Changelog

Pilot profiles

Every account now has a profile page. Set a short status — one line that shows up on your friend cards and in club member popups so other pilots can recognize you at a glance. Add a longer about blurb that appears on your full profile. Choose a preferred contact method and an optional note so friends know how to reach you after connecting.

• Profile pages are viewer-aware: friends see contact details and shared clubs; shared-club members see just enough to recognize you and send a request; blocked users get a generic unavailable page.
• Discord handles remain friend-only and controlled by your existing sharing settings.
• A My Profile link has been added to the username dropdown above Account.
• When you link Discord for the first time, the site offers a one-click prompt to set Discord as your preferred contact method.

Friend invite links and codes

You can now generate a personal friend invite so pilots you meet outside of a shared club can send you a request — no global user search required.

• Invite link — generate a shareable URL from your profile page. The link is shown once (copy it or scan the QR code), is single-use, and expires after 30 days or after it's redeemed.
• QR code — your profile page displays a scannable QR code when an invite is active, with the RC Flights Club wings logo centered inside it. Useful for sharing at an event or posting in a Discord server.
• Friend code — alongside the link, your profile shows a short 8-letter code (format: ABCD-EFGH) that's always visible while your invite is active. Say it out loud, drop it in a chat, or put it in your game bio. Any pilot can go to rcflights.club/friends/join/, type the code, and land on your profile to send a request.
• Generating a new link replaces the old one. You can also revoke any time.
• All existing safety rules still apply through invite links: block checks, friend-enabled checks, daily limits, and cooldowns.

Friend request improvements

• Optional note — when sending a friend request (from a club popup, a profile page, or an invite link), you can add a short message so the recipient knows who you are — helpful when your callsign differs from your in-game name.
• Source context — incoming requests on your dashboard now show where the request came from: a specific club, your invite link, or just a direct request.
• Outgoing requests also show the note you sent and the source club, so you can remember the context while waiting for a reply.
• Discord DM notifications for friend requests now mention when a note was included, without quoting user-generated content into the alert.

Dashboard and friend card improvements

• Friend names on your dashboard now link directly to their profile page.
• Friend cards show the pilot's status and preferred contact method.
• The live presence badge has been renamed from Live to Flying now.
• An Enter a friend code button appears in the Friends panel so you can find a pilot by code without navigating away.
• Your clubs on the dashboard are now sorted with clubs you own or manage (owner, officer, moderator) at the top, followed by the rest alphabetically.

Club member popup improvements

• Member popups now show the pilot's status if they've set one.
• A View profile link is included in every popup for quick access to their full profile page.
• The Add Friend action now includes an optional note field directly in the popup.
• Your own row in a club member list links to your profile.

Navigation and mobile improvements

• The dark mode and text-boost toggles have moved into the username dropdown menu, freeing up space in the header on narrow screens.
• The analog clock on your dashboard stays visible on mobile, stacking above the welcome heading rather than being replaced by a digital fallback.
• Scrolling near the top of the page no longer causes a content jump when the navigation bar appears or disappears.
• The club directory filter bar uses a two-row layout so Sort and Archived never push other filters off-screen on wide displays.

Club pages are more customizable

• Club descriptions and rules now support basic Markdown formatting: headings, bullets, bold text, links, and inline code.
• Club owners can customize the club detail page with background colors, theme colors, and text colors.
• Owners can hide Links/Members or Upcoming Events when those sections are not needed.
• Club owners can replace the generated club icon with a custom 16×16 pixel logo.
• Custom colors now apply more consistently across headers, panels, banner areas, member lists, and dark mode popups.

Better pixel art and club banners

• The pixel editor has improved tools, including undo/redo history, line drawing, fill, erase, and clearer palette handling.
• The member pixel palette has expanded, and newer color values now render correctly across member tiles and banners.
• Players can save a pixel tile as their profile image, with a confirmation prompt before overwriting.
• Club owners now have three extra banner-only pixel tiles in addition to their normal member tile.
• The club banner builder supports manual tile placement, empty slots, column controls, sorting, automatic layouts, member tiles, profile fallback tiles, and owner-created banner tiles.
• Club owners can use the rendered club banner as a repeating tiled background on the club detail page.

Friends, members, and live presence

• Friend avatars can use pixel profile images.
• Large club member lists can open in a full members popup.
• Friend live-session status is clearer and can show which club/session a friend is active in.
• Live session information refreshes on club pages, dashboards, and friend status areas without requiring a full page reload.
• Friend re-request cooldowns are clearer: declined requests use a 7-day cooldown, while sender-canceled requests use a shorter cooldown.

Announcements, resources, and polish

• Announcements now support the same safe basic Markdown formatting used on club pages.
• Boids VR has been added as a game resource, with updated links, cache handling, tracking/input fixes, and a dedicated resource icon.
• New-user help bubbles, accessibility mode, founder status, account club limits, and several moderation/reliability improvements have been added.
• Dark mode color issues, banner rendering issues, manual banner alignment, empty slots, grid resizing, and static resource caching have been improved.

Redesigned club directory

The club directory has a new landscape-friendly layout. A single action bar of pill-shaped filters (Club Type, Members, Status, Live now, Archived) replaces the previous three filter rows, and club cards are now full-width horizontal cards with more room for descriptions, a colored left accent border by club type (VR / Real-world / Hybrid), and a member count. Search and all filters update the list instantly as you type or click — no page reload.

Disband a club

Club owners can now disband a club from the Danger Zone on the Edit page. Disbanding archives the club rather than deleting it: members, events, and history are preserved but no longer publicly visible, and the club shows in the directory with an Archived badge only when the Archived filter is toggled on. If a disband is a mistake, a site administrator can restore the club within 100 days. After that, the club and its history are permanently removed.

Content filter on public input

Club names, descriptions, rules, usernames, event titles, application text, and other public-facing text fields are now checked against an inappropriate-language list when you submit. If something trips the filter you'll get a "Potentially inappropriate word(s) detected — please review" message so you can edit before posting. The check is tolerant of spacing and punctuation, so common ways of sneaking past a naive filter (b a d, b.a.d, b1a1d) are still caught, while genuine words that happen to contain a forbidden substring (class, pass, bass) are not.

Spam protection on signup and login

The signup and login forms are now protected by Cloudflare Turnstile, a privacy-friendly CAPTCHA that stops automated bots without making real people solve puzzles. Signup is also rate-limited per IP address to prevent mass account creation.

Account verification

Accounts are considered verified once you link a Discord account or link a game headset install from the Account page. If your account is unverified, a reminder banner on your dashboard links you to the Account page to complete verification.

Inactive account removal

Unverified accounts that have had no activity for 100 days are automatically removed. Verified accounts are not affected. If your account is getting close to that threshold you'll see the reminder banner — verifying immediately stops the clock.

Live multiplayer session tracking

Club sessions can now appear as live on the site the moment a host starts one in RC Pilot Trainer. A green pulsing Live badge shows on club cards across the directory and dashboard whenever a session is active. On the club detail page, a dedicated Live sessions section appears above upcoming events showing the session name, host, player count, how long the session has been running, and whether a password is required. Club owners can close a stale session from that same page without waiting for the automatic timeout.

Game integration

RC Pilot Trainer can now link directly to your RC Flights Club account. Once linked, the game knows which clubs you belong to and can use that to manage session access automatically — including skipping passwords for club sessions you're already a member of. Link your game account from the Account page using a one-time code. The link survives game restarts and can be updated any time you get a new install.

Club membership improvements

• Application notifications — club owners and officers now receive a Discord DM when someone applies to a selective club. Approved applicants get a DM confirming their membership.
• Pending application alerts — owners and officers see an orange notification badge on club cards and the dashboard when applications are waiting for review.
• Approval badge — when your application is approved, a green Approved badge appears on the club card until you visit the club page.
• Application spam prevention — once an application is declined, that user cannot re-apply through the site. The owner can still approve or dismiss the declined application from the members page at any time.
• Member role management — club owners can now change member roles directly from the members page using an inline dropdown.

Club directory improvements

• Club search — search the directory by club name or description.
• Live now filter — filter the directory to show only clubs with an active session running right now.

Discord event alerts

You can now opt in to receive a Discord DM when a session from one of your clubs is about to start. Enable alerts from your Account page — you'll get a confirmation message the moment it's active.

• Per-club control — alerts are off by default for every club. Turn them on individually from your club membership settings so you only hear about the sessions that matter to you.
• Rich notifications — each alert includes the club name, event title, organizer, room name, and password. If the room hasn't been created yet, the first person to arrive can set it up using those details.
• Pause and resume — going away for a while? Pause alerts without losing your settings, then resume when you're back.
• /alerts command — manage your notification preferences directly from Discord without opening the site.
• Test DM — send yourself a test message from the Account page to confirm everything is wired up before your next session.

To receive DMs, the RC Flights Club bot needs to be installed on your Discord account. There's an install button on the Account page — it only takes a few seconds.

Event management

• Cancel events — event organizers and club officers can now cancel an event directly from its page. Cancelled events remain visible so members know the session is off.
• Timezone-aware event creation — the event form now defaults to your local time instead of the server clock, so the suggested start time actually reflects when you're scheduling.

Clubs

Create a club and give it a public profile — description, mode (VR, real-world, or hybrid), location, rules, and external links. Control who can join: open to anyone, application-required, or invite-only. Assign officers to help manage members. Discord verification can be required as a condition of membership for communities that want confirmed identities.

Events

Schedule sessions tied to your club with a start time, end time, room name, and password auto-generated for you. Choose who can see the event — public, members-only, or invite-only. Recurring series let you define a weekly or monthly schedule once and have events generated automatically. Organizers and officers can edit events after creation.

Calendar

A public calendar shows all upcoming open sessions in chronological order. Logged-in members also see events from their clubs. Filter by mode or access type. Export any event or an entire club's schedule as an ICS file to subscribe in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or any other app.

Accounts

Sign up with just a username and password — no email required. Add a display name to control how you appear across the site. Link your Discord account to get a verified badge visible to club officers and owners.

Dashboard

After signing in, your dashboard shows sessions happening now or starting soon, your clubs, and your upcoming events in one place.

Resources

A curated directory of links for the RC community: clubs and fields, regulations, weather tools, aircraft references, plans, and calculators.