By the way, the OP, and many others here seems to be in violation of the terms of use by not including both first and last names.A reread of the Terms of Use at the top of the forums may be in order.

I understand that real full first and last names have to be provided to AVSIM only when registering and that AVSIM keeps these private and does not make them available to other members. I thought that the UserName is all that is made public. Am I wrong?

I understand that real full first and last names have to be provided to AVSIM only when registering and that AVSIM keeps these private and does not make them available to other members. I thought that the UserName is all that is made public. Am I wrong?

You are correct. A (real) name is only required for creating membership. Nobody is required to sign there posts anywhere except for the PMDG forum, which is there rule.

In a great many topics in these forums I've seen people who are 'commercial members' be literally attacked simply because they posted. The content of the post mattered not, it was the audacity of a 'commercial member' thinking they too have a voice and/or opinion on matters. ....This is the type of behavior a 'commercial member' gets to endure. There's no honor in being a punching bag.

Can you post a link to an example of this? I've been lurking this forums for a lot of years, and I've never had a sense of this contentious relationship between community posters and developer posters. By and large, it always seemed pretty respectful to me.Sure .. some product threads get pretty silly. The latest FSD thread would be an example, but the fact that customers sometimes have opinions and an overgrown sense of entitlement is nothing new and is not unique to the flight sim world. I'd say the majority of product release threads have a generally positive tone.You seem to be implying that there is a pervasive atmosphere of animosity against posters with the commercial tag on these forums. I don't get that sense, but I'm willing to admit I could be wrong. I don't read every thread.

Ron and Ed bring up some good points, that is if we actually enforced the terms of use strictly, which we do not. Yes, Eaglesoft has been on the receiving end of baseless, unsubstantiated attacks. What nobody here has mentioned is that we have responded as appropriate each and every time such a post has come to our attention. Commercial members want to be able to debate freely? What's stopping you? The ONLY posts I have ever hidden from commercial devs are ones which clearly and intentionally advertise there own product. You want to have an opinion? Go for it. We aren't stopping you. And likewise, we aren't stopping other members from having there own opinion just because they disagree with you. Show me where we have been so unfair to commercial members. If anyone disagrees with the rules, which are very, very, very liberally enforced, than why did you click the box to agree to the terms? Why are you here now? If all of the "other sites" are so much better in this regard, than why are you here? Everyone who has such a problem can send me a PM and I will gladly remove your accounts for you if you wish.

I didn't say AVSIM was or is unfair to commercial members.What I said is that commercial members are held to a different standard regarding post content. If a commercial member attempts to defend themselves from a vindictive post... it tends to go against the commercial member. Other non-commercial members will enter the thread, attacking the commercial member... the list of attacks will pile up until the thread simply gets locked... with the users 'vindicated' and the commercial members viscerated. I've seen it happen to several developer houses in these forums. Several.Non-commercial members are given far more lattitude with regards to post content and attitude. So much so that I've reduced my posts to next to nothing. This is not a 'level playing field', per se.I've been called a liar. I've been told that my work was crap. I've seen the same done to other developers. These are not opinions. Opinions are not to be used as verbal swords, which happens far too often in these forums. Here's a perfect example of how a user will post with a veiled intent:

My last 3 FS purchases have been; Eagelsoft CX 2.0, Quality Wings 757 and this FSD Cirrus Jet, and this is the only one of the three that I'm happy I bought, and don't regret buying. So well done FSD.

There was no legitimate need nor reason to explicity call out the developers/products they 'regret buying'. It had nothing to do with 'first impressions' of the aircraft being discussed. Even more so when you consider the complexity level of the three aircraft by comparison. They have little in common other than being FSX aircraft. The reality is that many AVSIM users go out of their way to denegrate a developer or a product for strictly personal reasons and are not very objective about it.The fact I have to point these things out shows the complete imbalance in these forums. Had I, a commercial developer, purchased those three products and made the same remark... it would be considered completely and totally inappropriate (ignore the fact one of those items is mine, that isn't my point). My time as an FS developer is limited... as in I won't be doing this much longer. The atittudes and behaviors at AVSIM have convinced me that my love of aviation and aircraft isn't strong enough to shield me as I wade through this ascerbic morass. I've stated this before, and I'll say it again: I have a couple of projects I'm committed to... and then I'm gone.I predict people will take certain sections of my post and rant about those sections without paying attention to the entire thing.

You are correct. A (real) name is only required for creating membership. Nobody is required to sign there posts anywhere except for the PMDG forum, which is there rule.

This is a rule that should apply to all of AVSIM. People who want to hide who they are tend to have a hidden agenda.

I didn't say AVSIM was or is unfair to commercial members.What I said is that commercial members are held to a different standard regarding post content. If a commercial member attempts to defend themselves from a vindictive post... it tends to go against the commercial member. Other non-commercial members will enter the thread, attacking the commercial member... the list of attacks will pile up until the thread simply gets locked... with the users 'vindicated' and the commercial members viscerated. I've seen it happen to several developer houses in these forums. Several.Non-commercial members are given far more lattitude with regards to post content and attitude. So much so that I've reduced my posts to next to nothing. This is not a 'level playing field', per se.I've been called a liar. I've been told that my work was crap. I've seen the same done to other developers. These are not opinions. Opinions are not to be used as verbal swords, which happens far too often in these forums. Here's a perfect example of how a user will post with a veiled intent:There was no legitimate need nor reason to explicity call out the developers/products they 'regret buying'. It had nothing to do with 'first impressions' of the aircraft being discussed. Even more so when you consider the complexity level of the three aircraft by comparison. They have little in common other than being FSX aircraft. The reality is that many AVSIM users go out of their way to denegrate a developer or a product for strictly personal reasons and are not very objective about it.The fact I have to point these things out shows the complete imbalance in these forums. Had I, a commercial developer, purchased those three products and made the same remark... it would be considered completely and totally inappropriate (ignore the fact one of those items is mine, that isn't my point). My time as an FS developer is limited... as in I won't be doing this much longer. The atittudes and behaviors at AVSIM have convinced me that my love of aviation and aircraft isn't strong enough to shield me as I wade through this ascerbic morass. I've stated this before, and I'll say it again: I have a couple of projects I'm committed to... and then I'm gone.I predict people will take certain sections of my post and rant about those sections without paying attention to the entire thing.

Yep, I remember you telling me that your days developing are numbered. You may recall my response to you, which was one of sadness to see you go. You, and Ron I assume, may also remember that Geof and I spent countless hours trying to defuse situations where people criticised your products without base. I even recall suspending a member because he felt the need to pile on repetative adjectives about the Citation, which was entirely uncalled for.Perhaps the misunderstanding is that there seems to be blending of administrators with members in this thread. Yes, there are some members that take an uneccesary attitude with developers, but moderators do not. I can't speak for David or Stag, but I do know that Geof and I have been very, very, very, very supportive of commercial members, often times not enforcing the rules as we have agreed to, at least not particularly vigorously. I don't agree with every rule, but I wish those in disagreement would take it up with the author of said rules and not those just doing there job as best we can.Oops, just saw your edit. I would also like to see everyone sign there posts, though I'm not sure what good it would do. I don't see a difference between a member using there screen name or there real name. It's not like I'm going to plug there real name into a search engine and try to find out where they live. I've never really cared about commercial members being identified either, but once again, I don't make the rules, I just do my best to enforce them fairly.And if anyone thinks I don't have great concern for how we deal with commercial members, just ask Tom. He can tell you that I have gone far out of my way to try to make sure commercial members are treated fairly.

I've seen baseless attacks on Eaglesoft and others. I've also noticed that Eaglesoft posters in particular are very quick to meet criticism with accusations of the poster having an agenda, even in cases where it is obvious to an uninterested observer that it clearly isn't the case.I think the moderators here do a fair job of balancing things.

Interesting discussion, with some very good points made.From my perspective as a potential customer I like the fact that most devs have big sigs under their messages. One of the factors that I now use to decide upon a purchase is how the developer(s) conduct themselves in this and other forums, and when I see someone posting a message that is rude, arrogant, condescending, or just generally nasty and there is a great big sig underneath it telling me what developer they are associated with then I know who not to buy from in the future.Perhaps not the intended function of the commercial member tag, but certainly a useful one!Nick

And if anyone thinks I don't have great concern for how we deal with commercial members, just ask Tom. He can tell you that I have gone far out of my way to try to make sure commercial members are treated fairly.

I appreciate that the moderators go out of their way to be fair. I think the point of this thread is that we want the members to be fair too.

Well, this appears to be an 'Eaglesoft' thread... so, I'm bowing out... again.Yeah, I probably sent it that way. :(

I appreciate that the moderators go out of their way to be fair. I think the point of this thread is that we want the members to be fair too.

So do I. In fact, there has been much debate on that amongst us. Of course most of those members who are in question believe that they are being just as "fair" to commercial members as commercial members are to them. Not sure how anyone else here would moderate situations like those, but I can assure you that it isn't easy.And as for Ed, nobody's asking you to bow out of this thread. You are more than welcome to debate it until you're blue in the face. That's been part of my point all along. I'm not stopping you from defending yourself - I NEVER have. I even recall requesting you post a screenshot of the Citation in hopes that you would defend yourself. I also recall defending Eaglesoft in your absence on more than one occasion.

If anyone disagrees with the rules, which are very, very, very liberally enforced, than why did you click the box to agree to the terms?

Actually, the "rules" I agreed to have changed considerably over the years I've been a member here.While I can see merit in the idea of having the "Commercial Member" category, as others have stated (sometimes quite eloquently), from the POV of the "Commercial Member," the reality of it is more akin to being forced to wear a Scarlet Letter......or as was the case in medieval Italy, being required to wear only yellow shoes. :( As for the suggestion a few have made about the inclusion of a "disclaimer," that too is essentially useless......since it rarely gets read. I've always signed my posts here (and elsewhere) with at least my first name "Bill," yet almost without exception folks will address me as "n4gix" (which is my amateur radio callsign - not my name)... :( Ninety-nine percent of my posts over the past decade or so have been totally unrelated to my work for Eaglesoft, yet I am forced to wear this Scarlet Letter I never asked for...I've always viewed this as a solution in search of a problem. :(

Actually, the "rules" I agreed to have changed considerably over the years I've been a member here.While I can see merit in the idea of having the "Commercial Member" category, as others have stated (sometimes quite eloquently), from the POV of the "Commercial Member," the reality of it is more akin to being forced to wear a Scarlet Letter......or as was the case in medieval Italy, being required to wear only yellow shoes. :( As for the suggestion a few have made about the inclusion of a "disclaimer," that too is essentially useless......since it rarely gets read. I've always signed my posts here (and elsewhere) with at least my first name "Bill," yet almost without exception folks will address me as "n4gix" (which is my amateur radio callsign - not my name)... :( Ninety-nine percent of my posts over the past decade or so have been totally unrelated to my work for Eaglesoft, yet I am forced to wear this Scarlet Letter I never asked for...I've always viewed this as a solution in search of a problem. :(

What have you been prevented from saying here in the forums due to your commercial status? With the exception of advertising, which is an issue I rarely encounter here, what has a commercial member said that has been deleted/hidden?

I've seen baseless attacks on Eaglesoft and others. I've also noticed that Eaglesoft posters in particular are very quick to meet criticism with accusations of the poster having an agenda, even in cases where it is obvious to an uninterested observer that it clearly isn't the case.I think the moderators here do a fair job of balancing things.

That is true. Eaglesoft suggests that those of us who use User Names only violate AVSIM's Terms of Use and want to hide who are and tend to have a hidden agenda.

That is true. Eaglesoft suggests that those of us who use User Names only violate AVSIM's Terms of Use and want to hide who are and tend to have a hidden agenda.

Perfect example... you are incorrect. Eaglesoft suggests nothing. I believe it, with years of experience on the internet to back my belief. I am a person, not a business.My suspicion is that you are a commercial developer in hiding.