danielhv

danielhv

Well Known Member
Are there any? I have noticed some ppl posting messages that are working on their finishing kit and only have like 3 posts... Are they getting hands on help or is there somewhere else they are turning to? VAF is a GREAT community, and I will never leave here, just trying to learn all I can!
 
There actually a number of RV Yahoo groups still active, and a few other sites that folks frequent. One of the really incredible thing about the RV community is that, in fact, it is a network of communities. It is interesting to run into groups of RV'ers that clearly have a vibrant community going in their area, yet only have a passing knowledge of VAF. People drop in from one community to the next, cross-pollinating ideas and culture along the way. I think that it keeps things fresh and interesting. I tend to spend most of my online time on VAF because I like the friendly, non-adversarial nature of the forums, and quite frankly, I like the software - posting pictures is easy, the database is huge (and always growing), and the search engine seems to work pretty well for me. But I also help to tend a Yahoo group for GRT EFIS owners, and check in on the old Yahoo RV-8 group as well. We also have a Houston Area RV Builder's yahoo group.

I had actually been thinking about this topic recently – the fact that the RV community is made up of discrete, strong communities, some of which don’t know about each other – and that VAF is kind of like the corner coffee shop we go to find out what is going on in the rest of the world. Many people's primary "allegiance" is to their local community, while they maintain a larger view of the picture by stopping in here. (Oh, Oh, VAF is like the Federation of Planets, and all of the other communities are like planets and, and….SOCAL are the Vulcans, and…..) :)
 
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(Oh, Oh, VAF is like the Federation of Planets, and all of the other communities are like planets and, and….SOCAL are the Vulcans, and…..)


RLOL - so right about SOCAL!
 
Ironflight said:
And being a space flight engineer, I sincerely mean that as a COMPLIMENT (to SOCAL)!!
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As i'm a computer engineer with friends in SOCAL, I didn't think you or I were meaning anything but a compliment. It just fits so many of my friends from CA, but I never thought about it before. :)
 
danielhv said:
Are there any? I have noticed some ppl posting messages that are working on their finishing kit and only have like 3 posts... Are they getting hands on help or is there somewhere else they are turning to? VAF is a GREAT community, and I will never leave here, just trying to learn all I can!
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I have some links on this old dog.

but here's the thing I noodle on from time to time that I've wanted to write a piece about and never have...

A lot of people -- a LOT of people -- build RVs without being online... very much.

The one thing about online communities is after awhile, we tend to come to think that the online RV community is about the same as the RV building community. Then you'll see a couple of RVs featured in "What Our Members Are Building" in Sport Aviation and you'll say, "hmmmm, that's a name I don't recognize."

And you'll go to Oshkosh and browse the RV corral and say the same thing, and pretty soon you realize that an awful lot of folks are either not online folks or, if they are online, they're not posters. They might be lurkers.

and as you travel from site to site, you begin to see the same names and pretty soon you realize that there may only be about 50-100 folks who post regularly, and the other gazillion read but don't post or aren't online.

This is one of the reasons I'm anxious to finish my RV (if it weren't for that money thing). I envision flying somewhere, finding airports and dropping down to see who's there.

We refer to the "RV community" as everyone building or flying an RV. doug has done a fabulous job organizing it. But I think overall we've just scratched the surface.
 
Bob Collins said:
...The one thing about online communities is after awhile, we tend to come to think that the online RV community is about the same as the RV building community.
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Guilty.

I spend my day writing code, managing databases, e-mail, and DNS systems. My friends are in similar venues, so I tend to assume everyone sees the world like me - through a 1440x900 pixel viewport.
 
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