Okay, here is the message I promised about an hour or so ago....Thanks to Mike Hambly (the sound guru, if you didn't know), we were able to track down Mr. Ferdy and his activity here on AVSIM.Before going any further, have a look at this AVSIM Log File: http://ftp.avsim.com/~mattj/ferdy-logsNow, we are guessing that not all of those downloads over the past 13 days or so are Mr. Ferdy, but we are willing to bet that a majority are. And that is quite a bit of bandwidth!!! It turns out that Mr. Ferdy's ISP is a very large Spanish one, so it follows that a minority of those downloads were from someone other than he. However, our Tech Guys took it one step further and matched up some of the downloads in the log to that which appear on FSPlanet's front page. Guess what?8 of the 10 files downloaded on the 7th and 8th of June appeared on FSPlanet's front page today...virtuaip.ziplsgk11.ziphmv35.zipcatania2k2.ziptcas-panel.zip737tex_iberia.zipmanb146.zipcanjet7372.zipThat is MORE than just a coincidence.All hosted at VOLFTP.What have we done?AVSIM has shut off the node range that we know Ferdy uses to get Internet Access. That is, there are a range of IP's that Ferdy always connects to the Internet with, and as far as his connection is now concerned, AVSIM's FTP server doesn't exist. This will have a negative impact on other Spanish users who are unfortunate enough to being using that IP range. Though we suspect that number is small, never the less they are hurt by the actions of one individual. If and when we receive email from them asking why they can no longer get access to the AVSIM File Library, we'll encourage them to write Ferdy directly and have him explain the situation. We will also probably point them to an email address at his ISP so they can register their complaint there. Ferdy may well find another ISP. That's okay. When we determine that that has happened, and we'll know very shortly after he starts downloading here again, we'll block that ISP range too.So folks, as of today, the AVSIM Libraries are Ferdy free.

a little Navy speak: Bravo Zulu, on a job well done !!!!!!!!!!!!!!:-outtahttp://publish.hometown.aol.com/p3superb/images/675-2n.jpg

Well, I guess that's what we all suspected. Thanks for confirming that. Great work guys! :)

Thats simply pathetic.Who thought up the hair-brained scheme? They thought it just wouldn't be noticed by the admins? Geez. They thought they'd steal FS community files, then turn around and sell CDs full of those files back to the FS community? Good lord. Its almost laughable if it wasn't so blatently stupid. And wrong.Anyway, keep checking throught the log because at least one of my files isn't listed there that I know he got from AVSIM:fstexconvert102.zipThe image that was uploaded ONLY to AVSIM is shown right in the listing on their site. So for sure he leeched it. Which means he probably got a more than you've found so far...http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/elrondlogo.gifhttp://members.rogers.com/eelvish/flyurl.gif

Bob, if you guys want the IP range, we'll happily send it to you. Assuming of course that you can do IP blocking?And to any other webmaster who hosts files that think this crap is reprehensible, we make the same offer. Just send me an email, and we'll provide you with the full IP range that can be blocked on your server.

Elrond, we only ran the log for 12 or 13 days, so it may well be that were we to go back for 3 months or so, we would find a whole bunch more. I would be afraid to look at that log, I am sure. :)

TomI wish the situation were the same on Flightsim.com. If that site took the same stance as I hope in time, it will, Ferdy would have nowhere to go for our files.I must congratulate you and your staff for taking up this issue. Ferdy has been a Huge thorn in the side of this community for far to long.Best

And as you know, you are welcome sir, and thanks for the assist.

Hi TomWell, well, he just posted some of todays flightsim.com files onto his front page.www.fsplanet.com. he must be aware that he is under the microscope yet he still continues his mission of pillage for profit:-(Best

No wonder he got them from FS.com. He can't get them from here. :-lol

I'm pleased to post this email I recieved from the FTP server staff. They seemed genuinely concerned (although, it could have been the message I sent, it was quite scary with threats of plagues and legal action ;-) ) Hopefully, this will end this situation for me, at leastWe are extremely sorry for what may be happened, Mr. Haska. We take every possible care in respecting the EULAs when we upload files on our servers: if we occurred in some mistake, no problem at all, we will immediately remove your applications. There is a problem, though: we can't find the three files you are mentioning, at all. Please send me the EXACT file names and I will analyze them and remove them ASAP. Best regards, ********************************************** Antonello Orru' VOLFTP Staff

hooray! :) If FlightSim would also ban him, thats great. ;) Why don't you guys send them an email? Look at the email he sent me:"I'll take a look. I don't have nothing to lose by deleting or adding your file. FSPLANET.COM is the 3rd most visited FS site worldwide, so 17,000 unique visitors a day will don't know about your file. I really don't care...but what about the people?"Quite Ignorant, isn't he? Let us sit back and relax as his 17,000 visitors dwidle down to less than a thousand...provided that Flightsim bans him. :-lol :-lol :-lolhttp://www.someplacesomewhere.com/uploaded/9vsve/sig2.jpg

I think, and this is strictly my opinion, that Tom should send this information to Nels over at flightsim.com in a gesture of good faith and information sharing. What Nels does after that regarding flightsim.com policy is his sole decision. I can't possibly see flightsim.com coming to a different conclusion than Tom has, however. :) If flightsim.com and avsim.com mutually restrict fsplanet file access, it is the nail in the coffin for Ferdy, I would think.I still think that FSPlanet.com got greedy, and this is going to be their downfall. FSPlanet has been doing this for a LOOOONG time, and it only now has come to light. Why? Well, I think it is because of the blatant attempt to garner money from that site. Besides the obvious "pay" exclusive membership, the site reeks of ad popups, and all sorts of javascript, etc. tools to generate revenue. This was, given due time, just bound to send "surfers" to the soapbox complaining why FSPlanet is like that, but other flightsim sites are not.If FSPlanet would have kept a low profile, I don't think this thing would have blown up. Let's be honest... there are OTHER sites (no names need mentioning) that still do this "poaching" thing, and we as a community do not cry foul (most likely because they are much smaller, and are not blatantly geared to generating money). Some are bigger than others, but there are sites that do this with the files from avsim and flightsim and are doing it now as we speak.

:-lol @ tom>No wonder he got them from FS.com. He can't get them from >here. :-lol

Great action by Tom ! Bravo !.I think people will know what's best of FS Freeware files.I can't believe he gave some of my repaints 4 star ! that's pathetic, I spent hours on that and even days.He also gave one of my member work 3 stars....that's more pathetic.