Does anyone know of good FS forum where people can express opninions about the hobby and issues going on and not have it deleted. Please let me know if there is as there are things I would like to express and hear from many of you that have tried to do it here.

HiTry this http://www.glideslope.co.uk/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=2Maybe the forum moderator woul create a general discussion section if you ask.

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First of all let me state that I'm to old to be a groupy and don't give a flyin hoot about butt kissing. Having said that, I like AVSIM dot com. :) I've been visiting here since the Pro-Pilot wars back in '97 and on the whole a great staff and great community. There has always been highs and lows and Tom has always trimmed the lows when he felt like it. His patience is thinner at some times (like my hair) than others, but it does keep the forum on course IMHO.My yardstick for judging AVSIM is how much help and information I have gotten here. I have been able to solve show stopping issues in 5 minutes, share new experiences with other simmers and cannot envision my simulator experience without it. BobP :)

>Does anyone know of good FS forum where people can express>opninions about the hobby and issues going on and not have it>deleted. You mean totally unmoderated forum with "free for all" kind of attitude ?I have been in forums like that and unfortunately from my own experience it has been a total waste of time since 90% of those 'opinions' were total garbage. On the other hand if you crave for controversy and like to throw (and receive) some punches they may be great sites to hang around.I rather stick with moderated forums where at least my chances are much higher to find some useful information. Michael J.

The only way you're going to be able to do that is to post in an unmoderated newsgroup. The guys who own the bandwidth on these forums get to make the rules - and the rules don't have to include free speech. That's just the way it is. Most of us have learned to deal with it and have come to realize that the benefits of moderation far outweigh the penalties. Unless, of course, it's one of my posts that's been deleted :-) .Doug

All that I am saying is that I have seen good and interesting posts that express good and thoughtful opnions, but then the replies don't always measure up to the same thoughtfulness as the original post, so the whole thing gets deleted instead of just some of the replies. I guess that it is not possible to edit out of some of the trash replies without deleting the original post, so the whole thing goes. Is this a correct assumption? I know that some things can degrade quickly when people disagree. Which is too bad, because there some interesting views that are not agreeable to everyone, that would be interesting to discuss in a civilized manner. Thanks, John

I believe that forums almost *require* some babysitting - because there are more than a few babies out there that love nothing more than to ruin other people's experience for some perverse reason (and also occasionally our passion/conviction leads us off the Constructive Path).I've visited all of the FS forums that I'm aware of, and this is the only one that's in my "Personal Toolbar" in Mozilla/Netscape. I visit about four forums a day here, time willing. I've been doing that for probably three or four years.So basically IMO this is the best deal going, and if we have to put up with some discussions being deleted then I'm willing to put up with that. That said, I would prefer if threads that are constructive up to some point are left there up to that point, with only the "spiraling downwards" posts deleted and the thread locked.I'll add that if everyone follows the "policy" that I try to follow, threads probably won't get deleted at all. That is: when posting, act as if the person you're "talking" to is standing right in front of you. A certain amount of respect is dictated, lest that person punch your lights out 8^) .Dave Blevins

I agree with the point that moderation or "baby sitting" is required here. I am wondering whether the deletion of an entire thread is necessary. I have visited plenty of forums where an offending post is deleted, with a reason for the deletion inserted in its place, but the thread is left intact. My initial thread regarding PSS beta testers proceeded in a civilised manner, a few hours later (after I went to sleep) it was deleted and I still don't know whether it was because of a few offensive posts or some other reason.

>I guess that it is not possible to edit out of some of the>trash replies without deleting the original post, so the whole>thing goes. Is this a correct assumption? I think you are correct. Either technically it is not feasible or moderators find it too much work to bother. Deleting individual posts woul be the best solution - I agree here.Michael J.

I was following that post as well. There were differences of oppinion being expressed, but I didn't see a reason to lock it, much less remove it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you do a follow up post asking why it was deleted? And wasn't it deleted as well?I think it's a gimme some sort of baby sitting is needed, but if we aren't told what we did wrong, we're likely to do it again. Remove only the trash replies...yes. Why not take it a step further and remove the people whose trash replies are repeatedly being removed?

Don't feel bad. My AS2 News thread was deleated also, with no e-mail or PM to me.Edit: I ust read the pinned PSS post and I think I understand now.JimActiveSky Support

I have started a mailing list called PSS Users for people who want to discuss PSS problems.Send a blank email to [email protected] to join in.

You could always try the unmoderated newsgroup ALT.GAMES.MICROSOFT.FLIGHT-SIMAlthough unmoderated, it is surprisingly easy going. Barry

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