Where do posters go?

On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 02:15:44 GMT, "Harry Gordon"
wrote in Message-Id:
:

someone replied and raked me over the
coals. Well, I said to myself, if that is what I am to expect, I would
rather spend my time in the books. It took a long time for me to work up the
ability to start posting again. In fact, if memory serves me correctly, it
wasn't until I finally passed my checkride that I began posting again with
regularity; and even now, do so with great caution.

When AT&T first studied public participation in usenet, they
discovered that the perceived shield of physical distance and relative
anonymity often emboldened posters to pen uncivil personal attacks.
These became known as flames.

See:
http://bianca.ctrl-c.liu.se/~ingvar/jargon/f.html#flame

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 22:24:11 GMT, "James Blakely"
wrote in Message-Id:
:

I guess what got me thinking about this was that I was wondering how many
(what percentage) of people get into aviation only to leave it. I think it
happens more than most think. (And, no, I'm not talking about the
percentage who fly until they cannot pass the medical due to advanced age.
I'm talking about the people who start flying and then, months or years
later, quit.) If all these people who have stopped posting are any
indication, then the number must be quite large.


I suspect that you are correct in intuiting that the GA pilot dropout
rate is quite high, especially among student pilots. IMO there are
four main contributors.

1. The fear of physical harm and/or fear of inadequate personal
mastery of aviation piloting that may result in physical harm. There
are those individuals whose lack of confidence and/or posession of a
chronically marginal piloting skill level causes them to perceive,
that actively practicing their airman's skills (flight) will lead to
their demise.

2. The necessity to continuously practice one's piloting skills
to stay current and safe. Aeronautical piloting shares a common
hidden cost with high performance car ownership often not considered
before purchase. The new owner of a Farrari who saved for years to be
able to own it soon discovers that the astronomical financial cost of
insurance and repairs prohibit one of his income level from
comfortably possessing one. The amount of time required to stay
current also may not be available. Often these pilots return to
aviation after retirement when they possess the time and means for it.

3. The relatively high financial cost of civil aviation
operation. The pilot's means/motivation to travel in the third
dimension must exceed his sense of frugality.

4. The perceived lack of benefit received for effort/cost/time
expended. If aviation fails to adequately fulfill the pilot's needs
and wants (which are highly subjective), s/he will drift toward other
activities which do.


With regard to the dropout rate of usenet participants, I suspect that
exposure to the onslaught of hostile personal attacks (flames) one
must endure during the argument of heated debate takes it toll among
those who choose not to suffer fools, or are unaccustomed to such
discourse. There is also the proposition of outgrowing usenet.

A study of what causes people to participate in usenet/flying would
probably reveal a lot of insight into why they leave.

Gotta disagree with you there, Larry. I believe I get tremendous benefit
from r.a.*, and not just from the things I learn about flying. The
opportunity to converse with such a disparate group of characters is a
great gift I could not receive any other way. In a way, I consider many
of the people here friends, and that certainly makes usenet worthwhile.

I'll second Dan's observation. I've learned more about aviation on Usenet
than in all my years of hanging out at airports. And the chance to discuss
(debate?) issues of the day with such an intelligent crowd is simply
outstanding.

Better yet, I've met (in "real" life) many usenet participants, some at
Oshkosh and some through the hotel. All have been wonderful people, all
have presented various sides of the experience coin. All have been good.

Several have even gone on to become "real" friends -- while many have grown
to be close "cyber" friends.

All this, and the price of admission is certainly "right", too! :-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"David Dyer-Bennet" wrote in message
...
Judah writes:

"Jay Honeck" wrote in
news:XZbyb.362668$Fm2.362602@attbi_s04:

Bottom line: This is a forum for highly literate people -- which is
extraordinarily rare.

Highly literate? Oh come now! Have you seen some of the posts we get on
here?!



Yes. Have you seen some of the memos that run around most offices?
The people here are pretty literate by modern standards.
--
Like the guy at Taco Bell HQ in Texas who was fired (or rather his boss
tried to fire him) because he used the word "pedantic" in a memo? She
confused the word for "pedophile".

And that was a "six-figure a year plus bonus" manager.

In article 2003112920100843658%lfransson@comcastnet, Larry Fransson
snip

I only recently started reading and posting again because I'm beta testing a
newsreader.

Speaking of which, you seem to have solved your formatting problems.

It's filled with a bunch of maroons
(and for the OS-challenged, macaroons),
and utter imbiciles...

And with that, you would seem to have proven your point about spelling, eh?


Yes, actually. "maroon" is the internet version of "moron". "Imbiciles" was a
bit subtler; I was trying to weed out the unqualified. Since you detected the
pea, you are unqualified to post. You are sentenced to five years of
television, or three months of airway intersection naming, after which we will
consider your re-application to Usenet.

How else can we keep standards down wher they belong? g

Jose



--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

Maybe they get a life.
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.



I've noticed something interesting about the aviation newsgroups: posters
tend to disappear. I don't mean the posts getting lost, I mean that certain
people will post for a while and then just stop.

The way I see it, these groups have 3 types of inhabitants: the prolific
posters, the lurk mostly but post sometimes (who I feel I am a part), and
then people who post for a while and then disappear.

For example, a year or so ago, someone by the name of Tracey was asking
about questions about the medical. It seemed that she was on some sort of
medication that may have been a problem. She posted for a good 3 or 6
months and then nothing.

Another example: When I first started lurking this group, there are a
gentleman who worked as a professor of aerospace. He kept yelling at us for
discussing aviation accidents before the NTSB reports were completed. After
a while, gone.

I could go on and on reciting examples, but you know what I'm talking about.

Do these people decide to get out of aviation? I know that nobody here
knows for sure (unless you know the person some other way) so I guess this
is more of a general wondering than anything else. (I would be really
shocked if someone posted what happened to everyone how ever posted here but
then stopped.)

I guess what got me thinking about this was that I was wondering how many
(what percentage) of people get into aviation only to leave it. I think it
happens more than most think. (And, no, I'm not talking about the
percentage who fly until they cannot pass the medical due to advanced age.
I'm talking about the people who start flying and then, months or years
later, quit.) If all these people who have stopped posting are any
indication, then the number must be quite large.

On 2003-11-30 04:13:59 -0800, Bob Noel said:

and now your posts are appearing to be "better formatted" in terms
of wrapping (btw)

I've been manually formatting them. They're still working on that problem!

In article 2003113009012416807%lfransson@comcastnet, Larry Fransson
wrote:

and now your posts are appearing to be "better formatted" in terms
of wrapping (btw)

I've been manually formatting them. They're still working on that
problem!

chuckle oh well.

--
Bob Noel

I expect that there are nearly as many answers to the questions you
pose as there are posters (or pilots). For myself, I am a lurker,
with frequent absences. Many times I am busy with other things or
unable to get online for any of a number of reasons. Even when I
do read the posts there are periods when nothing of sufficient
interest to motivate a response appears.

As for leaving aviation, I have known a number of people who started
pilot training, only to drop out before achieving a license. I have
known others who were licensed and even owners who bowed out. Some
have cited economic reasons, whereas at least one acquired a spouse
who wouldn't fly with him. I suppose it's a matter of commitment.
Those who truly want it find a way to satisfy their desires regardless
of the obstacles.