I support AVSIMs actions and feel they were left with no other option.

 

Thank you Bryan. Your support in this is appreciated.

I really regret the decision you made, understandable if i read the whole story. Nevertheless i want to ask to arrange a conversation with Word Not Allowed, give it a few days.. try to clear the sky for the both of you.

Having moderated forums and having been on a variety of them over the years....... no huge news, people, move on from this issue, nothing new here.

 

People get status in a group and not many handle that well. The drive-by nature of online communications amplifies the worst tendencies.

 

Moderating a forum is a hugely intense, challenging effort, it's like a combination of doing public mental health service and ATC over Chicago with tornadoes approaching, all at the same time.

 

In my mind, admins/founders have the right to do whatever they feel they need to, to manage the chaos.

 

If a contributing but overly aggressive and difficult member has to be sidelined, so be it and too bad.

 

I really regret the decision you made, understandable if i read the whole story. Nevertheless i want to ask to arrange a conversation with Word Not Allowed, give it a few days.. try to clear the sky for the both of you.

 

Thanks but we are way past that. This would be Word Not Allowed's 15-20th chance to cut it out and simply follow the rules like everyone else does. I told him last night that he is leaving us little choice but to ask him to leave if he refuses to comply with our rules. And want to know what his response was? A bashing of AVSIM and demanding he be made an exception. There is no reasoning with him I'm afraid.

If you were on the receiving end of what we get bombarded with daily, I suspect your attitude would be closer to ours (and mine in particular as I am sure the "condescending" part of your statement was aimed at me - and I am guilty as charged - I have a real low / non-existent tolerance for people who demand things from anyone, and especially those that are not willing to put in any effort to have their questions answered to begin with)... Anyway, until you walk in our shoes, etc. etc.

 

You must not have got to the bottom of my post where I said;-

 

Just as a point of reference for my comments, I am the Admin of North America's most popular health and fitness fora.

 

....... we have exactly the same issues. But I personally believe that as Admin / Moderators, if we lose our cool and get rude, then we open ourselves up to calls of hypocrisy.

 

That's just my view on that aspect - I am of course not claiming to be perfect, and I too have weaknesses.

I can't imagine this actually happened. Coincidently I already noticed he wasn't active as AVSIM Staff anymore this afternoon, but I suspected this was because he perhaps didn't have enough time to be a proper staff member. Also, I knew nothing about this all.

 

But it's a sad day for me and all of us. Without Word Not Allowed, my FSX, computer, and knowledge would not have been what it is now.

 

I surely do believe that he has done a few things against the rules and refused to stop doing it, but I don't think permanently banning him is going to help this community, nor himself. Everybody makes mistakes, and everybody deserves a second chance. Because there is no punishment without a second chance.

Me personally, I make big mistakes, and lots of mistakes. And with such a big punishment, I would never have become the person I am now.

 

In my opinion the best thing to do is keep him banned for a few weeks, then unban him and have a good talk with him and start over. A new start is sometimes just what people need.

Helen,

 

If I may... I understand you had some positive experiences with Srdan. I think that's great and our announcement in no way is trying to take those positive thoughts away from you or anyone else.

 

I'm getting a strong accusation of hypocrisy from you. Did you read that entire announcement? I know it's long, but if you read it you'd be disgusted like we were. If at the end of that announcement you still feel he was in the right, then I'm not sure what to tell you. As you can tell this wasn't an easy decision, but our team has dealt enough with the blowback and negativity Word Not Allowed constantly brought upon our home and our members.

Interesting times, huh Stephen? You didn't knock that post up in 10 minutes, that's for sure!

I never had any direct contact with Word Not Allowed, but I do know that this decision wasn't taken for petty 'power' reasons. I am somewhat amazed that so many comparative newcomers can jump on the criticism bandwagon.

At the risk of sounding like a creep, you all do a good job. It's not one I would touch with a bargepole!

Respect.

I can't imagine this actually happened. Coincidently I already noticed he wasn't active as AVSIM Staff anymore this afternoon, but I suspected this was because he perhaps didn't have enough time to be a proper staff member. Also, I knew nothing about this all.

 

But it's a sad day for me and all of us. Without Word Not Allowed, my FSX, computer, and knowledge would not have been what it is now.

 

I surely do believe that he has done a few things against the rules and refused to stop doing it, but I don't think permanently banning him is going to help this community, nor himself. Everybody makes mistakes, and everybody deserves a second chance. Because there is no punishment without a second chance.

Me personally, I make big mistakes, and lots of mistakes. And with such a big punishment, I would never have become the person I am now.

 

In my opinion the best thing to do is keep him banned for a few weeks, then unban him and have a good talk with him and start over. A new start is sometimes just what people need.

 

Arjen,

 

We've been over this for over a year with him, and have given him 15-20 chances at least. There gets to be a point when it's no longer about being nice, but about becoming a push over. Don't make any mistake, he's had more chances than anyone we've banned combined.

Paul, Stephen, I can feel your pain guys, as I was actually walking in the same shoes not so long ago. It's very hard to let a knowledgabe member of your team go. I work in the IT, and after 10 years I realized that comminaction skills are alway priority one! We're constanty having problems with "Gurus" that have a CV as long as the Holy Bible, but have no social skills whatsoever. We work in teams (as 99% of the businesses now), we can't let a single person "ruin" the atmosphere for the others. The impact of the "geek-factor" is multiplied in community-focused areas - like running a forum. The fact that you openly share the background information shows me a huge amount of trust towards the users, which is a key value when it comes to people.

 

I tip my hat to you.

 

Respect, and thanks for your hard work!

 

Dan

At the risk of sounding like a creep, you all do a good job. It's not one I would touch with a bargepole!

 

Wait a minute... You volunteered I thought! Didn't you volunteer to be the mod in our soon to be opened "Old Fart's Forum" that is by invitation only?

 

The fact that you openly share the background information shows me a huge amount of trust towards the users, which is a key value when it comes to people.

 

Here's another public document that is applicable. Please note the date of last update and the final paragraph that has been there quite a while.

Just to be positive.

 

I for one am VERY thankful to the guys at Avsim for providing this FORUM and giving all of us a place share in our great hobby.

 

"Character is much easier kept than recovered."

As a current moderator on another non-aviation forum and also as a previous moderator on other forums with members much more contentious that any of those here, I sympathize with what you had to go through to make a decision like that. It's not easy and someone is always going to think you did the wrong thing.

 

I gained some knowledge from Word Not Allowed, but am not in the know about his goings-on here or anywhere else. While I'm sure he will be missed for his knowledge, sometimes "you gotta do what you gotta do".

 

Kev

It's unfortunate that its come down to this.Nobody wins in a situation like this but I believe the mods made the decision to keep Avsim out of trouble, and therefor the right decision was made.

 

I will miss Word Not Allowed but I would miss AVSIM more if it got too hard for the mods to handle, it's better to nip these things in the bud.

 

Separately....

 

Sorry to here about your hard time Paul, everything always seems to happen at once.Hope things start to look up soon.

Yes as above my final post on this topic, I do would like to thank the mods and members for the general atmosphere. Although I may disagree with some of the decisions I do appreciate the work that goes into the site.