As someone who is an infrequent poster, but is an extremely frequent (several times a day - I know, sad doesn't even begin to cover it!) reader of these forums, I'd just like to add a quick twopennyworth to this thread.Firstly, I have absolutely no idea what initiated the OP's comments that things were somehow going wrong with the AVSIM forums. These forums (and a couple of others, FlightSim and VatSim) have for a number of years been to me a superb source of advice, anecdotes and just good old general fun. I sometimes notice fluctuations in the overall tone and content of these forums but at no stage has anything seemed to me to be seriously amiss in any of them.Secondly, like all forums, things have occasionally got out of hand on AVSIM (and I know that a lot of this doesn't appear publicly because of the invisible work 'in the background' that the moderators do) and sometimes they're more out of hand than at other times. However, these occasions are infrequent and, speaking personally, I'm glad that AVSIM has a team of moderators that can act to stop or remove these distractions from the business in hand.I've never seen anyone's contributions or opinions, however passionate or intense they might be, challenged by moderators when they've been made in a polite and respectful manner - and in line with AVSIM's terms and conditions which everyone agrees to abide by when registering on the forums. The main causes of moderator intervention that I've seen in the last few years have been when individuals have become personally abusive or have included in their posts racist language or language that is derogatory to a specific religion - and also the occasional developers who have had to be reminded about the fine line between using the forums to contribute to public discussions about their products as opposed to using them simply to advertise their products.The restraint shown by the moderators when they do intervene (probably at just about the time they're tearing their hair out at having to deal with yet another individual who seems incapable of following the relatively simple rules of conduct of the forums) is, in my opinion, admirable.David is clearly a civilised chap who requires little other than a similarly civilised approach from contributors to the forums. Geoff seems slightly rougher round the edges (and I mean that in a good way!) and is prepared to try to knock some sense into the occasional unreformable miscreant.Both of them have occasionally made calls with which I've personally disagreed - but why would I let that be a cause for public complaint when, like almost everyone else, I'm not prepared to get into their shoes and volunteer to be a moderator myself?Overall, I support anyone (moderators, contributors and readers) whose ideal is that the AVSIM forums should be (1) a source of information, entertainment and good humour for anyone with a genuine interest in flight simulation (2) a place where civilised, good and even passionate behaviour is the norm and bad or yobbish behaviour is not tolerated. I guess I would simply not understand the mindset of anyone who didn't have this an ideal.Well, that's a big twopennyworth, but I thought it potentially worthwhile to have an opinion from someone who isn't (and doesn't get) embroiled in what have seemingly become controversial issues here on AVSIM. Maybe there are many more, like me, who are simply silently grateful that the forums are being run in the way they are?

Thank you very much indeed.Jeremy gives lot of his time also moderating this forum so your kind post goes to him as well :--)

I'd like to add my thanks to the mods.I've been here a few years, and my first experiences were very positive. Over time I think things went downhill a bit. My guess (and yes, it's just a gut reaction, I have no hard evidence) is that the very real disappointment of many FSX users who couldn't get their sim running at a decent rate ran over into unpleasantness. To be honest, I stopped frequenting Avsim for a while; I thought it all got a bit silly. But for many months now the declared (and it has been clear, the mods have made it clear) "lower tolerance" position of the mods has made this place a better place, imnsho, and I'm back with Avsim as the first place I check each day. Often more than once :)So keep it up I say. I can deal with a little censorship if the overall experience is good. This isn't politics. It's a game, we should be here to have fun, and I think the mods are applying a good deal of common sense to ensure we do. They haven't locked this thread yet, either ;)