So recently I've noticed an influx of people complaining that they're going to quit or that they aren't happy with other users because they're not getting upvotes. I'm not going to lie, but it's kind of disappointing that the site seems to be boiling down to this because of a handful of people. However, I'd like to get across some thoughts I have on the subject.

As a bit of background, I've been on this site for a while, roughly a year and a half. And up until about Christmas time last year, I was still a bronze member. So where did the sudden growth spurt come from? Well, as cliché as it seems, upvotes weren't really my thing. Of course I'd be grateful for such gestures, but I built planes and shared them because I wanted to (I'll get into this later on).

Perhaps the thing that contributed most was integration with the community. During the run up to Christmas I ended up with a lot of spare time, so I made it my business to help out other plane users by giving them tips, helping out with problems, occasionally giving points for improvement and every now and then I'd fix up someone's plane that wasn't working properly. This kind of thing earns you a good reputation, it's a small thing, but it helps connect you more with others, to the point where you may even get a few dedicated followers.

However, what doesn't help is begging for upvotes. When I see someone complain, I go on their profile and I either find they've only just started out, their planes are unoriginal, generic or very similar to each other. I've even seen people complain who've only been regularly uploading planes onto the site for less than a month.

Anyway, leading on from that, the second thing that boosted me up to gold was -as mentioned before. My independence from upvotes. I made planes because I enjoyed making them, because I felt they were different and unique in their own way. In some respects I didn't want upvotes because I didn't want the burden of feeling the need to satisfy followers with regular builds. I built at my own rate and uploaded when I wanted to... In fact I still do.

Which leads nicely onto my last point. Be different. Having a unique build style is -at least for me- the final piece in the puzzle. Nobody wants a generic or common build. It's pretty much human nature to want something different, something new, something other people don't have. Phones are a perfect example of this. I myself have adopted a paint scheme and a set of specifications my aircraft must meet, such as: it should fly at a slight incline at sea level with max throttle, it must be able to land, etc. A lot of my builds follow a similar build pattern too. An example being my attention and lack of it to detail. I like my aircraft to look nice, but I want them to look like they've just came out of a factory (basically no emblems, fancy paint schemes, etc). Just little things like that which allow you to happily say that the product in front of you is your build.

Even the top builders do it. Take SpiritusRaptor. His builds are all different, quirky and made with precision. Flightsonic makes futuristic looking builds along with a few World War style builds thrown into the mix. Hypnotoad used to make... well hypnoplanes. Anyway, the point is a lot of "successful" users don't make generic planes. They make what they want to make. I mean, I'll often go onto the sight and the first thing I'll see is an F-22 or another generic widely made plane. I've flown about 5 of them so far and to be honest, I don't really want to fly another one. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't make these planes, I'd be a hypocrite if I was, but it's worth keeping in mind if you want to get noticed.

Obviously, there will always be exceptions to the previously mentioned, but I know that they'll likely follow at least one of the points I've brought up. However, there is one last point I'd like to bring up.

Patience.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this, I've seen a number of users complain about their lack of attention, yet they've been on the site for little over a month. From personal experience and through observation on others, I can say it can take a while to get the ball rolling. Sometimes you have to mess about, find out what people like in a plane and don't like, make a name for yourself for helping out others, etc. It takes time and success doesn't come overnight. In my case it took the best part of a year. Obviously it's different for everyone. Some people are natural, others take a little more time.

Anyway, that's it from me today. So... Until next time, happy flying!!