Kosta Banned by AVSIM

[OmniAtlas 93]

 

I see you don't understand the reasoning behind this announcement was to enlighten the public to our decision as to avoid any conspiracy theories. He had many chances, too many chances, to fix it--and he didn't. That was his choice and we won't accept it.

 

 

Then I suggest the admins at AVSIM lock the thread because there is not much else to discuss. Thank you for keeping us informed; this was the first time I'm hearing about all of this.

[JDWalley 354]

 

The same could be said of you toward us.

 

My God, you guys are being supersensitive! Nothing Chaotic posted could be construed as "harsh" -- unless you have decided that asking a question is a cause for discipline...because you decided the asker should already know the answer.

 

I haven't been present for all the incidents that led to Word Not Allowed's banishment, but can understand the strain such a situation could have caused you. But it sure looks to me like Chaotic is a bystander caught in the crossfire of a situation in which he wasn't a part. On human-to-human terms, as opposed to admins vis-a-vis "customers" basis, it seems to me Chaotic deserves an apology.

[BenKnight77W 0]

Haven't been here long enough to comment all I know is he helped me alot via email with some problems.

[KSATRoadWarrior 91]

I am new to AVSIM but worked in the computer industry for 42 years. Based upon the facts that were presented (and particularly the EULA problem), this probably needed to be done and perhaps sooner rather than later. I would have lost my job if I had "performed" in the manner Word Not Allowed had!!! This web site and members are too important for many of us to have a fun and productive time with simming, so THANKS to everyone who contributes in a positive manner.

[HUSSAR 272]

First and foremost my condolences go out to Paul and his family, sorry to hear about your loss. I hope your wife makes a full recovery soon.

 

I do not have much to say about the ban other than to say that rules must be followed, doesn't matter who you are. My hat goes off to any moderator from any forum. Keep up the good work.

[dho112 17]

I've only been a member of AVSIM for a short while (comparatively) but in that short while it's become obvious very quickly what a tremendous resource this place is for anyone interested in the subject of Flight Simulation. It truly is the one stop shop for a wealth of knowledge that increases the enjoyment of the activity for virtually (excuse the pun) everyone!

 

I also recognize that Word Not Allowed contributed quite a lot to the forums, and also that his social interactive skills were a bit rough, but that is excusable. What I don't understand is the anger bubbling up with replies here accusing admin of this and that. Everything from power trips, to personal vendetta. I don't know any of the people who run this forum personally, but I, as well as everyone else can see the fruits of their labors without having a perfect understanding of the incredible effort and time it must involve to do it, and there's the rub. Yes the site is great because of the people, but without administration and organization its nothing but a pool of chaos and a library of knowledge consisting of a giant pile of books. A certain amount of deference must go into the knowledge that because this site is so good and well organized and hosted, that the team of people running it know what they are doing, and how to protect it.

 

Because this site is by definition, so public, I doubt that a decision like this one just flew onto the table and everyone raised their hands and said "boot him, let's have lunch now" I applaud the fact that such detail was given in the explanation, because that shows that a difficult SIGNIFICANT decision was made only after deliberation and a unanimous decision. I'm fairly certain that if there was no reason given (and there are MANY forums that will ban without ANY explanation) everyone here would bejust as up in arms about no info than much info. If one person is accused of being power hungry, that's one thing, but all of them? About the same thing? Because of that I know that wielding power was NOT a factor, and protection of the site from litigation of some sort was. In essence I think what they did was as an action to protect themselves from negative exposure one, the site from being possibly shut down two, and to protect us, the users three... Exactly the same prioritization that every one of us would do if put in the same position.

 

Its funny to me that people will say "He was nice to me, so your decision was WRONG!" and yet not understand that conversely, "He was caustic, and abrasive to everyone else, and he broke the rules after being warned repeatedly" is many times more justifiable, especially when it consists of a decision by a committee of widely differing views.

 

In the end, everything is really very simple... Be courteous and helpful, or even clueless and shy, and you'll get satisfaction from this site in great measure. If they tell you you're doing something wrong, stop doing that, or go somewhere else, in peace. Even if they WERE all power hungry maniacs (and I'm almost certain they aren't) so what? look at what they give us, for free! I would guess that the one's jumping most enthusiastically on the conspiracy and power trip wagon have a predisposition to being repelled by ANY authority, and there is nothing wrong with that, but as an experiment, stand up your own website of any kind and let people do as they will. Let's see how well, that works out for anyone, because there is a name for that, it's called "fail"

[ivo09 23]

My condolences go out to Paul and his family during this very hard time!

 

 

 

Now, about Word Not Allowed.... I'm pretty new here so I haven't actually interacted with him personally, but it seems like he was a big part of the AVSIM forums. I constantly google issues I am having in FSX and surprisingly around 75% or the time, the first link that comes up will have either a) a reference to Word Not Allowed's tweaks or B) and actually reply by Word Not Allowed himself. Either way, Word Not Allowed was a helpful guy to have around.

 

It seems like he was permanently banned because a couple of grown men cannot keep their ego's in check, and have to act macho and dominate the 'scene'. In all likely hood, a compromise could be reached by both parties if they hadn't escalated like this but sat down and talked. Anyways, we will never know exactly what happened behind the scenes.

[Dirk98 354]

Hi,

 

Sad day for the flight sim community, Word Not Allowed was a lot of things, being knowledgable was one of them. It's a loss no matter how you look at it.

 

 

I'm thankful for Avsim and the work that it's staff members put in, mostly thanklessly over the years, but sad to see a member who has made many valued contributions over the years be "put out to pasture" as it were. That's about all there is to say on this matter, the disciplinary action has already been decided and enforced so what's done is done. Maybe Word Not Allowed will decide to apologize and change his tone, and maybe Tom et al will agree to let him come back as a member only but that remains to be seen.

 

On a much more important note: Paul, may God bless you and your family and comfort and strengthen you during this time.

 

 

 

These sum it up for me.

 

Dirk.

[kannwar 47]

Edit: I rescind my statements as it seems this situation is more complex than we know.

[Andrewk737 5]

All I know is Word Not Allowed was a member of these boards long before he became a staff member, and he's been an awesome contributor way before that happened.

This is your site and you can do what you want with it, but this is a sad day for Avsim.

 

I'm telling you something. A community is a lot more about it's members than it is about it's managers.

 

Shame on you

 

+1

 

I'm disgusted with this outcome. I beleive this community deserves more than this - a very sad loss indeed.

[Tomaz Drnovsek 440]

This whole situation is just sad.

[kannwar 47]

Edit: not sure this is my opinion anymore.

[henryccrider 0]

i guess i feel obliged to reply with my two cents worth. I have in my experience been associated with some sites who seemed to have an ongoing feud with everybody. Other sites could care less about their members, what was most paramount was the rules set forth. Some sites allow their members to attack and carry on vendettas against each other. fortunately i belong to two VA and both are very congenial, treat you with respect and if you break a rule they make you aware of it without belittling you or embarrasing you. As an executive of this site you have to put up with a certain amount of behavior but in the end you are answerable to your membership. My point is if no one asks the question there is no need for an answer. You do what you think is necessary and right and if people ask questions answer them, because the facts will bear out your decisions. I have not read the TOS for this site and I don't think I will do anything improper but if I do something against the rules then I expect to be informed by management. You should not be defensive if asked a question, just answer it. I can just see me on my forum attacking the staff. Everyone would want me out and if you are staff your job would be to throw me out and then if asked questions you could answer them. If what you said is true about the one you banned, then your reason: he didn't adhere to proper decorum for this site. delete his password and administratorship...all done That way it doesn't look like a civil war going on. your job is to do for the membership...you did it. this is just my two cents worth and i am not trying to be critical of what you did. it was your job so you don't need to defend it. henryccrider

[Jarkko 59]

I have always believed that there are 3 sides to every story: Yours, mine and the truth.

 

Having read all the post here and the reply from the person this thread points to, I think this still holds true.

 

I am not here to support or judge what has been done. Just to say it might be beneficial to hear the two sides of the story, before, we as outsiders to the situation, are in any position to form a "picture" what the "middle ground" might be.

 

Again, I'm no position to pass comments about the events or the desicions made.

[kannwar 47]

For those that are interested in reading it Word Not Allowed has put up his side of the story on his blog. Use Google if you wish to read it - I'm not going to post a link here.