And so he is. Sorry for the misread. I'll go slower I promise. :(

In the immortal words of an unknown head case: "Just because I'm not paranoid doesn't mean I'm not being followed" :(

In the immortal words of an unknown head case: "Just because I'm not paranoid doesn't mean I'm not being followed" :(

:( :( B)

Fair enough about voicing your personal opinions. I understand your point of view and as long as opinions about competing products stay out of it, I don't see any harm. And yes, we have a great group of moderators here that keep things in check. Not only do I think they should be allowed to post, I applaud them for joining the conversation.But I still think commercial members should be required to indicate which company they represent in their signatures. At least we can take that in to account when we read posts.-Jeff

But I still think commercial members should be required to indicate which company they represent in their signatures. At least we can take that in to account when we read posts.-Jeff

In a forum where none of the members are required to identify themselves... that's a rather lopsided approach.Far too many people take advantage of the anonymity for attacks and other less than straight-forward intent that to force commercial members to permanently identify themselves and allow the common forum member to be anonymous leads to some serious issues. I've seen it in other forums, I've even seen it here. I've seen the mere fact that one is marked as a commercial member results in attacks. So... sure... let's demand even more target identification. :(As a new commercial member (I wasn't one for years)... my time as a commercial member is short lived. I have a couple of projects that I agreed to do. When they're done, so am I. The purely evil attitude towards developers in many of these forums, and especially this one has convinced me that any further development I do for FS will be strictly personal, private and not available to the public whatsoever.I also know I'm not the only developer who's decided their time as a developer is growing short.Here's a perfect example of why it's quickly becoming not worth it to be a developer:

For the money I was hoping for WAAS capability, synthetic vision...

That was for a $27 U.S. aicraft. Holy unrealistic expectations, Batman! Do you really think that WAAS (which requires 100% custom autopilot code, custom database), synthetic vision (no addon has that! yet more 100% custom terrain display code, custom terrain database) should be included in an addon that sells for less than the more complex addons??This is exactly the attitude that makes it so very not worth the time and effort to develop a single thing for this community.

Frankly, I think it comes down more to the attachment of personal opinions on "Commercial" accounts which is drawing the attention. I too noticed the "Commercial Member" tag and had a {hmph} moment over this some weeks ago. I chose not to post as I thought I might be the only one... I guess not. I decided to use the tag's color coding in my post as a further illustration of how it stands out from the rest of the posts. The "Commercial Member" tag immediately implies that the user is somehow more special than the rest - there is nothing inherently wrong with that, as corporate members and developers have done far more to advance this hobby than all of us users. I think the commercially tagged accounts would be best used for commercially oriented postings though, and not general discussion. News on releases, support help, etc. etc. It's simply a matter of propriety and appearance to keep personal postings off of that type of tagged account. I don't think anyone wants to stifle the opinions of specific individuals, but when an opinion is tied into a "Commercial Member", it sometimes may be difficult to discern if that is the opinion of the company or the person itself - especially if the user has identifying markings (signature banners, account notes, etc) reflecting the business they are associated with. You wouldn't write a letter to the local newspaper using company letterhead unless you were actually speaking for that company. The "Commercial Member" tag is akin to letterhead - a status marker - and it is important point out that it is looked upon as such, even if the holders of these accounts downplay the significance. If there was a way to enable/disable that tag on a per-post basis and it was used, I think the potential for this kind of dust up would be minimized. Even better, it would be nice if corporate/development members could somehow have 2 accounts - but I can't see that happening anytime soon due to the sheer logistics of it all. I'm not basing my comments on any sort of abuse that has happened, or first-hand experiences with miscommunications of the sort... just the old addage that most computer system admins live by - use one account for your day to day work, and another for administrative work. You'll have far less chances of getting your self in trouble with the first, and the second is always important to have at the ready in order to fix something. Just some thoughts,-GregEditing to add: I am enjoying the status bar at the bottom of the thread which shows who is reading... lots of orange names in there. :(

I don't know ...We've been talking about the evil, hard-to-please MSFS community for years. Yeah, there's some idiots out there. Yeah, there's some unrealistic expectations. Yeah, there's pirates.But I also see examples like the FTX forums, which are nearly universally friendly, positive, and have a great atmosphere of mutual respect between developers and community members. By all accounts, FTX is doing pretty well and moving forward with an aggressive product schedule.How about the recent release of the Lotus L-39, which was almost universally praised by the community? I've never seen a negative thread on it. Why? It is priced appropriately, runs great, and is incredibly innovative.More civility would be a great thing from both sides of the fence, but by and large I gotta' say that the FS community is actually pretty mature and the customer/developer relationship is overall positive.

I'm not basing my comments on any sort of abuse that has happened, or first-hand experiences with miscommunications of the sort... just the old addage that most computer system admins live by - use one account for your day to day work, and another for administrative work. You'll have far less chances of getting your self in trouble with the first, and the second is always important to have at the ready in order to fix something. Just some thoughts,-Greg

Thats exactly what I alluded to earlier, it works perfectly.

That was for a $27 U.S. aicraft. Holy unrealistic expectations, Batman! Do you really think that WAAS (which requires 100% custom autopilot code, custom database), synthetic vision (no addon has that! yet more 100% custom terrain display code, custom terrain database) should be included in an addon that sells for less than the more complex addons??This is exactly the attitude that makes it so very not worth the time and effort to develop a single thing for this community.

No WAAS? Bah, I shan't be buying it then :(

Editing to add: I am enjoying the status bar at the bottom of the thread which shows who is reading... lots of orange names in there. :(

And a few red ones too! :(

And a few red ones too! :(

Lol I have been here for almost a decade as a simmer and contributed 6 years a lot of freeware and since 2008 joinedLVL-D just to build my own dream cockpit and to share it with my fellow simmers (some of us aren't here for the money alone, hence thehours involved man but that's a different story)But the day I can't stated my own opinion here in a polite manner then it's time to quit this hobby ;-)Have fun,Andr

Andr

Lol I have been here for almost a decade as a simmer and contributed 6 years a lot of freeware and since 2008 joinedLVL-D just to build my own dream cockpit and to share it with my fellow simmers (some of us aren't here for the money alone, hence thehours involved man but that's a different story)But the day I can't stated my own opinion here in a polite manner then it's time to quit this hobby ;-)Have fun,Andr

Perhaps we could get some clarification on not only how the "Orange Tag" is assigned, but also how it can be shed. I have one, but in reality I feel that I am no longer in that category.

Perhaps we could get some clarification on not only how the "Orange Tag" is assigned, but also how it can be shed. I have one, but in reality I feel that I am no longer in that category.

If you are not a commercial provider, reseller or distributor, you only have to tell us so and you will be changed back to a normal member.

Perhaps we could get some clarification on not only how the "Orange Tag" is assigned, but also how it can be shed. I have one, but in reality I feel that I am no longer in that category.

It seems to be applied at staff discretion. An email to them might be the best way to go.. :(Edit, seems Tom already answered..