I may be out of my mind, but I think we should. Over the last few months I've found it increasingly impossible to get anything from that site without getting the rip-off membership. You simply cannot download anything. I think Ferdy, the webmaster, is doing some shady business. He rips off aircraft from other website, not including AVSIM who wisely blocked his IP address. He takes files, and does not give the author credit. Plus, he has a link on his website that points to a company that takes freeware files and puts them on CD's!!! I've written him constant e-mails telling him that continuing like this will get him no where, but I don't get any responses from him. What do you think???Send him an e-mail if you'd like, and give him a piece of your [email protected]

I may seem ignorant but can you please tell me why so many people hate FSPlanet? I don't know. I visit that site often and since the beginning I have always been able to download anyhing at nice fast download speeds. I never got asked for any membership.What's the spyware incident that I read about on another post?Take careMike

Umm...Dave?You said..."He rips off aircraft from other website, not including AVSIM who wisely blocked his IP address. He takes files, and does not give the author credit. Plus, he has a link on his website that points to a company that takes freeware files and puts them on CD's!!!"After saying..."Over the last few months I've found it increasingly impossible to get anything from that site without getting the rip-off membership. You simply cannot download anything."Maybe *I* am out of my mind, but why have you continued to try to download files from there, "over the last few months," if the second statement in your post is true?Those statements seem contradictory to me. Apparently, you WANT to download from there, despite your accusations.

I do not wish to download from that site. Not any longer. I have given up downloading for the past few months. I only said that to further add to the statement about the rip-off membership.

Not to fuel flames, or beat a dead horse, but they snatched Brian Gladden's new Norseman, and the BFU AN-28 within hours of them being posted here; without so much as a "by your leave".

The bottom line is: FSPlanet has STOLEN freeware designers' work. I myself made one 767 panel awhile back & had it stolen form fsfreeware.com & put on FSPlanet. About the CD thing; FSPlanet takes the freeware files, puts them on CDs & sells them! Flightsim.com would block Ferdy's ip, but he has their first class membership, so they can't.

Lizardo and N212NW,I understand the problem with FSPLANET, and I wouldn't want anything to do with them either. I was just pointing out that this individual was trying to download from their site "for months," and seemingly, the only reson why he started this thread was because he couldn't. Despite his accusations, if he COULD download from there, he WOULD. Re-read his first message.

I understand Edam. :)There's an extensive thread on this at the Project Airbus forums.

>sells them! Flightsim.com would block Ferdy's ip, but he has >their first class membership, so they can't. That, to me, sounds like a wimp out. The first class membership they get from Ferdy cannot be that lucrative an arrangement for flightsim.com. It wouldn't be that difficult to say something along the lines of "Listen, we don't like the way you conduct yourself and we don't like how you lift files from our site directly. Here's the cost of your first class membership back. Good day, sir."Heck, they probably are within their rights to terminate the agreement without refund if he's doing something that is costing flightsim.com bandwidth, and as a direct result of that, money.

SpywareIt has gotten to the point that when i'm online I now run the following programs.1.BlackIce2.Ad-Aware3.AdSubtractIt's a damn shameMichael

>Heck, they probably are within their rights to terminate the>agreement without refund if he's doing something that is costing>flightsim.com bandwidth, and as a direct result of that, money. And if they aren't they could always change the TOS to say that you arent allowed to poach files, stop all payments on membership, and let members sign up again, thus forcing Ferdy to agree to the TOS and thus letting them ban him without sending his payment back. Scott

UHHH, What does FSplanet have that AVSIM & Flightsim don

I usually go there to check out all the files Ferdy has poached :-madhttp://212.212.159.238/svedude/imagesP/sqcoasig.jpg

I don't know what flightsim.com has in their TOS (as I get about 98% of my Internet flight simming fix here at AVSIM), but most online services have the proviso that they have the right to modify the TOS at any time, without prior notification to their membership. Even without a properly formulated TOS, Flightsim.com could make a change and say "If you cannot live with this new TOS, please let us know and we'll happily give you a prorated refund on your membership. Violations of this new TOS can lead to a loss of membership without refund." A simple modification to the terms of service followed by "wait a few days and approach Ferdy about file poaching" approach would be all they need. I'm no lawyer, but I'd assume that would stand...I stand by the "wimp out" comment I made earlier. It costs $30 per year to join Flightsim.com. If I'm in their position, I don't sit there and say "He's one of our members, so we really can't do much about it." Come on... an individual user only needs a certain amount of bandwidth. File poaching of the nature which Ferdy has been so often accused (and caught in) has to cost them more than $30 per year.

Uhmmm... I should... not... say... anything...Ohhhh!!! I can't do it.Here it is in simple terms:Anyone who buys a membership at FSPlanet.com, or even simply downloads a single file from the site, is aiding a thief in stealing from the hobby's authors and reputable sites.So, now it is up to each memeber of this community to decide which side of the fence they wish to be on. Support the authors who offer their creations (at no cost in most cases) and sites like Avsim, or help untalented people like Ferdy to make money off the people who offer so much to this hobby.This is your brain!!! This is your brain on drugs!!! Simply decide where you want your brain... with the hobby, or with the thieves.Rant switch is now off.Whew, I feel so much better.