Yep, Shez, pretty easy to conclude that someone won't be sending Avsim a Christmas Card late this year! I smell a rat... and his name is Ferdy! Shame on Avsim for "planting" files on his site!!! LOLQuite entertaining reading to say the least. Most comical is the idea that control of Avsim should be turned over to other flightsim sites. Most offensive is the claim that the Richard Harvey Trust is benefitting a "friend" of this sites' owners. Most interesting is the submission date of the aforementioned file... 11/01/2005.Can't we all just get along? :-) This hobby is better than any soap opera.

hmmm...something like this?(picture the Avsim team in a dark dark room)muhahahaha..we are Avsim,resistance is futile,you will be assimilated,so we can make money of your free files.hmmm....i don't buy it...i just don't....i think we ought to be thankful to every site we can freely access,without having to pay,they are(for me atleast) an integral part of the hobby,and i can decide for myself who i grant my "business".but it is obvious someone struck a nerve ;-)i also find the fact that only one person signed that readme a bit strange.,considering the fact he talks about a lot of people(imaginary people?)ah well...sorry.regards

Someone is always upset with us... nothing new in that. But, you have one up on me here. I haven't seen this, and have no desire to go hunting for it. :) So, if you want, you can post the entire read me here in our forums so we all can comment. I love conspiracy theories, especially when they have to do with AVSIM. It is unbelievable what some folks can come up with! :-lol

here ya go Tom,disclaimer:not written or endorsed by the poster of this thread,afaic this is a load of bs."quote"MESH UK 001 by with additional work by INSTALLATION NOTESMake a new folder and call it MESH UK 001Install the new folder to your Addon Scenery folder and then open FS2004 and click on the 'add scenery' button and browse for the folder and click on it.FS2004 should recognize it and rename it for you.If you downloaded this file from Avsim then it was stolen by them because it was not authorised to be downloaded to their site! This scenery is copyright work and it can be freely loaded to flightsim.com, fsfreeware.com, fsplanet.com, simviation.com and other freeware sites but it is NOT to be uploaded to Avsim because of the note I received below and because I want an answer to the questions before I send anythin to Avsim. I don't necesarilly agree of some points what it says but there are some real serious questions on it people and it looks like it has a good number of people supporting it.Thanks for keeping Freeware Free for everyone.Be wary.---------------------------------------------------IMPORTANT NOTE TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITYWHY DOES AVSIM WANT YOUR FREEWARE?Does Avsim want your files so they can increase traffic (visitors) to ask advertisers to pay more for the advertising on their site and also to draw you to buy from their shop to make more money? Are your freeware files are a marketing opportunity for THE DIRECTORS to make MONEY from YOUR free, hard work?IS THAT FREEWARE?Other sites have sponsors but do they attack their competitors? Do they force their ideas on others? Do they war against their fellow community members by secretly placing files containing the Avsim.diz file on sites like 'fsplanet.com' and then claim that fsplanet took the files from Avsim without permission?ASK AVSIM1 Has IFDG, POSKY, FFX or other freeware group been set up or infiltrated by pro-Avsim activists seeking to control quality freeware while using it to force others to NOT support certain sites it is targetting to remove from the community because their continued growth poses a threat to their plans for dominance of the freeware and payware markets for money reasons?2 Eg: POSKY. Why is it that POSKY use their files to promote Avsim but shame FS Planet in them?3 Why is it that POSKY has "download the virtual cockpit from Avsim" placed right there in their cockpit of the aircraft instead of placing the whole file for you to enjoy as opposed to being dictated which site you should visit for freeware. Isn't that more like MARKETING and less like FREEware?4 Why it is that most PAYWARE products that have a forum on their site are always given the BEST promotion and BEST reviews on their product launches despite the sad fact that when software by them is released it is bugged or doesn't work properly? Aren't we getting tired of bugged stuff when one software company released it third patch in less than 9 weeks?5 Why is it that the Avsim NEWS page is beginning more and more with a whole list of freware files? Where is the news Avsim promised us? Why does Avsim lead its NEWS page with FREEWARE files? Isn't it obvious that they are now running their business using FREEware to make them MONEY?6 Is it true that PSS is really being run by a Director of Avsim? If so, is it fair for PSS to win the coveted Avsim Award for Excellence every time a new release comes out then? It wouldn't be allowed in governement and yet Avsim claims to be the government of the community?7 Why not let flightsim.com, fsfreeware.com, fsplanet.com, simviation.com and the rest of the big five nominate the board of Avsim to take care of our interests (they can run the site) and let the votes be published on the sites for all to see?7 Why do Avsim charge such high prices to attend an annual "AVSIM CONVENTION", make "sponsors" pay for the food and the drinks and the exhibition stands and take the lion's share for themselves in profits from the entrance fees - is that a service to the community who cannot afford to attend this "dinner for the elite" - or a business? Why not give the money to charity instead?8 Who is really benefitting from the Embry Riddle Scholarship? An Avsim relative or a friend? Why have we not heard who the first student was then?9 Don't you get fed up with Avsim's claims that "this person is him" and this person is really "so-and-so in disguise"? When will we be able to mail the real person directly without giving our e-mails for Avsim to use for marketing purposes?10 Isn't it annoying when names on the forums are never real names? 11 Do ghost members of Avsim staff pose as impartial commentators without a real face themselves to support newly released work?There are many more questions people should ask but don't. Maybe we should be more suspicious of a site whose "Asssociate Publisher" happens to be the director of the company that gains the coveted "Best Software Award" every time it releases a package? TEST AVSIMMake a stand against Avsim and vote against their actions on members of the community that they boycotted or attacked by doing exactly what they did to start such a war - WITHDRAW YOUR FREEWARE. It is that simple everyone. Because if Avsim are for the community (like they say they are), then they will continue to offer a service of news etc; without the need for freeware files as proof of their loyalty to us all will they not?HERE IS WHAT TO DOTake your files off Avsim and place your files on one or many site like: flightsim.com, fsfreeware.com, fsplanet.com, simviation.com and other non-politically active freeware sites. (We personally like flightsim.com if you must know but you'll get just as good an audience for your great work at any of the other sites too).STOP AVSIM TAKING OVER OUR HOBBYPUT YOUR FREEWARE ON A SITE THAT DOES NOT ATTACK OTHER PEOPLE(That sort of action is like a mob hanging an innocent person without a fair trial - and you have never supported such a tyrannical and unfair act yourself have you)?NOTEWhy did we make this note? We grew tired of Avsim bashing people on their forums and attacking growing sites on their news pages by calling for stupid boycotts every time things didn't go their way in terms of stats for visitors (yes, Avsim's stats are obviously down). This sort of deception and dishonesty annoyed us all so much that a very large group of us decided to do something about it and exercise our freedom of speech rights and say something we are all entitled to say. Avsim's plans should be a concern for us all but what can we all do about it?We don't want dictators TELLING us what we SHOULD or should NOT do with our work or OUR FREE TIME and we don't want to be told to support boycotts or attacks without proof simply in order to line pockets with MONEY.This ia n early call to wake up people. Wake up to what one site is trying to attain before it is too late in the days when one site will be left and you will be charged a monthly fee to gain access to free work with the excuse that "it costs money to run it"...We know what we propose is using the same means Avsim have used but we think its about time they had a taste of their own medicine. Thank you fior listening - lets hope Avsim will be fair and see sense and remove poltiics and control from our hobby and give us back the freedoms we all used to enjoy pre the 'Age of Avsim'. We know there are a lot of us that remember those halcyon days when freeware was a lot freeer than it was and we are going to take those days back.KEEP FREEWARE FREE - SUPPORT OTHER SITES - STOP THE WAR ON FREEDOMVOTE WITH YOUR FILES - REMOVE ALL FILES OFF AVSIM UNTIL AVSIM DECLARE A TRUCE AGAINST EVERYONE THEY HAVE HURT OR ATTACKED.KEEP FREEWARE FREE FROM CONTROL BY ONE SITE* * * * * * * * * * *KEEP FREEWARE FREE CAMPAIGNPublished and distributed on the behalf of a noted and growing number of the community who are growing tired of Avsim's attacks against other sites and other people for money.Free Skies for AllKFFC "end quote"regards,EDIT:removed names,jic.

I find that absolutely hilarious. Sounds like every gripe Ferdy has had with AVSIM has been translated in to one fine infantile rant. What surprises me is that someone would take it all in, hook line and sinker, and publish it as a read me in a file submission (and the site hosting it would allow it to stand!!!). As I said, conspiracy theories about AVSIM have existed since the day we launched our first downloadable magazine. I think our growth and popularity make some folks nervous, especially those that rip off the works of others. Anyway, if someone wants to ask us adult questions based upon the above, I will happily answer them in a similar adult manner (and, we have no secrets, so fire away!). :)

Wow I can't believe that! It seems like this guy should put his creative mind to work on sceneries not on readme files!

"Has IFDG, POSKY, FFX or other freeware group been set up or infiltrated by pro-Avsim activists seeking to control quality freeware while using it to force others to NOT support certain sites it is targetting to remove from the community because their continued growth poses a threat to their plans for dominance of the freeware and payware markets for money reasons?"As far as iFDG goes, the answer to this is no. We get no input or "suggestions" from any AVSIM staff member.I can't imagine receiving a message from any AVSIM staff member telling me not to upload something to another site. My first response to him would be to ********** off. That'd be the lowest of the low. As for FFX/SGA, they don't jive with AVSIM anymore. They've created a forum on Flightsim.com, and all their future releases will be released there.

Jeez, this guy really has a problem. Hes implying that avsim will soon charge a monthly access fee to download *Freeware* yet he's advocating a site that does excactly this in the form of a Firstclass membership and if you dont have this Firstclass membership your constantly getting an all nodes busy page when trying to access *Freeware* files in the library....Talk about a hypocrite!Gaz

"Anyway, if someone wants to ask us adult questions based upon the above, I will happily answer them in a similar adult manner (and, we have no secrets, so fire away!)."Well, okay, if you insist... What did ya have for breakfast?On the serious side, there are no other petition names attached to the readme other than the author(s) (two of them), and there are no e-mail contacts included in the Readme.

Yeah, I thought that was very "enlightening", so to speak. The ignorance of the *.diz file is another. Ah well, just goes to show that some folks don't use the grey matter they were blessed with and let others do their thinking for them. That I find sad.

Are we talking about Ferdy as in Ferdy from FSplanet.com? Then it's the same Ferdy that stole one of my textures file for FS98 in 2000 from flightsim.com to upload it to his website without any authorization from me, boy was I surprised when I discovered that by just browsing around!

Breakfast = three cups (so far) of French Roast Coffee, double thick. More to follow. :)No names doesn't surprise me. Smear campaigns like this are always done without the names of the originators, because they are cowards. Otherwise, they would have just sent us an email demanding answers to their questions, which we haven't received. Notice the total lack of evidence in the "claims". Just questions and speculation. Go figure, huh? But, as I tried to imply in my post above, if anyone has serious questions that are triggered by this kind of stuff, the staff and I are more than happy to provide open and public responses right here...

Did you know that AVSIM also is in cahoots with the grey aliens and they have a 45-level underground bunker in Virginia where they perform secret biological and mind-altering experiments all in the name of increasing traffic to their site?!!?! YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST! Where's Moulder and Scully?!

>Jeez, this guy really has a problem. Hes implying that avsim>will soon charge a monthly access fee to download *Freeware*Wait a few minutes while I stop myself rolling on the floor laughing......Ok. :)Absolutely incredible! For what it's worth, AVSIM will not be charging access fees of any kind! If you cast your mind back to December, we announced our mirror service. It has been somewhat delayed -- due to the amount of new coding that is required for the Library to be able to deal with the new system -- but it is definitely still happening.The main delay has been "real life", as it always is. :) I work at a university and the start of the new semester, plus a couple of really bizarre and time-consuming issues thrown into the mix has left me with significantly reduced time for working on AVSIM development.The worst of the programming is done though (about 80% of the way through now). There will not be very many "obvious" changes to the Library front-end (other than the bug fixes and the mirror provision), but the code behind it all has changed drastically. We hope this will allow faster access to downloads and keep AVSIM's library at the pinnacle of its field.I'm not going to give a date for the Library/Mirror stuff, other than "soon". Q1 2004 is a safe bet, though. :)Regards,--M

>1 Has IFDG, POSKY, FFX or other freeware group been set up>or infiltrated by pro-Avsim activists seeking to control>quality freeware while using it to force others to NOT support>certain sites it is targetting to remove from the community>because their continued growth poses a threat to their plans>for dominance of the freeware and payware markets for moneyWhat is this guy on?>2 Eg: POSKY. Why is it that POSKY use their files to promote>Avsim but shame FS Planet in them?Ferdy is a criminal who takes advantage of freeware and uses it for self gain, they steal files from AVSIM and upload then illegally to his site and FS Planet steal and sell our files and charge money to download files to the gold members or something. We do not promote AVSIM..we thank them for hosting our files..it costs a hell of a lot of money and effort to do this..they deserve to be thanked.>3 Why is it that POSKY has "download the virtual cockpit>from Avsim" placed right there in their cockpit of the>aircraft instead of placing the whole file for you to enjoy as>opposed to being dictated which site you should visit for>freeware. Isn't that more like MARKETING and less like>FREEware?Because we can fully trust AVSIM, we ONLY upload to AVSIM as they have never distributed our files illegally and the library is the best run and accessible. He is completly bonkers MARKETING!-where does he come up with this stuff??AVSIM have no control over us and I know would never ask us not to upload elswhere. It's just jealously that you are a big successful group of volunteers helping out the community..they can't do this so they try to stab you in the back.I cannot believe the rest of the stuff this guy goes on about..Im pretty amazed at what some people can be like...I mean why?