The death of Fighter Control

[Steven]

This has been on my mind for a quite considerable amount of time and i've finally snapped.

As some of you may know I have been in and out of the forum for a couple of years due to an issue in my personal life - unfortunately real life does get in the way of being a member of the "staff" (Voluntarily) on FC.

Myself and Gary are the only active Administrators on the entire forum - when one of us is out of action it takes its toll on the forum after just a few days let alone weeks or months.

The FC Team consists of SIX Administrators as follows:

AeroResource - Not really expected to contribute too much to the running of the forum as it is the account that manages the running of the FighterControl subsidiary "aeroresource.co.uk" but with just one article published on that website in the last 12 months I think that too has died a death.

Ben Montgomery - One of the founding members of FC I do believe but has not even logged into the forum since 15th June 2020 let alone helped out with any administrative/moderating tasks.

Flyingmonster - No doubt a very talented young man recognised by his achievements so far but hasn't contributed to any administrative/moderating tasks for more than a year.

MikeB - Another founding member of FC but hasn't logged in to the forum since 16th November 2020.

That leaves just me and Gary to perform the Admin tasks on the forum which is a lot of hard work on a voluntary basis - without Gary the forum would have collapsed a long time ago and special mention must also go to ZMurgy661 (Adam) who single handedly kept the forum going for a long time before me or Gary. The other members of the Admin team almost certainly have other things going off in their lives that are much more important than running a forum for people but their continued status as "Administrators" looks like there's a lot of Staff members running the forum when actually - from an admin perspective - its just myself and Gary.

I've had enough of dedicating my own personal time to trying to keep FC afloat when it's clear that there's not nearly enough people doing their bit. I acknowledge the criticism from some FC members who quite rightly want the forum run to a better standard but unfortunately when there's only a small handful of people actually contributing to the running of the forum on a day to day basis its clearly falling short.

I didn't want to post this topic but I wanted people to understand that the forum can't get better without a huge change that starts at the very top. I'm not locking the topic because it's about time it was posted.

Thanks to all for the friendships made over the years and hopefully I've helped a few members out over the years - I think it's time to remove myself as a staff member.

[Ian in Leeds]

Hi Steven

I`ve never met you and don’t understand the amount of time and effort a site such as this puts on yourself and Gary however respect to you both as I do enjoy the site as it is very informative and in the main is respected by most of its members.

I would like to thank you for your contribution and also that of Gary so thanks and all the best and let’s hope that this isn’t the end of FC as this would be a sad loss to the aviation community.

Cheers

Ian

[Amp]

Thank you for your work on here. Such efforts by a tiny number of people frequently get done without thanks and take a huge amount of personal time. Few realise the effort that goes on behind the scenes and the general workload that make a forum available for us lot to enjoy. Not helped when there are the little rows between the posting members that need to be refereed, again a human thing that happens. Thanks again.

[Cole]

Thinking out loud.. Would it be possible to promote some of the moderators to admin and to recuit more moderators to help reduce the workload on yourselves?

Or is that not in your control?

[raptor9]

When I was involved in organising Swimming Galas, Fetes, etc., it always started off with a large committee that steadily dwindled to very few people who were prepared to do the work. I'm afraid it was ever thus in anything voluntary that I took part in. A shame. I hope it continues, is always interesting. Been a lot of fun [mostly!] and I than you for it Steven. Regards. John.

[baz1]

if i remember correctly i think it was Rick Sleight who started FC when i first joined many years ago and i still have an original FC sticker on back window of my car that you could purchase at the time, then when this present day FC started we had to re register, so have been on FC twice long may it continue.

[CLPSLFBT]

Hi, yes Rick and Jon started FC, I joined just after and yes I have my yellow car sticker too!!

I sincerely hope things can get sorted and I thank the guys who keep it going despite life's challenges, you are appreciated fellas

Now, how do we go forward from here......?

Thanks again lads

Regards Glenn

[RubyRoo]

Any and all efforts are massively appreciated by myself for the running of this forum, which for the occasional fault and scuffle is an exceptional informational resource to all spectrums across the hobby.

I have modded and been admin on a few other forums and would be happy to assist if required.

[blakey]

Its all fun and games in the beginning when they're getting the perks with free passes and backseat flights in the name of journalism under the group name........when they've had their fill of that they disappear under a cloud of spluff

It's ok saying everyone has a personal life, but how difficult would it of been to promote more members to 'staff' (giggle) to help the ones they've left behind...!!

[SHELLEY01]

Throughout this pandemic, Fightercontrol has really been a tonic to me and, I'm sure, many other aviation enthusiasts, so a very big THANK YOU to all the "back room" staff. You are appreciated.
Long may FC continue.

SHELLEY01

[Eggman]

Many Thanks to Steven and Gary For such a wonderful job keeping Fighter Control working. It Truly is the Holy Bible of aviation information to loose it now would be an incredible loss to the military aviation followers. Many Many Thanks to everyone who has made a contribution to keeping it going. Hopefully someone will be able to step up to the plate to carry everyone forward.

[POL]

Such a shame offers to take over the forum by a like-minded team was shown to not be possible, due to restrictions around ownership of the brand.

Hopefully the owner of the FC brand comes to his senses, though it's unlikely as he hasn't logged in since the move to this forum!

[blakey]

"Brand" .......its just a Internet group/page/forum that needs a small dedicated team to over see the running of it........ not some young wanna be journalists who bleed all the perks and jollies dry then don't bother with the boring bits like monitoring the group that gave them the joyrides....!!!

[tommc]

Forums like this live by the good and timely information provided by the minority of contributors.

Like most forums/groups the vast majority of people do NOT actively contribute, they just take.

If the 95% or so were purged off, would that make the mods task easier?

[POL]

"Brand" .......its just a Internet group/page/forum that needs a small dedicated team to over see the running of it........ not some young wanna be journalists who bleed all the perks and jollies dry then don't bother with the boring bits like monitoring the group that gave them the joyrides....!!!

Sadly it's not that simple Lee, there's a whole agreement in place between the original owners and the current management of Fighter Control. Crazy for a forum, but the original owner must have considered it a viable going concern to treat like a business!

[blakey]

Well Steve if your still here reading this I hope you change your mind and hopefully someone will step up to help you and Gary and the other mods out .......

It's a shame to see the group go this way again.......i thought after the last time......(rick leaving) something was put in place so this would never happen again.

[Dunk]

As a former member of the Admin and Moderator team I know what toll running this forum can take on you. One of the reasons I removed myself from the team was the hours it takes to police the forums and deal with PMs from people having issues with other members. It really does takes a huge amount of time and it’s tiring.

Hats off to those that have run FC past and present - all of you have done a great job.

As for AeroResource I wouldn’t say that has died, just had some time out during Covid, just as a lot of sites have slowed their outputs too. Articles are still being researched I can assure you.

However, If anyone wishes to write an article, or has some passion for writing on any military aviation subject then please email: editor@aeroresource.co.uk

[MikeB]

I can only echo what Dunk has said. We're having some conversations amongst the team following this, and we'll do everything we can to make sure that FC lives on for everyone.

[MR TERRY GREEN]

I really hope the forum keeps going.I have been interested in military aviation since I was 16 I am now nearly 58.Two years ago I had bowel cancer and this great forum helped me to have something to concentrate on.I can understand all the hardwork people put in to keep the forum going.I have no transport so cannot get to the bases.The only way I would find things out would really be through magazines,long after the movements have happened.I really enjoy this forum and appreciate all the hardwork that goes into keeping it going.Best wishes to everyone for the future and I really hope things can be sorted out.

[markranger]

Fighter control is a great website IMO, Far better than social media accounts as the information is far better viewable,

I would say however that a lot pf people view it bit not many people contribute to it, If it wasn't for a few people who post live logs etc then it would not be half as good.
when a deployment is on you really see how many people actually access the site for the information,. It is a shame that a lot of these people do not add anything for others , just want to know what's going on.

As a Former Moderator i gave up for just that reason, and also the F15 crash where whilst in work time i had to shut down around 10 , Yes 10 threads reporting live ops of the attempted rescue.

Its a thankless task that's for sure guys,

Thanks