Yes, I am aware of what the agreement stated. And if you'll notice, I posted exactly which aspects I believe you failed to comply with. That's all I have to say about it.

And I told you that you did not have all the information to be able to judge me. You were not privy to personal conversations that I had with members of the Flight Team.The NDA ended on Feb. 29th: "As a reminder, please abide by the Beta Non-Disclosure Agreement by not discussing your experiences with the beta with others until Microsoft Flight launches on February 29^th, 2012."

If you can point me to ANY post I've made about Flight that a reasonable person would call "hate", then please point me to it.

You wrote:

You wanted the "haters" to be gone, and now, largely, they are. If you are genuinely unable to see that the moderation since Flight's release has driven those with dissenting opinions away, then nothing I can say will convince you otherwise.

My reply was: "IF you are here just to spread hate, then no, there is no winning for you."

Otherwise, I suggest you stop suggesting who is welcome here and who isn't.

You also made a personal attack again me. And I do NOT have to tolerate that at all.From AVSIM's Terms of Service:"AVSIM is not a democracy, and there is no such thing as "Freedom of Speech" in our forums. If you believe that you are entitled to that freedom here and be able to do and say as you please, then reconsider... Do NOT register.Finally, AVSIM is operated by dozens of volunteers enabling your enjoyment and use of the AVSIM system. Any harassment, threats, or other objectionable behavior toward them will result in the harshest of consequences. This is a "One Strike and You Out" offense. There are no excuses for abuse of our volunteers and none will be tolerated."

Great interview, and confirms that Flight will be no replacement for FSX at any time in the foreseeable future. This is fine to me, however, as Flight is fun for what it is, and my FSX is only an icon double-click away to get my full systems simulation, entire world, and all the addons I already purchased for it. So I for one, will happily run both side by side, and enjoy each for what they offer, while enjoying myself flying in both titles. :)Thanks for the interview, Tom. Great job on asking the right questions!-George

NM. Arwin got it.

I'm obviously getting bamboozled into a "discussion" which will soon be labeled as "hateful"

Nick,There is no winning in this forum and it best to just abandon any perspective on what is righteous (or perceived to be). There are justifiable reasons why Flight is outrageous for many of us, and Tom even addressed that in his interview. However, the tenor and temperament of moderation in the Flight forum has few analogs for me in my memory of hanging around here since nearly the beginning. There are some, many have awards and special colors near that handles, that are all connected in some way to the development team. In short, they have their reasons for wearing the rose-tinted wayfarers and/or just really enjoying Flight.To be fair and accurate, Tom has, in his blogs, posts, and Interview, advocated for the minority position and that position will remain a minority.In reality, the lifeblood of AVSIM perhaps rests on:1) Flight doing well and 3PD opening up so that advertising dollars continue to come in (and titles are still available to sell in the store)2) XPlane prospers and becomes a increasingly viable alternative3) "Flight Pro" or Prepar3D offers alternatives.Oddly, Microsoft is the only real base-game simulator maker that AVSIM has become cozy with since the demise of Terminal Reality. What is puzzling is that the ecosystem that supports AVSIM (the library, ads from 3PD commercial offerings, forum traffic related to all of the above) is certainly undermined by Flight. If Microsoft starts their own community, and offers rewards in game for participating (notice how Josh paid particular attention to the sign-in numbers for Live), communities like AVSIM might suffer.Anyhow, what is odd is that AVSIM is quite supportive, overall, of the Flight experiment, and is behaving particularly judiciously in preserving a space for Flight love to foster. However, with all of the traditional revenue schemes at threat by Flight, how will AVSIM benefit? Perhaps a membership fee will be instituted? I don't know. I do know that Microsoft could EASILY undermine ALL of the community websites if they just start their own community site. With 3PD gone, quite a bit of the raison d'etre may shift or sublimate over time.In any case, it is not hard to become labeled as a "poison dwarf" when you mix passion with dissent in this forum right now. There is a bias towards positive Flight sentiment and it does seem to serve an agenda of some sort. In the end, it doesn't even matter: Flight does deserve a safe harbor here, so there's that.This interview underscores the painfully obvious: the removal of "Simulator" from the title has the authoritative answer out in the open: Simmers don't matter. I think from a journalistic perspective, Tom's interview asked the right questions in the right measure. However, I think the influence of Flight may warrant a revisit of the masthead motto: "Where Flight Simulation Enthusiasts Gather from Around the World!" Simulation will no longer strive to attain "as real as it gets." Rather, we have traded this for "discover new heights of adventure." The tectonic plates have shifted.

Great interview, and confirms that Flight will be no replacement for FSX at any time in the foreseeable future. This is fine to me, however, as Flight is fun for what it is, and my FSX is only an icon double-click away to get my full systems simulation, entire world, and all the addons I already purchased for it. So I for one, will happily run both side by side, and enjoy each for what they offer, while enjoying myself flying in both titles. :)Thanks for the interview, Tom. Great job on asking the right questions!-George

Good perspective George, you are correct about FSX.Thanks.

don't know how you can honestly call yourself a dissenter; you got an award for being "...one of the most dedicated and persevering Beta Testers...in spite of overwhelming harassment and juvenile treatment from others."Frankly, I'm stunned that given your repeated violation of the Microsoft NDA has actually been rewarded. And yes, Virginia, talking about the internal processes, procedures, conversations, content, and update schedules most certainly was a violation of the agreement, even if those in charge looked the other way.I get it, you're a big hit with the staff here. You showed up out of the blue defending Flight's honor, and now you're a big-time moderator, contributor, and Mighty Pineapple Award winner. You've got me by the short hairs, and that suits you just fine. Like I said, I get it.

Finally, AVSIM is operated by dozens of volunteers enabling your enjoyment and use of the AVSIM system. Any harassment, threats, or other objectionable behavior toward them will result in the harshest of consequences. This is a "One Strike and You're Out" offense. There are no excuses for abuse of our volunteers and none will be tolerated."Nick, you just earned yourself a 10 day suspension. Abuse of volunteer AVSIM staff will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

"Flight already has a much wider audience profile than past products in the franchise, and those people are asking for us to improve the product in a variety of other ways (many of which are about improving the quality of the game, like adding leaderboards, multiplayer missions, or new challenge types)."

Well they're interested in what the mass audience wants, and when they see that the mass audience wants a more realistic experience (whatever that may be) Microsoft will start doing things that will make our hard core simming dreams come true.

Are you reading the same interview? There is zero inferences in what Joshua said of anything that would interest the hardcore simmer, in fact he stated the opposite and as another poster in this thread pointed out actually displayed contempt for this community. So any thought that Flight will some how turn into FSXI at this point is nothing more then wishful thinking that won't happen.

I still fail to see where the first "personal attack" was made against Arwen. Although I do not agree with BlueRidge's post, I am in agreement that no personal attack was made whatsover. Then the "I feel threatened" response came into play. Come on folks, grow the heck up BOTH OF YOU.Blue Ridge's secon post on the other hand...

It is just not possible to engage certain empirically-derived and/or emotionally-charged topics of interest right now in the Flight forum. This is so even as an interview such as the one that Tom has shared with us is going to draw out the same emotions and sentiment that just played out.Just like with umpires, the "strike zone" is somewhat elastic.

The thing is, I find myself unwilling to post anything in regards to Flight other than I don't like it. I was a beta tester, I beta tested it, I gave some feedback, I don't/didn't find it my type of game-experience, therefore I haven't played it or bought any DLC for it. I'm in the camp that think's BeachAV8R's (Chris Frimuth) review at simhq was absolutely spot on in his findings/opinion.Yeah, I'm gunshy about posting here and I'm willing to bet many Avsim members are too.I do want to say thanks to Tom for posting it, and Josh Howards's answers (or lack thereof) confirm many of my sentiments regarding Flight.

^{Good job Tom. I love flying Hawaii. I have zero interest in long -haul flights. I look forward to Alaska. One aircraft a month, and 3 to 4 expansin packs a year is just right. Flight really brings back the feeling of my solo first cross country in a tiny C-150 25 years ago. The daunting cross wind landings in that same C-150. The check ride for my PPL that was the most tramatic thing I have ever done, and I was so broud of myself. the transition to the C-172, etc,etc. It just has that feeling for me. It is good to see a real GA flight simulation "game". I will stick with it, thanks to the Microsoft FLIGHT team for bringing that old feeling back.}

The real question is: when can we move on from what MS didn't give us and move on to what they did give us. At last check they have given us both FSX and Flight, so if you can't find what you like out of those two, you may want to pursue another hobby.

Abuse of our staff will NOT be tolerated. You are OUT of here Blueridge. Thanks be to all of those who kept this thread on topic despite the hellbent hijacker.

Wait...What????Stephen gave him a 10-day suspension, but now he's outright banned and all his posts removed to show any sort of evidence he was even in this conversation? Man, there needs to be some consistency. :unsure:And now I've noticed my first post in this thread has been deleted. What on earth is going on Moderators?

Some of the comments made by other pilots/players/simmers/gamers in this thread vs those made online in Flight are revealing.I have had more than one individual say something to the effect of, "I tried to join an FSX multiplayer session so I could fly with others and learn a little, but I got booted from the server the moment I spoke because I didn't use the proper language 'over the radio'". (I'm not trying to single out anyone nor the Avsim FSX community by this remark. I have no idea where or when this happened.)The fact that I now know that FSX is going to remain my platform for XC flight simming has not diminished the fun I derive from helping those that are just getting started using Flight.

Why the topic of Flight inspires in fighting amazes me. It should be re-labled "Fight" verses "Flight". The intention of this thread, errr... what was it? Oh.. the interview! The interview was skillfully handled, and some nice information shared. Why do I feel like I have taken a mind altering drug when the posts go way off topic and get personal? Tom conducted a skillful interview and very enjoyable to read. Be nice if this could get back on track and become positive. Out of respect for the forum, why not keep things on topic and positive? The tough questions were asked and more insight was gleaned. Did I mention helicopters needed? I feel like the kid that keeps asking over and over, "Are we there yet?"

Great interview, Tom. Thank you very much for your efforts