An idea to attract and encourage new members

[Allan Black]

I’ve got an idea and I have to give member Rudy Wilms credit for this inspiration.

To attract new members, we should initiate a Forum for DRONES here. Types, cameras, licences, operation, to attract new members with experiences posted by them.

Some considerations. Limited capabilities – they can't think or communicate like humans can. But what about Drones with AI built into the remote controller, where you just say “Fly and video the local park for 10 minutes.”

Legal limitations – you can't fly them in certain areas. Safety – there are concerns they can distract, frighten or endanger people and birds. Training – you need someone skilled to operate them effectively.

So are you going to learn how to fly a Drone? Rudy is but maybe you don’t have to.

What about starting a real estate video company with specialised Drone footage, where you hire good Drone pilots and their machines you direct them to supply the video and you edit it together producing custom video real estate programs for clients in your area? Yes there are video company’s now doing this, but are there any in your area?

How about it? Maybe a Drone forum in the sub forum category? Any thoughts?
Cheers.

[Andrew Smith]

A new forum category? We haven't had that much excitement since we added one for live streaming! :-D

Good idea, BTW.

Andrew

[Chris Hurd]

Thanks for the suggestion, Allan -- much appreciated.

We already have Flying Cameras, perhaps that title or its description should be changed or updated.

We're long overdue for an overall re-organization of the forum categories anyway, so anything is on the table and comments / suggestions / criticisms etc. are always welcome.

[Allan Black]

Hi Chris, happy new year and thanks for your reply. It’s all in the name of course and possibly changing Flying Cameras to the one word Drones plural, will do it and attract interest and new members.

Why am I promoting starting a ‘Drone’ forum here. I was one of 5 mods on the now defunct Panasonic3CCDuser.com video site and we were always looking for ways to promote the site.

Here’s another idea for members. If you have basic business experience what about starting a new Drone delivery system business in your area, that is if there’s not one already. But even if there is, specialise with a couple of local stores.

Once you get offical approval, research, buy and test your operation, then approach local stores, to sign them up. The same as starting any new business with the ups and downs, no pun …

https://www.unmannedairspace.info/co...el-deliveries/

Here’s how it’s operating so far in Australia …

https://www.drones.gov.au/benefits-a...one-deliveries

‘The demand for food deliveries by drones in Australia is estimated to range from 46 to 65 million trips in 2040, with an average cost per delivery of $1.49’ .. but I think that will be more as time goes on.
Cheers.

[Allan Black]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

Thanks for the suggestion, Allan -- much appreciated.

We're long overdue for an overall re-organization of the forum categories anyway, so anything is on the table and comments / suggestions / criticisms etc. are always welcome.

Hi Chris, I had a look at ‘Flying Cameras’ it covers a wide spectrum, standard aircraft as well as Drones and hasn’t had any input for ages. Drones, types, usage and rules have come a long way since then and a Forum just for them, now looks to be a good idea, and attract new members too.

‘Flying Cameras’ is not obvious, so I think ‘Drones’ should sit on the front page not in a sub menu .. and just be the one word. I’d hope other members will propel it along, I’ll give it a shot.

You suggested the revamp of DVinfo. I hope I’m not letting myself in for piles of work, like the time I offered to carry that heavy suitcase to the bus for that elderly lady and 10 of her friends came out of the rest room. So after 25yrs I believe there’s other members who would certainly appreciate the revamp. What other areas should be updated Chris and how will it be done?
Thanks a lot.
Cheers.

[Dave Baker]

Can I chuck a couple of things in here for consideration? If you don't think they fit the general ethos of the site, fair enough.

Linux
Open Source

Also, perhaps a bit less contentious

Action cameras
Pocket cameras such as the Osmo Pocket 3, which often get bundled in with action cameras but are not really.

[Allan Black]

‘Can I chuck a couple of things in here for consideration? If you don't think they fit the general ethos of the site, fair enough.’

You’re right Dave, but DVInfo has just got to keep up with 2025. We’ve got no choice, what’s 2030 and 2035 going to look like for future viewers? Instead of the Wedding forum, we could have a Divorce forum… Yeah?

But seriously, we need new and existing members with their input about their reasons and multiple ways of using Drones, with DV cameras as well, and it’s increasing fast every day. Some people are going to make a lot of money.

Is anyone else getting this? I’m in Sydney and if I type the name or info about subject on my iPad, a day later I’m swamped with manufacturers of the same subject.

‘Chinese Drone Manufacturers’ are a case in point, they just popped up with many Drone types for many subjects here …

https://www.googleadservices.com/pag...ard_cta_button

Chris, could they be a sponsor for the new forum?

[Dave Baker]

Originally Posted by Allan Black

‘Is anyone else getting this? I’m in Sydney and if I type the name or info about subject on my iPad, a day later I’m swamped with manufacturers of the same subject.

I'm not exactly au fait with Apple gear, but it seems to me you have some spyware on your tablet, or your browser has been fingerprinted.

It's like folks with so-called smart speakers who discuss something and next day get bombarded with ads on the same subject, it happened to a niece of mine.

[Allan Black]

Hi Dave, looks like you’re right, like a few friends I’m getting emails from outfits I Googled an enquiry about, without ever clicking on their site.

I’ve spent some time checking around for Drone forums, and it seems each manufacturer has a forum for their own models. So when a person buys a Drone they get a link to the forum for it. And many of the forums are the same, same newby questions, same set answers, same boring videos.

It’s the new way of delivery and presenting new product, you click on a link to watch videos about operating and looking after your new car, or whatever it is. Easy to update, different for each season and country, saves print.

But more importantly for DVinfo members, Drones don’t use Sony, Cannon or any of the usual suspects cameras, Drones have their own cameras, given that their 4K etc.

So with all that and the fact we haven’t heard anything more about a site revamp, sadly it looks like it’s all in the too hard basket … for the time being anyway.
Cheers.

[Dave Baker]

Originally Posted by Allan Black

.....I’m getting emails from outfits I Googled an enquiry about, without ever clicking on their site.

I never use Google to search, in fact I keep as far from Google as I can, including using a de-Googled smartphone. I use search engines that promise not to track you, my favourite is Duckduckgo, I also sometimes use Startpage. Whether they will work with your browser, I don't know.

I'm sure you know Google makes its squillions of dollars by targeting ads at people like us, I do my best to make it as difficult as possible for them and as a result, I almost never see ads on my computers. TV is something else of course, there I just switch my brain off when ads appear. What beats me is where all this advertising revenue comes from. So many TV channels in so many countries, so many websites funded by advertising, it must be a bottomless money pit!

As to this site it seems we must be patient and hope.

[Allan Black]

Hi Dave. On behalf of all the people who will now use DuckDuckGo, including me, thank you. As for any DVinfo upgrade maybe Don knows something about it?
Cheers.

[Andrew Smith]

As far as I can tell, DVinfo's forum isn't mobile friendly. This consequently locks out over half of the web traffic, those who use their phones to browse.

Andrew

[Chris Soucy]

You're shitting me? Not mobile friendly?

I don't have one so have never tried, but absolutely everyone else I know has their noses stuck to their blasted phones every waking moment - even my other half!

That could explain a lot about the dearth (I didn't say death!) of I/P over the last few years, is it really true?

Nah, can't be, surely, can it?


CS

[Andrew Smith]

Well, it kinda works on the mobile if you can get past the first page. But not really.

Plus, Google for many years now has devalued sites that are not mobile friendly when it comes to generated search results.

Screen captures are attached from viewing on a mobile device just now.

Andrew

[Andrew Smith]

This forum is (as of this moment) running on vBulletin version 3.8.5 (released in 2004 according to Wikipedia) and the current release of the software is now version 6.

There may have been attempts to upgrade the software when the whole 'mobile friendly' thing was newer and there was a lot of mind-bending technical difficulties back then with the entire internet industry working out just how to handle the (then new) website flexibility issue. But we should be well past that by now.

(Chris H., let us know if you need a hand with the webby stuff. The forum is worth it.)

Andrew