Back in 1995 I started up a little site called RcWarships.com. My intention was to "spread the word" about Big Gun combat, and perhaps, eventually, maybe, some small gun stuff. I retired from that many years ago, but held on to the name. Lately, due in HUGE part to THIS site, I am getting interested I'm the hobby once more. Now, I might not have a ship for some time, but I have since those days I have developed some web site abilities, and the thought is bugging me.... Why not put the old site into refit mode and launch again? I have blog, forum, social networking and chat experience with a few other sites, and the ideas rolled in. I think I'd like to get RcWarships updated to this century, and add a couple features. I don't think I'd add a forum, because this site does that quite well. But I thought it would be cool to have group chats, like sitting around the table and hashing things over - real time. Chat allows people to "talk" without refreshing threads. Also, a FaceBook style area without FaceBook's overhead would be nice. What I would like to ask you all here is, do you think such features would be useful to you? Is there room for that in the hobby, which I have been away from for so long? Being as RcWarships used to be the "portal", and promoted everyone before there was an everyone, would you like to see that old ship sail again? Can you think of other missions that could be taken up? And lastly, would anyone be rather ticked to see it rise from the deep? There was contention between clubs, rule sets, visions for the future back when I got out. I'm not sure those exist anymore, at least I don't see them right now. How could such a site serve the hobby and the people obsessed by it?
I think the chat function could be very interesting, heck if possible make it video chat compatible so a more experience guy can ut the camera on his ship and talk a new guy through what ever portion of the hobby he is attempting to describe. That would be cool but would it take away from this forum? The more positive exposure for this hobby the better. Anything to boost our numbers or active people and clubs is always a good thing in my opinion
The old RCWarships.com website was a great resource back when I was first getting started, and the cannon designs posted there inspired a few of my own. I am not sure what role it may have nowadays though, what with the RCNC forums providing such an extensive collection of warship builds, knowledge, etc. Chats could be an interesting option, especially if they are scheduled ahead of time so interested people can know when to show up for certain topics. It would be important to have some way of sharing visual data, so we can include sketches and diagrams to help explain whatever topic is being discussed. I'm not sure what a "facebook style area" is, I haven't used my facebook account in years and never used it much to begin with. As far as visions of the future, most Big Gun clubs gave up on the concept of unification a while ago. The age-old contention between rulesets has only died down in the past few years due to apathy; every time someone has poked at that topic the age-old disagreements simply reignite. Most clubs now are just focused on growth. NABGO and Maker Faire are interesting ideas, but have not really shown the kind of growth and expansion they promised. Because cannons are not commercially available, it is almost impossible for new clubs to form and very difficult for new members to join even existing clubs. And I haven't heard much from the AusBG, so I don't know how their national club or local chapters are doing.
