Alright, I'll bite. I usually write up a report of my airplane-based hunts at the end of each season, but I didn't do so this year. I'll admit that I don't feel like I have much to contribute as far as the more technical discussions. I'm a low hour pilot and don't have the knowledge or skills that many here do - in short, I'm more here to learn than to offer assistance.

But I can offer hunting stories and, on occasion, backcountry skiing airplane porn. More of that to come in February and March, hopefully. In the meantime, there's a new story and lots of pictures in the hunting forum.

I'm all ears for the hunting stories!

contactflying wrote:Your 175 should do fine there. The paved road by the pivot should do well until then. The 175 wing sits up a bit higher and goes over road signs well.

The road is gravel with a power line along side it, and crossing the road on the left edge of that picture. The dark strip closer to the pivot is an irrigation canal- it’d be a bad deal to land there.

Though it’s allowed in some adjacent counties, there’s an ordinance against landing planes on county roads here, so that pretty well eliminates any paved roads nearby.

BigBen wrote:....so I come here, read some, and dream. I think I can make 2,100’ of dirt airstrip near my house. That would be fun and maybe give me something to post about.

You live in an absolute BCplane playground. Keep reading, dreaming and aiming for it. That 175 isn't going to need 2,100' anyway

Take care, Rob

I love this website - have always learned a ton.

As I mentioned in another thread - I'd love a dedicated place on BCP to talk about Beavers. Like a Beaver Section. I'd post a lot there.

nickelb wrote:I love this website - have always learned a ton.

As I mentioned in another thread - I'd love a dedicated place on BCP to talk about Beavers. Like a Beaver Section. I'd post a lot there.

Thanks. If you really want a type-specific subforum for a particular bird, I will add it. I’d love to see beaver talk here.

Our “groups” feature is admittedly an inferior UX to the forum. The only advantage was being able to join/subscribe.

I’m on the hunt for a better software package that does all this better.

The BCP site has an "aircraft types" forum, I'm not trying to be obtuse but I see that a suitable. Otherwise isn't there a risk of "diluting" the conversations and polarizing of the site in general.

I'm definitely a consumer here with the rare opportunity to actually contribute novel material. A consumer, mostly, because I don't get to fly as often as I'd like, especially when real-life activities like work get in the way. (It's also winter here which limits flying opportunities...) I relish the chances I DO get to contribute but I'm mostly still a learner and a dreamer; if I can learn from people who have gone before, I'm pretty happy and this forums (and other GA-related forums) is great for that. The dreamer part, where I dream about owning my own "jack of all trades" plane? Yeah, this site is good for that, too.

I had an interesting and maybe relevant experience recently. Zane had emailed me that my annual subscription had been kicked back (different CC#) and that he understood if I didn’t want to renew it. I wrote back and said I didn’t want to because of the snarky responses that I’d been seeing (also why I hadn’t been posting anything). He wrote back and asked for examples. I responded with “No problem. There’ve been many.” And went to find those examples. I looked for about four days and came up almost empty. I renewed my annual donation.
I’m fairly sure I’d crossed up this site and other sites and other negative responses I’d seen, and formed a vague, negative impression that ultimately didn’t hold up to scrutiny. I also think that was an awesome eye opener for me on what is happening in a LOT of ways all over the Internet and the world. Our internal ability to make just about anything make sense, when using vague info, is pretty amazing. I read this site every day and truly enjoy it and, even if I have to read Jim’s posts five times to understand what he is saying, still look forward to them and everybody else’s as well.

Questions are an extremely valuable contribution. If we don't know, we should ask. If we think we know, we (and others) should question why we do what we do or teach what we teach. If Curtis didn't question the Write brother's wing warping, we might never have had ailerons. By asking constructive questions, we contribute to progress.

FlyingZebra, I taught or subbed public high school many years. The trick is to let snarky responses go right over the top. Respond to the responsible and don't worry about the rest.

flyingzebra wrote:IHe wrote back and asked for examples.

Was looking for who needed to get booted.

I gotta say that BCP 3.0 (or wherever we're at now) is humping right along... I'm really enjoying the revitalization. If you missed this thread the first time, give it a read and join in the scrum.

Good thread. More sharing, less judging.

When you need help or advice, it’s been awesome place to come ask for it. Tons of knowledge. When one is posting for help or advice, the poster is asking for contribution. The contributor’s are commentators in this scenario.

The other content we seek are stories, flying videos, or a peak into someone else’s experiences if you will. Quality content like this is hard to come by, because it takes time to produce. If it’s a story, you have to take the time to really write it well so that it gives the full effect to readers. If it’s a video, you have to not only live the story, but film it, and then compile the footage in a way that’s watchable. Neither of these are simple tasks, they take time and dedication. In this example, 99% of the time, the contributor is indeed the original poster.

I was first brought to BCP because someone had a similar question that I did. So, Google’s search engine result popped up someone’s answer from a BCP post. Whether or not it was the first time I was brought to the website or a subsequent time, I eventually left the forum post I was reading to seek more content on the page. However, the content I was seeking was most likely not related to my original question. That’s when things like Trip Reports and Features start to shine. New users like this stuff. It gives them interesting things to read. However, when they go read about someone’s experiences in a TR and then see examples of toxic or overbearing replies, it disinterests them from wanting to share their experiences.

At the base of the matter, forums can be good for sharing experiences and for answering people’s questions. If it’s only decent for one, then it’s only half utilized. Bush flying isn’t a huge community to begin with, not to
mention, there are several variations in online communities. BCP, Supercub.org, Facebook groups, YouTube, Reddit, etc. Supercub.org has a ton of good content and an active community, Facebook groups gives plenty of insight into local happenings, YouTube provides the videos, and Reddit is where people go to ask the dumb questions, so we have think about where BCP sits in all of this.

What role does BCP fill for you which you don’t get from the other groups? I certainly don’t feel comfortable posting my experiences on Facebook, so BCP provides a slight anonymity aspect. Supercub.org’s website is prehistoric ugly and hurts my eyes to look at, so BCP has a leg up there. Reddit doesn’t provide the detailed knowledge you need with our old planes. The video content I search for isn’t as available on YouTube as I’d like, not enough creators. I think it’s people who realize all these things that keep going back to BCP. It has the making for something good, but can’t quite maintain the consistency.

If the content isn’t there, will only those who need answers and those who have nothing better to do but to answer those questions be the one’s coming to the site?

Fine, fine, consider this my second post. First one was 5 years ago when I was buying a 182D and found this site with a wealth of information. I didn't end up buying the plane as the pre-buy inspection found a bit more than I had fun-tickets to compensate for but I've lurked pretty well ever since. Maybe this is the year to fix that.

I've been flying more, and posting less... Conscious decision. I managed to fly almost 320 hours last year on top of a full time non-pilot job. It's been a long winter and looking forward to spring and summer flying. Loving the highs and learning from the lows.

Love and tailwinds and all that shiite.

I enjoy the site. It is amazing how often I will search on google and BCP will have the answer I am looking for. Or at least a conversation about what I was looking into. I tend to look around at what people are doing and leave. I dont have much to add to most things. I have worked on 3 project planes and done a few trips, but I figure people dont want to see the same people posting the same stuff. There is always the concern someone will say - you cant do that, is someone signing off on that. A while back people were whining contact flying was posting the same stuff over and over and saying it a different way each time, who cares. if you dont wanna see it, dont click on it.

Ken