Yeah similar. The current conversation content has really put me off things. Specmaster got the full rant in a PM . The reason I got into it was because it was a technical subject and an escape from daily life. Unfortunately finding people who want to talk about or even care about the technical side is rare. Apart from that it's just a very difficult to use social network with a hell of a lot of gatekeeping, which I'm certainly not into!
Anyway I've got a cute little HM103 oscilloscope which is on the watch list and only up the road from me at the moment. Will concentrate on that for now
Yeah, well... there's something to be said for
"a certain level of gatekeeping"; my hobby of model aircraft, and acro/racing quads is a perfect example. Getting the kind of performance one needs out of these craft to
barely function as intended requires a pretty intimate knowledge of the machine itself and how all the mechanical, electrical and even computer processing subsystems interact with each other.
"Real" quads are built like a race car; you start with a purpose-optimized frame, then choose motors, ESCs, LiPo pack, and flight controller optimized for YOUR preferred style of flight. Then YOU build it. THEN you tune it. This requires "Drift Racing" & "Rice Rocket" tuner level mechanical and electronics tech skills.
REQUIRES.Now compare that skillset against the explosion of ding-dongs who think they can just buy some $200 ARF (Almost Ready to Fly) POS off
Bang-em-Good, then when it flies like shit or turtles over and over again, come into a hobbyist forum and expect those of us who've taken the time to learn to first educate them on what we need to know to be able to help (even though that is invariably explained, usually along with the answer to their question, in great detail in the first page of the thread), then expect us to spoon-feed them the knowledge to turn that POS into NOT-A-POS, and then ARGUE with us at every step as if they know something.
A perfect example of this mindset is my non-profit SmokeStopper project; I produced and released this tutorial to the RC community for two reasons: First, to help RCers use a time-honored test technique (the dim-bulb tester) to successfully build a craft and keep the learning curve on a positive slope by NOT having every little mistake result in smoke and lost time & money. But secondly, to be a project that helps them develop that all-important SOLDERING SKILL, while yielding a useful tool in the process.
What do I get instead? Page after page of people who NEVER bothered to even READ the article, or the update, asking me what bulb to use with a 6S pack. OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Page after page of people wanting me to make it FOR THEM. Page after page of people trolling me, saying it can't serve as advertised because REASONS.
And then there's the assholes who're just interested in turning a quick buck off the idea, who're selling PPTC-resistor based turds using my SmokeStopper name, not understanding (or caring) that I've already TRIED polyfuses in "to-destruction" failure-testing, and REJECTED THEM because they simply DO NOT PROTECT ANYTHING due to excessive inrush current before they trip. And that when they fail, which is pretty often when abused this way, it's pretty spectacular in its own right. (Thanks to JB for exemplifying that in one of his videos).
So yeah... at this point I've turned into one of those old farts who lurks around the forum and ignores 90% of what I read. I'll occasionally try to answer a legitimate question, and always eventually answer in the SmokeStopper thread even when it's the same old questions... But my fuse is very short anymore; I give a short explanation referring them to the original article, direct them to read it in its entirety, and then if they come back and argue some more with me I switch over to
"Fuck this noize" mode & tell them to just go buy a DJI Phantom before they hurt themselves or burn their house down.
mnem