Odd little drama going on here... If I'm not mistaken, this banned individual(s) is an ex-Avsim reviewer? And ripping on this banned person does nothing to elevate this hobby/community. Should just quietly ban this person and leave it at that, no drama, no grandstanding.And why is it that the same old cast of characters appear on these "hot" threads? It's a pattern I'm seeing time and time again, not sure if it helps attract new people into this hobby. With the demise of the MSFS franchise, I think we need new people coming in to support flight sim.

We mods had a discussion about your very point. Since this "event" of multiple accounts trying to sway threads has been going on rampant lately we decided that this thread had a purpose.1) A notice of if you do this you will be caught2) A possilble alert to 99.9% of the great simmers that visit our boards that often what appears to be legit is not-thus why threads may be locked, posts made invisible etc. with sometimes what appears to be no reason3) A perhaps nudge of understanding and compassion towards payware makers (not just Eaglesoft) that these antics go on with just about every release of a new product (and a search will show this)Now as far as the "ripping"-we would have been glad to ban and take care of this without a single simmer knowing which is how we usually handle these matters. Notice however-it was the banned user who made this post, and defamed avsim. I at least take that personally. We really have no agenda here and try to make this a great and fair place for flight simmers to meet. We are all volunteers, put lots of hours in, and only to hopefully make this a great place for flight simmers, and encourage flight simming.I think our membership numbers show the results of this hard work-if they didn't I don't think we would have this commitment.I know mods are supposed to be neutral but we sometimes get ...I'd like to use stronger words but I'll use ticked off.

Odd little drama going on here... If I'm not mistaken, this banned individual(s) is an ex-Avsim reviewer? And ripping on this banned person does nothing to elevate this hobby/community. Should just quietly ban this person and leave it at that, no drama, no grandstanding.And why is it that the same old cast of characters appear on these "hot" threads? It's a pattern I'm seeing time and time again, not sure if it helps attract new people into this hobby. With the demise of the MSFS franchise, I think we need new people coming in to support flight sim.

I made a comment regarding the use of smilies. I made no comment regarding the rest of the thread. So... exactly what pattern are you seeing?

Actually, most of the usual suspects :( have not posted in this thread. I can think of 4 or 5. Must not be hot enough. I am glad this thread has been allowed to continue. When everyone is done, then it can fade away like a real thread.Bob

Geof is right, it's about certain peoples behaviour towards all developers and all Avsim users and especially towards the Avsim Staff.I'm actually surprised that very little public posting in support of the Staff and Avsim itself has been made over this matter.

well,I support both Avsim and its staff,and whatever they doI'm pretty sure they mean no harm,so that's something,I guess.I'm just laughing my butt off reading this this discussion.

Perhaps it is silly. To be perfectly candid though, the "rolling eyes" smilie is the only one I think is in poor taste and is the one that is most apt to be misunderstood...

ok...my vote for most misunderstood smiley is :( - apoplectic laughter.Unless it's part of a hughe punch line..it'll turn even kind words antagonistic.

Been on vacation for a week and come back to this madness? I'm glad this thread is still on top as I had no idea such things were happening on AVSIM and its gratifying to know that things are being taken care of. Well done fellas.

Been on vacation for a week and come back to this madness? I'm glad this thread is still on top as I had no idea such things were happening on AVSIM and its gratifying to know that things are being taken care of. Well done fellas.

Normally I wouldn't do this, but this is too good to pass up.Madness? Now on a more serious note. These people have nothing better to do with their lives than screw with other people. In all honesty, it's aggravating at best. I come to the AVSIM forums because I expect serious discussion, not this kind of crap. As for this kind of stuff, whenever someone employs a sock puppet, it's a dead giveaway when they try to defend their banned account. And to imply that AVSIM is trying to cover for the payware developers and in conspiracy with them to help them is nonsense. If it were the truth, I guarantee I would have been fired long ago due to some of my disagreements with payware developers, especially with ones from Eaglesoft, including Ron himself on the forums.

Exactly, methinks the troll group would like to shift the responsibilty of their own behaviour and subsequent banning to me, my company, or the Avsim Staff.Reminds me of the old saying "That dog won't hunt." Seems to us that it is now "Game Over" for trolls and their deceptive practices and we see that as a positive for the community as a whole. :(

well,I support both Avsim and its staff,and whatever they doI'm pretty sure they mean no harm,so that's something,I guess.I'm just laughing my butt off reading this this discussion.

Same here, and even the lads at ESG are pretty decent guys once you get to know them. :( Cheers, SLuggy

Just wanted to weigh in here. I love the rolleyes smilie and can't see any reason why it should be banned. If somebody makes a comment that I think is silly or worthy of contempt, why shouldn't I be able to dismiss it with a rolleyes if I feel thats the appropriate response? Unless of course you are prepared to make the case that nobody ever posts topics that are deserving of a dismissive response - a case that would be interesting to make in this particular thread. :(As far as trolls go, I've been a member of many forums over the years and they all suffer the same problem - there are just some people out there who are utter shite-disturbers. They get a thrill out of the mess they create. These people are fully deserving of our contempt and our mockery. They should be made fools of at every opportunity. Its that simple. Their actions are indefensible and I really find it frustrating that theres always a few people on the forum who will try and jump to their defense.

Their actions are indefensible and I really find it frustrating that theres always a few people on the forum who will try and jump to their defense.

:( Don't you mean defending themselves, from one of their multiple accounts. :( :( B) B) ...........Adrian W.

:( Don't you mean defending themselves, from one of their multiple accounts. :( :( B) B) ...........Adrian W.

yeah thats often the case, but its usually pretty easy to spot that - you end up with two or three guys who all have a really low post count standing up for "each other." But theres often one or two people who are longer term members of the forum in question who will try and argue the "free speech" mantra. They can't seem to understand that forums are not countries and people don't have any particular entitlement to free speech if their only goal is to disrupt the forum and attack other members. Even the most democratic of nations have limits on free speech anyway...