I have been on these forum pages since they started.

The behavior on these pages is following what happens to mainstream media in some countries.

In the beginning, posters were mostly serious hobbyists who took trouble to read manuals, gather info about the aircraft and post information to help one another. Beta testers would get generous credits on the online store. DJI would gather feedback from constructive criticism to improve their products and in general, this worked well.

About a year ago, we started getting posts from people who had disposable income, purchased drones and flew then without reading instructions. They ignored warning messages and ran into trouble and wrote about it. Things were beginning to get uncomfortable but they were still civil.

Round about the end of 2016, with the Mavic being a runaway success, a combination of jealous rivals from failed or failing companies and simply offensive customers started posting extremely negative posts. Moderators kicked and DJI has been trying to smooth out complaints but essentially, the site has degenerated into a dystopian place dominated by angry, unhappy and often unreasonable people. DJI and third parties have put out a slew of excellent instructional material and advisories but the number of simply LAZY people e.g. those 'asking' if a X4S camera can be mounted on an Inspire 1 (when its clearly stated 'no' in the promo material) and then railing about how 'disappointed' they are with this totally evil company.

This forum page is approaching the point where management may just pull the plug (as they have done with many newspapers in developing countries).

As a company, DJI risks imploding its entire business if, for the sake of profit growth, they encourage purchases from persons who could destroy not only their business but an entire hobby / industry. I'm talking about flyers who think it is their birthright to fly into NFZ's, over-ride manufacturer's flight recommendations and to dismantle and re-engineer original products and boast about this online.

Take a more active stance to moderating or be prepared to lose this facility

Mike , you hit the nail on the head. Why else  would "student"  and "intern" pilots be asking these questions?

Totally agree with you there Mike but for DJI to continue to bring us cutting edge tech, they have to make sales. Maybe it is down to us to start reporting dangerous/illegal activities to the appropriate authorities?


Mark G.

Mark Guille Posted at 2017-2-19 00:32
Totally agree with you there Mike but for DJI to continue to bring us cutting edge tech, they have to make sales. Maybe it is down to us to start reporting dangerous/illegal activities to the appropriate authorities?

You can do this but it will be plugging one leak on bag with hundreds of little rips.

Manufacturers could disable take off without a GPS lock when a craft is outdoors (will need a live internet connection and some AI to determine that such is the case and to differentiate it from an indoor location) and then look up the location against a NFZ table.

Compulsory registration and passing an online test before one is enable to fly could be another move but I think this has been discussed and deferred for now.

By making craft cheaper and more widely accessible, DJI opened pandora's box. I mean aerial photography drones manufactured by European, Canadian, NZ manufacturers have been in existence for some years now at high multiples in price compared to DJI's offerings.

I've heard rumours that DJI is quietly shifting to commercial and agricultural applications for its craft.

At the rate things are going, we may have 2 years left for the hobby as we know it tops. And the sad thing is the ranters will just move on to another thing leaving hobbyist flyers who love flying responsibly  in the dust.

First step in the blue direction is the Matrice 200 / 210 series which I'm pretty sure will be priced at 'commercial' rates giving higher margins.

Increasingly, DJI will have to look outside the US for business now that the current administration is making foreign businesses and persons unwelcome.