Should rear wing flex anno 2021 have its own topic?

[dans79]

Personally, I would prefer the moderators come down significantly harder on those who don't do anything but troll in the technical threads, then posts wouldn't need to be removed.

A few users have been trashing various threads literally every day since the flexing topic came to light. They make posts of no technical value whatsoever, and lace them with snarky, condescending, passive aggressive, antagonistic trolls.

[i70q7m7ghw]

I am often (myself) also guilty of going off topic, I am not expecting full compliance there. I also have no problem with mods removing the offtopic parts even if I have contributed. We all do need to keep the topic in mind when posting but yes, that is easy to get wrong, and sometimes it is debatable what is wrong (like with the wing).

What I have the real problem with is people either deliberately, or perhaps in their grievance unawarely (is that a word?) come and post with messages just to antagonize. And maybe that in itself you are (like you say, perhaps) free to do, but then at the very least do that in a correct topic.

I don't need to read about "cold dished revenge by mercedes" in an RB16B topic. That has no relation whatsoever with the car itself.

But that's not what happened. There was a discussion about the rear wing of the RB16B in the car thread, and all of a sudden a mod is coming in deleting posts left right and center and telling us the rear wing is nothing to do with the car and we should go talk about it in the dedicated thread, without even bothering to post a link to that thread. Maybe a post like you described triggered the initial moderation, but the reaction was way over the top.

[Sieper]

I reported that post, and it is gone now. But currently again the RB16B thread is being flooded by off topic.

Look in any other car specific topic and see stuff about that car. Except for the alpine A521 thread, that has the same discussion. Not for pages but still.

Why not discuss the car in the car thread and more generic topics in those specific topics. It is much better imho.

[i70q7m7ghw]

I reported that post, and it is gone now. But currently again the RB16B thread is being flooded by off topic.

Look in any other car specific topic and see stuff about that car. Except for the alpine A521 thread, that has the same discussion. Not for pages but still.

Why not discuss the car in the car thread and more generic topics in those specific topics. It is much better imho.

The car is just a collection of components, if we can't discuss components of the car then we can't discuss the car. If that's the rule just delete the car threads, people can start new threads to discuss parts of the car.

[Sieper]

You can, and should. But with some specific topics it is better to have them in one place. Why have the same discussion in several car threads. It is a shame, and input missed.

And with these in depth discussions it quickly is no longer about the rb16b, but generic aero discussion. That should not be done in any car thread.

The individual car threads are the most interesting parts of the forum, to me. They don’t need fanboys trying to start --- shows “mercedes revenge is best served cold”. We have the race threads for that. And even those don’t need obvious trolling. No one does, but ok, that is maybe the best place for emotions running high.

[RZS10]

Things that should be in the car thread:

- this is how the wing looks
- this is how much it flexes
- how could the flex be achieved on a technical level (even though this isn't specific to one car so already borderline)

All talk about the legality and possible performance losses (car performance is supposed to be discussed in the team or race thread anyways, right?) shouldn't be there.

Part of the discussion unnecessarily moved from the actual "Wing Flex Test 2021" subforum to the RB16B thread because someone decided to go on a mad rant regarding the topic of wing legality, which ironically still is up compared to some more on topic posts.

[zibby43]

Things that should be in the car thread:

- this is how the wing looks
- this is how much it flexes
- how could the flex be achieved on a technical level (even though this isn't specific to one car so already borderline)

All talk about the legality and possible performance losses (car performance is supposed to be discussed in the team or race thread anyways, right?) shouldn't be there.

Part of the discussion unnecessarily moved from the actual "Wing Flex Test 2021" subforum to the RB16B thread because someone decided to go on a mad rant regarding the topic of wing legality, which ironically still is up compared to some more on topic posts.

I agree.

There is a clear duality (in my eyes) when it comes to this topic.

Discussion of the RB’s RW, whatever it’s doing from a technical/engineering perspective, can occur in the hardware thread.

Discussion of the topic globally (including from sporting and performance perspectives), and specifically, can still take place in the general aero thread.

I understand the viewpoints on both sides of this issue, but I think we’re getting awfully close to having to rename the hardware discussion threads “Picture Threads.”

[wesley123]

I think the subject of the flex in general should be it's own topic. However, what started it all to begin with was on the Red Bull.

There would be some differences between the teams guilty, and this can go in a variety of ways. This'll also affect performance in different ways.

Overall I think it is too strict to immediately start moving posts when they get off topic to begin with. I think the specific aspect of the subject will quickly fade, where it will return back on topic. If it ends up going in circles, or somewhere where it is nowhere even close to the topic itself, then sure.

[Steven]

So, by large majority, it's decided the rear wing flex is to be discussed in its dedicated topic.
Rear wing flex and FIA regulatory test 2021

Thanks to those who gave their input!

Meanwhile, some posts from RB16B topic were restored and moved to the flexiwing topic
That topic has been renamed (and I also saw some users requesting this)
Note that I was in favour to have separate topics for the test and the wings themselves, but it seems most of you didn't. Perhaps because the past has shown this sort of split is sometimes difficult to maintain.

We have previously had dedicated topics about technical developments, so this is essentially nothing new.
I hope we can all move forward now.

And as always, if there's any problem, send a PM to the mods, mail, or start a topic here in the support forum.

[i70q7m7ghw]

So, by large majority, it's decided the rear wing flex is to be discussed in its dedicated topic.
Rear wing flex and FIA regulatory test 2021

Thanks to those who gave their input!

Meanwhile, some posts from RB16B topic were restored and moved to the flexiwing topic
That topic has been renamed (and I also saw some users requesting this)
Note that I was in favour to have separate topics for the test and the wings themselves, but it seems most of you didn't. Perhaps because the past has shown this sort of split is sometimes difficult to maintain.

We have previously had dedicated topics about technical developments, so this is essentially nothing new.
I hope we can all move forward now.

And as always, if there's any problem, send a PM to the mods, mail, or start a topic here in the support forum.

I think as a general rule, mods should be directing people to the threads they feel discussion should be happening i.e. share a link.

Deleting posts and just saying "Wrong thread" isn't very helpful. It's getting to the point where I start consider if I should even post anything anymore, as it seems a mod can decide a post is either too specific or too vauge for the topic and just delete it.