps personal (even mine) and subjective data. I'm also loath to place much importance or read much into what I see on You Tube videos. Again this critical thinking is often at odds with today's internet mentality.

Some of your comments to and in support of some of our valued forum members has made it painfully clear that 'MY' perspective is not currently valued. As it often takes me an inordinate amount of time to write, draw and annotate documents in support of my position. It has become clear that it is not worth it to me to go through these efforts only to get spanked.

You and I have the same goals for the membership of this forum. I just think that at this time the way we accomplish this are a bit at odds with each other. This is your site, I think it is best that I give it time to develop in the direction I think you would wish it to go. Maybe after a while, we will have enough input from other to balance my hard hitting take on the merits of what I see as being core problems with the products and services we use.

All the best,
Konrad

Konrad,
1. Your objectivity is not only desired, but required, when how-to discussions happen.
2. I have never been offended by your posts, they are factual, to the point. When you post an opinion it's based on your personal experience in rc, etc. I understand that as well.
3. I've been out of this hobby for 8 years. Wayne and his crew are great, but he also has a business to run, just like you have your career.
I can't just rely on Wayne and crew to help close that 8 year gap. I need all of you to help me when I get stuck so don't you be doing no self imposed exile. I'll come get you drunk and take pictures of you running nekjid down your street to blackmail you into staying if it comes to it. (That is totally a joke btw)
Look, the people you may, or may not have, upset I'm sure have moved past it.
I'm sure most of you think I'm bonkers in some of the stuff I ask, or have posted in my build thread here. There's going to be some complicated (for me) stuff I have to get through with it.
Your experience, and the thought you put behind responses (just look at the fuel proofer thread, even when it went off topic a little) convinced me that Klass Kote was going to be the way to go for my mustang firewall and electronics bay.
You were too the point, factual and gave a generalized, but concise, answer on material type.
No offense Wayne, don't take any please, but, you have customers calling, emailing, asking for modifications to switches, (wait...that was me) doing 2 to 3 orders some days...(that was me too...sorry) and generally asking questions because sometimes manuals just use them fancy 4 syllable words and us Texas rednecks ain't that edumacated.
Seriously, I do have some complicated things I haven't ever done before..messing with CF mat, epoxy, CF plate to try to make a part that does not exist...so yeah...having a Konrad, a Wayne, a Jarron, a Hank and so on will not just be helpful, but insure my success.
So..don't make me drag you screaming into my insanity...come nice and willing and it's all good lol.
Everybody just remember..this is supposed to be fun. Personalities aside. We share a common ground. We like busting holes through the air in various methods. Be it a warbird gasser, a spindly glider, heli's, control line, or pylon racers at all scales.
Yeah, there will occasionally be sparks. There always is when the goal is common, but the paths and experiences are different. When the sparks fly, breathe, think, set emotion aside, and explain further.

 

[Doc James Hammond]

Being an engineer, Konrad, your knowledge is invaluable to us members of the uneducated masses. (I include myself in that mix, I don't even think doc really likes me, and Wayne probably thinks I'm a PITA)

Wot?

Just saw this. Actually Tex I like you a lot.

An honest man, with some honest questions looking for some honest answers? Whats not to like? Personally if I happen to have said honest answers then I'm really happy to impart them.

We are (or should be) a community of hobbyists, big boys with expensive toys and with the sacred and shared goal of having good old plain ordinary fun. We are all equals I that respect, and so sharing and being helpful to each other should be a major pillar of that community. This tenet is a principle for me; I know it is for Wayne and Konrad, and many if not most others on this forum, and it should be for all of us.

And note that I say this, despite being taller, more muscular, infinitely more handsome and much more intelligent than all of you...Heck, when I void gas it smells like roses.

Doc.

 

[Txmustangflyer]

Now we need hip waders...Wayne..fire up the printer lol