It appears that off topic subjects generate a better repsonse (and often some tense dicussion) than posts on modelling.
If that would be correct, would that be a problem for the site?
the off topic area wad created so that people could vent a little emotion without causing disharmony on the predominantly family friendly area of the site. sometimes they do draw more attention but it doesn’t make one area of the site more valuable than any other.
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Agree with what David said. Its just a platform for people to start a discussion away from the modelling threads (which we are all here for) to openly discuss other topics as and when they desire. I dont think it detracts from the main threads which can continue to be solely about modelling. I had seen a lot of threads get hijacked and spiral out of control due to comments people made before Mods stepped in to police the issue.
Also, the bottom line is, if people dont want to use the off topic feature, they dont have to, and even if you do and you get bored with a particular thread, you can just mute it ( which I have done to a few).
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Between the Russian invasion of Ukraine war and the Israeli vs Hamas war there’s a lot of AFV’s in conflict going on right now. That generates a lot of AFV discussion and also related political commentary. I think its good the political commentary is pushed into off topic rather than ending up in AFV & modeling related threads.
I visit off topic a lot and have noticed two defacto trolls that never post much or any model content on the site. Thankfully their stupidity stays in off topic and seldom infects modeling topics. That’s a reasonable trade off in my opinion. The more bone headed of the two trolls has an honored place on my ignore list.
A good balance to me is to make sure I work on a model and post progress in one of my build threads that day or other model related stuff if I visit off topic.
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All true, but I seem to see a lot more activity in the off topic section than in the on topic part of aeroscale.
maybe that impression is wrong?
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Hasn’t Aeroscale “always” been somewhat less active than Armorama?
Aeroscale?
Is that things with wings?
With fidget spinners on the front a lot of the time?
Just teasing.
I seldom visit Aero other than following Steve’s P-38 thread.
My modeling usually stays ground bound…in the Axis Armor section…
The AFV builders are probably tired of Panther, Pz III & Pz IV stuff. Might have to stir up Aerosmith/AeroScale with one of my crappy airplane attempts. 
Could be fun.
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yes, we are the ones using your armor for target practice 
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That’s the spirit!
Q: What do fighter pilots call trains?
A: DCT’s
Directionally Challenged Targets
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yes, the “elite” is always a minority
but you are right, Aeroscale has always been smaller but i seem to notice (maybe wrong) that people are more active on the off topic part of the site than on the actual modelling part, and that worries me a bit.
but perhaps totally unjustified.
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Anyone, regardless of modelling preferences can be active in the Off-Topic area.
Discussing something non model related is a “free for all” hobby, no expertise required 
Discussing details on a Messerschmitt, Fokker, Pz IV, Sherman or whatever requires some actual knowledge.
As @Armor_Buff wrote, the ongoing wars has raised the activity level in the Off-Topic Shenanigans, it will go quiet again when/if Putin and his two wars (Ukraine + riling up Hamas) finally disappears.
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Yep, the Henschel Hs 129 (grandfather of the A10 
) was nicknamend “Fliegender Büchsenöffner” (flying tin opener). I wonder why … 
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In all seriousness, you have a valid question. So I decided to check my statistics…because I am active in off topic daily.
I’m posting roughly 15 to 20 percent in off topic. If that’s too much hopefully a moderator or Jim will say so and I’ll try cut back to what’s appropriate.
May we all should take a look and see where we post most often?
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Johnny, Wade, I’ve seen the Panzerabwehrhubschrauber PAH BO 105 “in action” during an exercise in Munster in the 1980’s. If you haven’t seen it live you wouldn’t believe that a heli can hide between trees and suddenly appear right in front of you …
On the other hand I’ve seen the “Gepard” also a few times “in action” during various exercises. No chance for an aircraft … No wonder that the Ukrainians love them so much.
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Follow up - checked the statistics on our local bone headed troll that stays on my ignore list…
~60% percent off topic
That’s the only person I can think of thats more off topic than on topic. Before off topic he polluted model threads with his political jabs etc.
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On brave defender, in a trench a 105 managed to sneak up to a 100 meters of me before I seen it, was able to hear him but locating him was not easy, his blades were how I found it, eventually.
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Thanks a lot(!) Now I realise I can’t live without one of these:
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