Attracting New Members [Archive]

AndyT

11-20-2006, 10:23 PM

One of the things I see here is that everything posted here seems to be aimed at the Big Iron. Airline sims. Very little if any seems to be aimed at the small pit builder. I know I'm not the only one, but its very difficult to find any real reference to GA aircraft on this site. Maybe more exposure of the GA sims will bring more active members.

Maybe having a random pic from the gallery on the homepage also instead of the same airliner all the time?? I think having a chance my sim will be the one showing up on the homepage will make me want to post more pix of it and more of the 'How I did it' kind of postings. Maybe a 'Vote on this sim' link? Dont make the voting just about looks either, but about the quality of info attached to it. Give a bi-monthly prize of some sort for the winner. Maybe 1 free issue of Computer Pilot or some such.... I'm sure there is a company out there willing to part with 6 copies a year to promote themselves. Maybe the overall winner gets $50 gift certificate to their choice of GoFlight or one of the other vendors once a year.

Just my 2 cents.

W9XE/Project777

11-24-2006, 03:51 PM

AndyT

Sorry so late in replying. With the Holiday weekend and a few problems at the site I was not able to get back to your post

With response to the “Big Irons” it seems more builders are going that way over the general aviation aircraft. There are a few builders here who have a general aviation sim. Matt O has a C172 MIP that he picked up from FDS. There is also a KA350 being built as well. Form the home page; choose the Builders Links in the drop down menu and you will find many cockpit builders. These links are being incorporated into a new section in the forum but for now this page is still active. As you can see many are for Airliners.

I can’t explain why many are building airline sim’s but I can give you my reason.

My first plan was to build a helicopter project. I used to be a helicopter flight engineer in the USAF. I really liked the Bell style of helicopters. I have a real Bell 204 cyclic and collective and a real Bell 206 set of pedals. Building up this type of sim for realism was pretty much out of the question a few years back because of analog gauges. I could go the Project Magenta General Aviation package but them they would not have the 3d look to them. Now with Simkits <www.simkits.com> I can get all the gauges and could really make a nice sim but one problem. Only one person can fly it at a time. I like to share the flight sim experience and this is where an airliner sim fits. I don’t know if you have ever flown in a Level D airliner sim but once you do you’re hooked. I flew the 737 in Denver in 2004 and the 777 at IFC Denver this past July. Crew coordination for take-offs and landings is a real joy. I am sure many others feel the same way.

Matt has been reworking some of the Gallery to the new interface. There is some photos posted but I can’t find them yet. Our Survey page had a list to register what type of sim you are building. I don’t think that database is up running since the move here.

Starting in January we should be getting back to the Featured Builder interviews and post. There are several builders out there that have a lot of talent and we feel that the Featured Builders page is a great way to show their work. We have no problems with featuring a general aviation cockpit as a Feature Builder.

On some of your suggestions for the site. We do listen and discuss anything we feel that can improve on IFSBI. We have just past our first year anniversary and fell we have come a long way in our first year. As for changing the aircraft on the home page (I believe you are referring to) is a little bit more complicated. This was made up as a banner for us from Mark Silcock of IFC Global Network. I am primarily responsible for the website with input from the other Team Partners on what we think works and what does not. You would have seen many changes over the pass year. Some things worked and some things didn’t. With the new change to vBulletin we are able to manage the site a little better. There are many tweak’s we are still working on.

Your ideas “Maybe having a random pic from the gallery on the homepage also instead of the same airliner all the time?? I think having a chance my sim will be the one showing up on the homepage will make me want to post more pix of it and more of the 'How I did it' kind of postings. Maybe a 'Vote on this sim' link? Don’t make the voting just about looks either, but about the quality of info attached to it. Give a bi-monthly prize of some sort for the winner. Maybe 1 free issue of Computer Pilot or some such.... I'm sure there is a company out there willing to part with 6 copies a year to promote themselves. Maybe the overall winner gets $50 gift certificate to their choice of GoFlight or one of the other vendors once a year.” Are all good one’s but not sure about the voting. Not sure how to handle that one. We have builders who are buying manufactured panels and others creating their own. This is one area that IFSBI is proud of. It doesn’t matter how realistic the sim is but that you are having fun with it and it’s your creation. Many of our Featured Builders were picked because they posted pictures in the Gallery and we liked what they did and how they did it. There are some Tutorials posted on how little things like annunciators they created. Their ideas put to test and worked. IFSBI was created to be the sim world center of information independently. We support ALL builders and ALL vendors no matter what they make for the sim community.

Our membership is growing slowly and the activity from the members is pretty good. We appreciate you input with pictures in the Gallery and post in the forum. Spread the word what IFSBI is about to other general aviation builders. They are more than welcome. Also check out the IFC Radio <ifcradio.info> really nice site to listen to music and flight sim info.

Your input is worth more than 2 cents. :D