Is this hobby dying in the US?

[Lil Giants]

I've seen a lot of ppl come & go over the yrs... there's just a handful that date back as far I do when this community originated on Yahoo forums in 2001... Tamiya Cowboy, Stuff, Radio Control Trucker to name a few that come to mind.

I was thinking this Spring that I haven't seen Espeefan post in a long time, sent him a PM, which it was summer before he replied to say he'd been married now for a nearly a yr & they were expecting twins this October I freaking knew it!

Something that seems to be a bit of a pattern, any of the high talent builders of past that have graced this forum with their abilities & cranked out a lot of trks in a few short yrs, they usually burn out & move on to something else, never to be seen again. For many others, one build of trk & trl is enough, and then not having anyone nearby to run with... they're gone not long after too.

Originally Posted by gismow

the reason for less actions here in the forum is how it is used, each posting costs a lot of time. Uploading pictures, writing texts, but if no response is coming or replies having one icons or 2-3 words in Facebook style, than I start to think about if my time I'm investing is good invested time.

I would agree that could be a biggie right there for the downturn in new build threads or recent updates to ongoing builds... as for myself, I see by the views with each post I make & I am content with that that ppl are interested in seeing what I am doing.


This forum is presently self sufficient, the lil bit we charge Vendors to sell their wares on here & the one minor ad banner at the top pays the bill... I haven't a clue what costs are involved for data storage ...other forums I've viewed that allow photos loaded directly are just plastered with ads with every page view & that sometimes (for me anyway with a 2 - 3mb/sec wireless connection) can be very timely to download, especially if any pages have video ads too. I sure don't want that to happen here. It's very rare I ever have trouble uploading to photobucket, maybe the difference is I use a laptop

[SmallHaul]

I agree with the comments that in general the younger generation doesn't have that much interest in physical/mechanical toys or entertainment.

The majority of my customer base are retired people. I talk with all of them and they wish they had people to operate machines with but, they have no interest in posting on an internet forum and a lot of them only use computers for watching youtube videos which is how they find me.

Also, operating rc construction equipment is a calm & relaxing hobby that seems boring to many people. The guys that come over to my house to run equipment every weekend call it their "therapy session" for the week.

I also have a group of friends that race 1/32 scale slotcars and also have many rc cars and although they are amazed with the rc construction equipment they get bored with it in about 1 hour.

So, i don't think that the people who really enjoy the rc construction hobby have any interest in forums which is a shame because it is a good way to connect with people.

[rc_farmer]

I'm still here, ain't planning on going anywhere. This hobby, as with any other venture is what one wants and make. Yes it's expensive, but i do think this hobby is starting to expand here in the US. I do hope that it continues to grow. i look forward to seeing all the new builds here and at the shows.