I would have to agree that a large number of very valuable and prolific members have left, and the site is not as active or as vibrant as it used to be. But I'd say this is still the number 1 site for rocketry info. I've checked out the others that I've found, and the amount of activity doesn't compare. So, unfortunately,
this is not as good as it used to be, but it's still the best. maybe that will change. Keep checking the other sites.
The ads here are obnoxious and getting worse. And the owner does not give a poop and has reneged on promises related to controlling the kind of ad content served on the site. He promised no political ads, and still they are everywhere. He promised no sleazy dating sites, but still they get served up. It stinks. I made my own outreach to the owner about political ads, and he told me personally via PM, he would filter them, but he didn't. I tried to call attention to them with posts to the Feedback section. They were ignored. I made a real stink, and I got banned for a week.
Since then, I've just decided to use AdBlock Plus on my desktop machine and remove myself from contributing to ad revenue raised by the site. It seems counterproductive to me to serve such obnoxious ads that people will resort to blocking them, but that seems to be the policy. Unfortunately, my tablet does not support an ad blocker, so when I use that, I am still subjected to ads that seem to think I want to "browse" under-age Asian girls. I am sure it is just a matter of the owner setting a filter to fix the situation, but apparently the money made from sleaze is too much to pass up.
Face it. We will never get an explanation for why certain people were banned, and we will never have any influence over the ad content served on the site. For myself, I've decided I like coming here enough to put up with what I think is a bit of abuse of the membership by the owner. Every time this issue bubbles up and people get into protest mode, it just results in another person getting banned, or a few more getting pissed enough to leave. Nothing will be changed, anti it will all blow over again, making the sacrifice meaningless. I think it is basically "what you see is what you get," and if you don't like it, I would not blame you or anyone one bit for leaving.
Respectfully,
If one doesn't like the ads, ante up and shut up. I am not part of the administration. If one is going to scab off the board for free you have absolutely no grounds to complain. Sure complain all you want but no one is under any obligation to service your needs. As a subscriber, I see no ads. Nada, not a thing, although I am not against the rocketry related ads that I used to see at the top. Technically it might not be possible to do that now so be it. I'm not upset over that.
Kurt