An illustration of at least part of the issue around here in my candid opionion, can be seen by the fact that Ron Hamilton was the first person to respond to this thread. As I have said before, his influence, opnion and ego plays too great a measure in AVSIM and it is changing AVSIM's very fabric. Personal? .... I'm afraid so. Sometimes problems are personal and they drive opinions and feelings which are subsequently personal.Davido.

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Ron has zero influence on AVSIM other than his contribution here as a sim enthusiast, as well as the support he and other Eaglesoft members provide for their products, and indeed all things FS. With that said, let me make one point very clear. Any personal issues that anyone here has with anyone else here need to be discussed through PM or any other private format you wish, but not in the open forums. I'm not interested in your opinion of Ron or anyone else. You have an issue with an Eaglesoft product, than let's hear about it. But if you have an issue with Ron, that's none of our business.

Since the question is "What is going on with the Avsim forums" I have a few questions of my own and then perhaps a few answers...1) Why do a small minority of simmers choose to come here on the forums and pick/have fights with fellow simmers instead of simming?2) Why do a small minority of simmers read and agree to Avsim's terms of use-then complain when the mod's enforce it?3) Why do the mod's have to spend so much time every day dealing with not only the above, but behind scene stuff that is truly amazing-and not in a good way?Player2-After spending much time and energy daily making offensive posts invisible, removing spam, contacting ,disciplining,and dealing with that small minority-some who are repeat offenders who try their best to ruin this place for others, helping people with log in problems and other general problems, and the behind the scenes stuff- why do the mods have to take time in this post to explain that locking the thread you refer to was still another in a daily series of steps they take to try to keep this place pleasurable for most of the simmers who are in fact pleasurable?Now I see you have been a member for 1 month. You mention being a guest before. If I may be blunt-two threads of yours already have already been critics of how the show is run around here. I don't have a problem with anyone disagreeing while being polite and you have been polite.However, if I may ask-what exactly are you trying to accomplish? For a new guest, frankly I find this a little strange, and as a mod I have always found if something strikes me as strange-it usually is.

Very well said, thanks Geof! :--)

Thank You, Geof!!! This guys comments and tiny little snipes in an earlier post were the major reason I just got b****y mad and left to cool off for a week. I just about believed myself when I swore I would not be back. This is how it happens. I'll bet $100 that this was why we no longer see Nick Needham here any more.Remember this?"Apparently "small gears" means your a 2nd rate member that has to live by another set of rules that OTHERS don't seem to have to go by."I had attempted to make him feel that all are equal on Avsim: I threw an olive branch.. it didn't work.. There are no favorites here, Mr. Player2 - each does his own bit to help the next guy. Sometimes there are misunderstandings; some folk are a bit rough around the edges; that's life. It takes a team to make a successful business. It takes patience and understanding and a whole lot of managing your own personality, so as not to come across as offensive. Try being a mod for a while. It took ******* and a number of others a whole lot of time and effort to persevere with this BP project. There are lots of other forums around - and, as most of them suffer from too many juveniles and too much d*** silliness, I can't be bothered to even poke my nose in. Avsim is the only forum where you will find a bunch of really smart grown-ups who could actually get together and make a difference for hundreds of us. My machine has never been so good or so stable, and I owe it to just being a member of Avsim. From the inputs of everyone that participated.These pc's that we work with are all different - mobo versionjs - driver versions - power availability - monitor load, and so on. You can't get all the hundreds of permutations to work with each other all the time. Everybody here understands that. OK I'll shut up my rambling post now. Bert's post was a good one, and it didn't call for the deterioration in tone that happened. Thanks Geof, for being really astute.... and thanks, too, David for not locking this before I had a (small) say!

I'd venture the Mods here see a lot more than most of usand have a better sense for threads about to degrade. Maybe it's better they 'seem to' overreact on occasions than be too liberal in judgmentand let the immature nonsense that is posted at times develop.I've felt threads are being locked quickly lately too,and it can seem arbitrary when some hardware posts are left in the main forum and others are not. I'm wondering if at best, a mod should have a very low profile, with very little activity on the forum other than moderation,so they draw little attention and personal opinion from others.If someone really enjoys interacting on a forum and posting opinionsmaybe they are best being a member?In any case I'm glad someone is moderating here!

I couldn

I would like to take the opportunity to express gratitude for AVSIM, it's members, and what it means to passionate simmers.I can't complain because like many I've been given my share of second chances. I've made mistakes. Wrote words that were downright shameful and even immature. But, through it all, I've remained an AVSIM enthusiast. I regret if I offended anyone.There's nothing wrong with AVSIM. Sometimes we just need to follow the words of a great artist:'Take a look at yourself and make that change."

Since the question is "What is going on with the Avsim forums" I have a few questions of my own and then perhaps a few answers...1) Why do a small minority of simmers choose to come here on the forums and pick/have fights with fellow simmers instead of simming?2) Why do a small minority of simmers read and agree to Avsim's terms of use-then complain when the mod's enforce it?3) Why do the mod's have to spend so much time every day dealing with not only the above, but behind scene stuff that is truly amazing-and not in a good way?Player2-After spending much time and energy daily making offensive posts invisible, removing spam, contacting ,disciplining,and dealing with that small minority-some who are repeat offenders who try their best to ruin this place for others, helping people with log in problems and other general problems, and the behind the scenes stuff- why do the mods have to take time in this post to explain that locking the thread you refer to was still another in a daily series of steps they take to try to keep this place pleasurable for most of the simmers who are in fact pleasurable?Now I see you have been a member for 1 month. You mention being a guest before. If I may be blunt-two threads of yours already have already been critics of how the show is run around here. I don't have a problem with anyone disagreeing while being polite and you have been polite.However, if I may ask-what exactly are you trying to accomplish? For a new guest, frankly I find this a little strange, and as a mod I have always found if something strikes me as strange-it usually is.

Geof, David ..and everyone else:I tried to say what was on my mind as polite as I could and I appreciate that the thread wasn't locked and that as touchy as something as this can be, I think everyone has showed great understanding, on both side of the issue, - Thank You! However If you want to just dismiss it fine.What was posted was just an observation that things are a bit over the top and that it looks like there is BIASED treatment going on - good old boys club style type stuff, I did the best I could to convey it as fairly as possible. Sometimes we can be too involved, too close to see what others can easily see from a distance or different perspective.I observed what I have observed, I feel one would have to be blind not to see what has been stated as things have unfolded in the moment, not after the fact and not just by me. Some of you rightly pointed out that the MODs have a tough job, arn't perfect etc. I get that, have been around since the CompuServe forums. This is about somethings that have gone way too far, just look at what HAS BEEN HAPPENING, Hello? It is pure BS guys. Frankly David You should go chill for a while, and Geoff you should pay attention a little more to what goes on here.I didn't come in here to give a black eye, or to be sour grapes on the greatest FS forum this hobby has ever known. Hey, I could be way off my rocker, too much radiation from my LCD screen, fine.But Like someone just said - a look in the mirror might be in order, or keep it status quo, its up to you, but you have already lost a certain core group for not doing something about it when you had the chance and its probably too late, pride is still in the way.

Player, a lot of us have been here for just as long as you have. Most have seen the Avsims forums at their very worst and now at their best.Frankly, the atmosphere has become much more civil over the last six or eight months and a modicum of realistic and civil discussion has returned.This is primarily due to the Mods doing an outstanding job. Why insinuate that they are somehow being favoritist when that couldn't be further from the truth?

Player, a lot of us have been here for just as long as you have. Most have seen the Avsims forums at their very worst and now at their best.Frankly, the atmosphere has become much more civil over the last six or eight months and a modicum of realistic and civil discussion has returned.This is primarily due to the Mods doing an outstanding job. Why insinuate that they are somehow being favoritist when that couldn't be further from the truth?

Right.

Right.

Let's try something simpler... are you certain your view isn't biased?

Thank You, Geof!!! This guys comments and tiny little snipes in an earlier post were the major reason I just got b****y mad and left to cool off for a week. I just about believed myself when I swore I would not be back. This is how it happens. I'll bet $100 that this was why we no longer see Nick Needham here any more.Remember this?"Apparently "small gears" means your a 2nd rate member that has to live by another set of rules that OTHERS don't seem to have to go by."I had attempted to make him feel that all are equal on Avsim: I threw an olive branch.. it didn't work.. There are no favorites here, Mr. Player2 - each does his own bit to help the next guy. Sometimes there are misunderstandings; some folk are a bit rough around the edges; that's life.It takes a team to make a successful business. It takes patience and understanding and a whole lot of managing your own personality, so as not to come across as offensive. Try being a mod for a while. It took ******* and a number of others a whole lot of time and effort to persevere with this BP project. There are lots of other forums around - and, as most of them suffer from too many juveniles and too much d*** silliness, I can't be bothered to even poke my nose in. Avsim is the only forum where you will find a bunch of really smart grown-ups who could actually get together and make a difference for hundreds of us. My machine has never been so good or so stable, and I owe it to just being a member of Avsim. From the inputs of everyone that participated.These pc's that we work with are all different - mobo versionjs - driver versions - power availability - monitor load, and so on. You can't get all the hundreds of permutations to work with each other all the time. Everybody here understands that. OK I'll shut up my rambling post now. Bert's post was a good one, and it didn't call for the deterioration in tone that happened. Thanks Geof, for being really astute.... and thanks, too, David for not locking this before I had a (small) say!

Paul,I dont know what kind of person you are, But I not only explained to you publicly that you took my post post the wrong way, that I had read you correctly as a freindly gesture http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?s=&...t&p=1763413 but I also had sent you a PM explaining that and that there was never any hard feeling between us. It is still there in that thead for you to see incase you "lost" my PM.There are others, including members of Aces who put more time into this hobby than ANYONE here ever likely will, what about them? I know some of these guys personaly and there has been damage done here. I havent said all this to divide as some seem to think, or to just bust someones chops, I dont find any of this "fun", honestly some of you guys have no spine, at all. But That is all I am going to say, - enough.

I am 65 and understand that when mods or people who respond to my posts "yell" at me for saying something stupid or out of line, it's not disrespect as they have NO idea how old everyone is who post on this forum and respond solely based on the subject in hand.

Exactly, that's how it should be. These are anonymous forums and responses can only be based on the words actully posted. Because there is no way of proving or disproving personal items such as age, qualifications, or expertise, these are of no consequence in discussions here, which should avoid personalities and concentrate on the words posted. Generally they do and the Moderators do an excellent job in trying to achieve this for our benefit. Of course, being human, they get it wrong occasionally. But then so do the rest of us.

Right.

Player2-do you want to explain "Shockwave"?. Cause we know who he is, along with Flying bits and Fsxbuster.We can make this public but have chosen not to so far..

Frankly David You should go chill for a while

Thanks for the advice my friend :( That's what I'm gonna do by closing your xyz account.Using IP hiders doesn't really help, you know?Please, don't use Player or Shockwave next time. Be Creative or maybe Nvidia(...?), just for the fun!Guys, there is no reason to lock this thread.Feedback always help changing for the better!

Usually if it smells troll like it is troll like.....glad to see that the mods are on top of things. :(