Why I will no longer provide support on the HK 9XR Forum.

[Rob Thomson]

So...

From this point onwards I will no longer be able to support hobbyking 9xr forum, or in fact recommend their radio or anything to do with them.

Unfortunately, HK. You have lost my support.

Why?

I few days back a member of their forum asked for help. They asked the following:

http://forum.turnigy9xr.com/9xr-softwar ... html#p1625

Where would one buy the programmer for the 9XR so you can update the firmware. I searched on the HK site but did not find one listed.

To this I responded.

http://forum.turnigy9xr.com/9xr-softwar ... html#p1627

Newly launched today!

http://www.9xrprogrammer.com

Useful if you are in the USA! - and want it to definitely work!

The other option is the HK one. (I have not used one but believe it works)

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... Search=avr

Rob

I see nothing wrong with this post?

Today...

They see fit to send me a warning message regarding the post. They have also edited the post to the following.

Newly launched today!

[Edit by moderator]

Useful if you are in the USA! - and want it to definitely work!

The other option is the HK one. (I have not used one but believe it works)

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... Search=avr

Rob

--

So... HK. You are wanting to provide a radio, but are not prepared to allow any competitor links. Even if for the benefit and direct response to a question. While at the same time as providing a link to your own product, with the information on the product that I have.

Nice.

HK. You may have an existense where you operate in a state where you censor and limit what people say. Really.. I cant blame you for acting as you do, you do not know any better.

Me...

From this point onwards I will not purchase from you, support your forum or recommend any of your products. (which I have done for many years). There are plenty of other Chinese providers who do not have your attitude, and from now on they will get my business.

Rob

[jhsa]

Rob, they have a business and obviously they don't like other people advertising other commercial products on their site/forum.. Speccially when we say that the other works good when theirs gives an SCK error when programming..

João

[Rob Thomson]

Oh.. I know that. But this is a forum. Forums are for discussion.

When you censor the discussion at that level, you are not providing support.

A better response would have been for them to put up a post that they are fixing the issue on their programmer.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[jhsa]

Rob, I do think the same as you.. But there's a difference between our forum and their forum. Ours is about open source and not for profit.. Theirs is..

Imagine that you sell some products, gliders for example and you have a forum. someone else goes there and say that yours are rubbish and point the people to some other from another company.. You wouldn't like that for sure.. I do understand their position, they could be just a little less rude.. Oh, and as far as I know HK is in China but the owners/managers are not Chinese at all. So, we can't really blame their culture for that

João

[wallaguest1]

thats the single reason they opened a new forum, to be able to censor...

i never enter in that forum, when people need real help they keep looking, and if they are smart enough, rcgroups and 9xforums should appear in their screens quite quickly...

[jhsa]

That's true..

[ShowMaster]

I held out deciding on the 9XR forum but I've decide to back away from it also. It's hard to do because we want to help our fellow modelers but it's difficult when key answers are deleted or modified because they may not include a profit gain.
Since day one the forum creators themselves have not offered any constructive Info or FW help in any way I can see for the users. All the constructive posts have been from the 9xforums and RCG members that have joined.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk.

[jhsa]

They didn't because they don't know how to

[Rob Thomson]

Rob, I do think the same as you.. But there's a difference between our forum and their forum. Ours is about open source and not for profit.. Theirs is..

Imagine that you sell some products, gliders for example and you have a forum. someone else goes there and say that yours are rubbish and point the people to some other from another company.. You wouldn't like that for sure.. I do understand their position, they could be just a little less rude.. Oh, and as far as I know HK is in China but the owners/managers are not Chinese at all. So, we can't really blame their culture for that

João

Lol... but there is a big difference.

I did not say that - yet they sensor me. I gave two options to the persons question.

1. A third party.
2. HK's own item.

At no time did I say that theirs was bad

Oh well.. their loss.

[JustinTime]

I agree with Joao. Their forum is meant as a promotion and support for their products and not other sellers product. For that reason I don't participate in their forum (unless I have something to bitch about ). I just buy their stuff and go to forums like this one for help.

[jhsa]

Rob, I think it's not worth it to get upset about it.. If people want help there are already many links to this forum and people will come here..

Joao

[Rob Thomson]

I am not really upset. More annoyed at their stupid/arrogant approach.

The first time they warned me, they said that they set the forum up tlas a resource for the community/to support the users of their product.

In truth this is is not the case. Is it?

End of the day... Their loss. I have offered help to people on their forum. Circa 20% of my help posts have resulted in a warning and censorship.

End result... I will no longer help them or support them. Their loss.

What they fail to realise is that if we don't support their forum... Who will support their customers?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[jhsa]

Well, I won't post there anymore.. I have a hand full of threads to read here anyway.. It's a full time job.
People will find us here and if they need help they can ask for it..
Joao

[JustinTime]

What they fail to realise is that if we don't support their forum... Who will support their customers?

You do, Rob, you do, like you do support me and I bought my transmitter at HK. As I said, I don't go to their forum, I come here. Other do too.

[Rob Thomson]

True!

I was referring to 'their forum' and providing direct support.

Guess the whole thing is not worth getting bothered about. I was angry this morning. Very angry

In the bigger picture...... They can,. Do what they want. They just won't get my money any more. I won't support them, because I don't like their business practices and approach to the community as a whole.



Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[jhsa]

We shouldn't have got too involved in it anyway.. Only did because it was all about er9x and they were trying to make believe that they worte the FW.. Otherwise I wouldn't probably have said a word there..

João

[kaos]

I don't participate in their forum (unless I have something to bitch about ).

every one does just that will do it. I am sure people here spot more problems than other buyers. when the forum is full of nothing but bad stuff, Hee hee

[Scott Page]

It's the Peoples radio. They relied on "the people" to develop the firmware for it. They rely on "the people" to offer support for their product.
No surprises here. Tienanmen Square mentality. Freedom of speech is not a right, or even an expectation in some places.

[kaos]

It's the 'People's Republic of China'.

[rperkins]

Newly launched today!
http://www.9xrprogrammer.com
Useful if you are in the USA! - and want it to definitely work!
Rob

And I noticed and appreciated the link. I've been tracking the Referrers and backtracking them. Several of you guys have mentioned my new website and I appreciate it. I'm gonna try to beat , not meet, the customers expectations . FYI , that post on the vendor forum was number 3 on the list for this month @ 17 hits. And I dont believe it had been on there all month. Ebay and this forum had the top spots @ around 120 hits apiece. They're actually spread out over a couple url's so I'm summarizing. Again thanks for all the mentions in the forums you guys frequent. I even made it into smarties email . I have sold13 and have 2 left out. More on the way . Probably delayed due to Chinese New Year. Working on streamlining the process.

About the issue with the vendor forum. I went through the same thing with OCZ forums. I have several of their SSD's. Run em in a raid 0 array , home to my OS , data files stored on spinners, raid 5, but I digress. Anyway their forum was about the same thing but with a large dose of arrogance. I took my football and went home. I'd already read the HK forums and comments on the product pages and realized it would be more of the same. I never even registered at their new forum for the new product. I dont hold it against them, It's just a business decision they made. I might make the same one if I was in their position.

There are at least 2 kinds of forums
Vendor forums that are an extension of marketing and dont stray from the company stance.
Forums like this where open exchanges of experience and opinions are publicized, appreciated, and discussed.
I like it here and appreciate you guys for all your help.

And finally:
I backtracked on a referrer and saw that it was said that Rob Thomson has something to due with 9xrprogrammers.com, since he mentioned it in the vendor forum. Well I would be proud to work with Rob, but it's not true. A simple whois query will provide all the information about my domain. I started it to help new owners of 9xr's get the programmer and adapter they need quickly and to further my knowledge and experience.

[kaivalagi]

Making the move over, any new questions / information to share I'll come here instead.

The one question on deadspots/range issues on the throttle pots that I made has had no response, I just wonder whether that's due to no one posting or not...

[Wimh]

While I understand your feeling, I think you're being overly sensitive... Several German forums do not allow links to "for sale" sections of other forums for example. There are other examples. It's not just HK.
This being said, I also think it is a stupid practice (and I would also have gotten angry, hehe). But not really anything to worry about...

[Rob Thomson]

Oh.. definitely I reacted heavily at the time.... feeling a lot more blase about the whole thing now.

But I have not changed my mind.

If I was selling my own product - I would understand. Answering a question to someones post - and showing them where - well that is different. I make no personal gain from it.

HK needs to realise that they have 'borrowed' from the open source community, and as such they should try work with us - not try impose their rules & regulations etc..

[JustinTime]

If I was selling my own product - I would understand. Answering a question to someones post - and showing them where - well that is different. I make no personal gain from it.

How does one knows if the poster is posting his own product or someone else's?

[Rob Thomson]

My original post on the forum actually referred to the announcement of the product - clearly not being made by me

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[hart]

For what it is worth, I prefer smaller (niche) forums to vendor or massive sites like rcgroups from a social perspective. Don't get me wrong, they are useful resources to research a topic, but in terms of communicating with like minded people on a manageable scale, I like forums like this one


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[jhsa]

Hart, you are in good hands here.. Just bring some beer with you

[Rob Thomson]

Did someone mention beer?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[hart]

I'd post a pic of my beer but taptalk Hd wont let me


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD