Recently, we had a situation arise that, as a member here, you should be aware of.We found that a user who did not identify himself as having a commercial interest in flight simulation, was posting messages that on the surface, appeared to be posts of an enthusiastic user letting all of us know of a product release. We were able to conclusively show that his message originated from an IP address that was owned by this flight sim publisher. We won't name names, as the situation has been resolved to our satisfaction, however, we thought you need to know.My message is simple... To the average, non-commercial member of our forums, beware... What appears to be an enthusiastic message of support, product announcement, etc., may not be what it appears. We have no doubt that some users are not what or who they seem. We have seen a number of posts over the years, that our instincts told us were not quite "right", but lacked conclusive proof to act upon. We are going to change that starting today. If we suspect a post, we will do everything we can via our admin functions and other sources to determine whether it is, or is not, coming from a "wolf in sheep's clothing". If you suspect or know for a fact that a user is commercial and hiding that fact, please let us know by sending an email to [email protected] our commercial members... 99 percent of you are honorable and would never exhibit this total lack of ethics. To the one percent that would and do, we are putting you on notice. If we detect activity on your behalf that appears to be from a normal member, we will take immediate steps to rectify that. We will start by banning the user account and then yours. If you are an advertiser on AVSIM, your account will be immediately closed and no further business will take place between us. No second chances, no BS excuses... You will be banned and that banning will be announced in the forums. Your lack of ethics and obvious disdain for the membership here, will be publicly exposed.It is simple... We will not tolerate the fraud and lack of ethics that this activity exhibits, not to mention the arrogance of thinking we are not smart enough to recognize and react to it and worse, that our readership can be taken in by these acts. Be forewarned.

Thanks for the heads up Tom.

Thank you Tom. I really appreciate this.

Thank you Tom. I really appreciate this.

Jim and all, I really want to emphasize the statement: If you suspect or know for a fact that a user is commercial and hiding that fact, please let us know by sending an email to [email protected]. That request is for commercial members too.

Get 'em, Tom. They have their one warning.As a former Commercial Member who likes to believe they played by the rules, it was interesting to see some instant fan posting in great detail about a new or soon to be released product, only to be followed by the developer themselves with further details on said product. But it's not for me to judge, I'll be happy to leave that to the staff at Avsim.

I certainly hope this doesn't curb people's enthusiasm for genuine posts of that kind, as it is always nice to read when someone is genuinely having fun with something, but clearly it has to be watched for if there is something dodgy afoot. Fortunately, I think it's usually rather apparent when someone pops up out of the blue singing the praises of something rather too loudly.Not quite sure why people do that to be honest. If a product is especially good, all they have to do is send a review copy into Robert and Avsim will do the job for them, and if it is bad, such a fanciful covert post will fairly rapidly attract some replies that point rather nearer to the truth than they might have preferred.Al

Alan, the practice of using "shills" is not a new thing in the community but it is good to hear that Avsim is "onto the game".We've long known of many of the agendas unscrupulous people in the "community" use to either promote or bash commercial developers and their products.That said, we can't imagine this policy as having the effect of throwing a wet blanket over true enthusiasts or for that matter true denigrators. :(

Oh, I'm well aware of that Ron. I spent years working as an advertising copywriter and then even more years writing for a newspaper, and frankly, I recommend double-checking the date printed on a newspaper against a calendar, because I don't believe a damn word in most of them. I know, because I used to have to occasionally write that rubbish myself for a living LOLAl

:( :(

Oh, I'm well aware of that Ron. I spent years working as an advertising copywriter and then even more years writing for a newspaper, and frankly, I recommend double-checking the date printed on a newspaper against a calendar, because I don't believe a damn word in most of them. I know, because I used to have to occasionally write that rubbish myself for a living LOLAl

I always thought that the word newspaper was an oxymoron :)Sorry to take this slightly OT Tom, I do understand that you are quite serious about this issue.

Interesting,It is good to know that you folks are vigilant. In the same way and for the same reasons I have sometimes wondered if the occassional over-the-top negative expose against a product or developer might just be from a jealous competitor. Even though certain commercial predators with a bad track record should be driven out of business (IMHO), a number of posts and posters who rant and rail against something or someone have often reminded me of what the Bard wrote, and I misquote: "I thinketh thou protesteth too much!"Stephen

Interesting,It is good to know that you folks are vigilant. In the same way and for the same reasons I have sometimes wondered if the occassional over-the-top negative expose against a product or developer might just be from a jealous competitor. Even though certain commercial predators with a bad track record should be driven out of business (IMHO), a number of posts and posters who rant and rail against something or someone have often reminded me of what the Bard wrote, and I misquote: "I thinketh thou protesteth too much!"Stephen

It goes both ways, and it is truly amazing and shocking. I guess the reason for this behaviour on both sides is that the stakes are so big... :(

Or at the least the "imagined stakes" are large. :(

Or at the least the "imagined stakes" are large. :(

or even sometimes the egos....Now I am going to go imagine a steak!!! What a difference a spelling makes.

Ok, just out of curiosity I wanted to see just what are the rules for commercial vendors here on the forums (I still dream of the day when I turn pro :( ), but I can't seem to find where it's listed. Man, these forums are huge when you start looking around. Can someone point me in the right direction? Is it the Terms & Use statement?thx,Clutch