But not intentionally, believe you me! I

 

That is true.

 

I think you need to have a look at the live stats page (automatically updated every 30 minutes) here:

 

http://forum.avsim.net/stats/

 

64.4 new member everyday. Amazing this Flight Sim genre keeps growing.

 

 

 

For me Avsim is my most visited Forum and that is because I take inspiration from it from the things I learn from others. Keeps this crazy hobby fresh.

 

Cheers

If that makes us #####, Gestapo, whatever, then so be it. We can live with the childish denigration and which adults among us recognize for what it is.

 

I never said that, but I did see the thread with the guy who did, and found it a somewhat amusing read :rolleyes:

 

By natural communication, I meant that on some forums, be it this one, other forums, politcal forums, sports talk forums, whatever, people are naturally prone to tussling it up with each other and we don't always know what will offend or what will amuse, nor can we buy each other a beer to sooth things over when we argue. As a member of this community, and others, it is always painful to see somebody tossed out for putting their foot in their mouth, or unintentionally offending somebody, when we all know full well that it could just as well have been us that made the same mistake or said the same thing. That's all I was saying about a general preference for easy-handed moderation over heavy-handed moderation. I mean there are trolls and then there are trolls. I just genuinely disagree that zero or low-tolerance policies are the solution to a better forum, better internet, or for that matter a better world.

As a member of this community, and others, it is always painful to see somebody tossed out for putting their foot in their mouth, or unintentionally offending somebody, when we all know full well that it could just as well have been us that made the same mistake or said the same thing.

 

I agree, but judgment calls have to be made and no matter what side we come down on, too easy, too firm or just right, about half will disagree and the other half will agree, but they walk away and leave us hanging. Speaking of feeling hurt, I can vouch for how much it does hurt when having to moderate a member you like and respect but feel that there is no other viable choice. That is the stuff that makes you sick with all kind of conflicting feelings, that have to be bottled up. But then again,at times like that, I remember all the money I am earning for this labor of love and I count all the other blessings such as appreciation and random acts of love that come because of it! :rolleyes:

 

Which reminds me, I can't speak for Tom but I don't think he was referring to you but to the same case you mentioned, the saga with Lawyer+Pilot (you had that spelt backwards). You reminded him about it and he discharged in that general direction. Remember I was the one that got to express my indignation and got it out of my system. He was no doubt jumping in to make sure that I felt backed up in case any criticism was coming my way about it. Recently we have both seen what we considered close friends insulting our character, our humanity and even our faith, or lack of it.

 

We tend to be quite protective of the team members these days since we have had enough personal encounters and confrontations lately that wounds everyone involved at a deep level. I am sure that many are just as sensitive as we are, but being under the gun, we likely show it more. The problem is we can't all take a vacation when we need it, and frankly Tom and Chase and Momtchill and I should take a Carnival cruise to observe how bad things can really go wrong despite the very best intentions. This is an interesting topic so I hope we get badly rerouted by either good or bad intentions that ###### defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

Let's start over. I like Avsim because we are the most educated, best informed, wisest of the wise and the very cream of the crop of the top notch, but modest and humble simmers the world has ever seen.

 

Kind regards,

Ha, that made me laugh! Take a luxury sea Cruise to see how badly things can go wrong! :P

but controversy seems to add to the numbers as people like to read the gossip and bet on the fights, even if they remain mostly spectators.

 

Ain't that the truth. Ever since you guys starting putting those Red tags on posts that were being monitored I had a feeling it would be like drawing fly's to poo, lol. That little red tag is sure an attention getter and I wouldn't be surprised if some read the post just to see what the offending comments were that warranted the tag in the first place.

Ain't that the truth. Ever since you guys starting putting those Red tags on posts that were being monitored I had a feeling it would be like drawing fly's to poo, lol. That little red tag is sure an attention getter and I wouldn't be surprised if some read the post just to see what the offending comments were that warranted the tag in the first place.

 

True; but while I might wander in to see what the fuss might be, I am trepidatious of posting, as that sign is like announcing that the topic has been wired with explosives beforehand and might be detonated at any second.

 

Would you walk into a building pre-lined with explosives?

 

But at least its a warning. Having a subject just disappear or be locked with no reason given is even more disconcerting, even when its not one you started (or even agree with)

 

Sites that make a habit of that make me nervous cause' you never know what might bring a hammer down. Even if it never happens to you, seeing it happen to others can set a restrictive mood throughout a forum that can eventually lead to very little being said at all besides. "Oh, that's absolutely wonderful!! You are the best!"

 

(Grimace)

Excellent subject Devon,

 

I don't know what makes an all around successful online home, but for me, the Avsim shoe fits the best. I started lurking and hanging out here in 2002-ish and spent considerable time daily reading just about every post. After being a regular lurker I only registered when I could not find an answer to a technical question and was forced to ask. Someone treated me nice and answered the question.

 

Btw, the first time I registered under a similar name but lost the email and password for the first, and so registered a second time. When I found out being registered more than once was against the rules I confessed it to some mod and he deleted the first one for me.

 

Why did I stick with Avsim? It was simple. I did not stick with Flightsim.com. I downloaded from both sites, but at first, just from there, but I don't remember why. The lost email address and password was the same one I had for the Flightsim.com forums, but they never answered me back (perhaps it went into spam and got deleted).

 

Sometime later I started a second account with Flightsim and wrote 2 posts (if I remember right). The first one replied to a regular poster who asked rhetorically who (I think it was) "Phil Taylor of Aces" thought he was, criticizing him for something. My first post said something to the effect. I know who Phil Taylor is, but who are you (to be criticizing him)?

 

A mod answered back and mocked me for mocking the mocker since my first post was challenging a regular Flightsim.com member. Was that you Jim? He said, I know who Phil Taylor is, and I know who "what's his name" is, but who in the h.e. double hockey sticks is Spirit Flyer? (or something like that) The contrast between that guy and and Avsim mod who helped me out was so great, I never tried to join in again at Flightsim.com.

 

Geofa treated me well too, but I admit, I was a bit nervous of Tom at first, even though I never had any personal reason to be, but over time was impressed with his style, if not a wee bit intimidated. Not now though, he is a wear-his-heart-on-his-sleeve kindhearted softy, who hides it from those who don't know him well. He likes to say he doesn't suffer fools gladly, but I have seen him do so behind the scenes with the likes of me and the many others that qualify

 

There was always a hard edged angst to both Flightsim and AVSIM, not so much with the mods although they were always a hard boiled bunch, but with a lot of the members that I could not understand. To be fair, most of my internet time to that point was spent on other kinds of sites where people hid their aggressions behind a benevolent mask. I know better now!

 

Avsim became the main home for me when I started to hang around the hardware forums and read every thing that Nick N. ever wrote and all those who sat at his feet or got in his face and argued with him. That is when I started to really get into the hardware and software tweaking stage and began testing, evaluating and recording results on my own. I was also really into the FTX forums. That blew up, and never really blew over, but that left Avsim with 100% of my fs attention and I packed up and moved into the community, so to speak.

 

Here is the point. It was not just the attributes of Avsim, which was always the best organized and the best run. It was certain mods I liked, certain posters that became friends, and the interesting conversations by people that talked about and shared my FS addiction. Here, I did not have to live up to the expectations others have and be more of the real complete me.

 

Man, has that changed since I became a mod! From then on it has become work-like, but fun and an honor to be part of this great institution. Taking on the forum management admin job makes people pay unwelcome attention to every word, drawing mostly negative reactions every time any power is exercised in any way.

 

It is lopsided from this point of view because the angry always express their anger in living 3D but those that agree or are ambivalant or neutral just don't usually feel strongly enough to get involved. Can't blame them for that as I was always that way too.

 

Avsim is so huge and has so many different aspects to it that the normal member or poster doesn't realize just how many parts and divisions there are. In my management capacity I was, and am amazed as to how intricate, intermixed and influential Avsim is. Sometime balancing all the counter cultures and differing and opposing communities is very difficult, and sometimes we don't get it quite right, or more likely, we get it right most of the time, but always could have dome the same thing in a better way.

 

I first came to Avsim because I was welcomed, and made friends, and had fun. I stay for the same reason. That is likely why we are all here, with slight variations on the theme being most of the differences between us.

 

I love this place, and am fond of the members, and respect the rules, and like the action, but don't care for the conflict, and dislike the anger and hate any viciousness. Unless someone is truly a deviant, that seems just about the right set of factors that make up good members here or anywhere else.

 

Anyway, thanks for reading my ramble.

 

Kind regards,

Anyway, thanks for reading my ramble.

 

Not at all. Its very much the type of thing I was looking for when starting the thread.

Yes, I do have to say that was a pretty good ramble, SpiritFlyer! Clearly very heartfelt and genuine, and I have a better understanding of where you are coming from after reading it. I guess you guys aren't like H.itler and Stalin afterall! :rolleyes: :lol:

To me it's all about the few good people that have worthwhile stuff to share, the OP being one of them!

For me it's quite simple:

 

Product support forum, where you can get a reply/help within couple of days. Preferably without being insulted for making questions

 

For a "general" forum, (aviation related topics, flight planning, procedures and so on), I prefer visiting forums where the other posters are much more knowledgeable than me. These places are not hard to find

 

What comes to atmosphere, I value places where other people understand some like me.

 

To give you an example, in my native language, we don't use words like please and thank you (well we do, but only when something exceptional happens). We also go straight to the point without trying to "break the ice" (unless we are trying to make a hole in the ice to go for a swim).

 

I for one might seem a bit abrasive to some people, but this is not my intention. Usually I have to edit my posts two or three times before posting so I don't offend anyone.

 

Thanks to Avsim for making my "flying" more enjoyable!

I think you need to have a look at the live stats page (automatically updated every 30 minutes) here:

 

http://forum.avsim.net/stats/

 

Being the sort of person who grabs a calculator when faced with tables, it seems the figures are for the long-term and not the short term.

 

Total Posts of 2,245.425 divided by Average Posts per Day of 1439.38 equals 1560.0 days. Total Members of 100,466 divided by Average Registrations per Day of 64.40 also equals 1560.0 days. 1560 days is more than 4 years so the averages are the averages over the last 4+ years.

 

On occasion we like to post statistics that show just how vibrant and busy a community AVSIM is. Here are some stats from January 1, 2013 to noon on February 17th EDT.

 

First up; the number of people that have registered since January 1st:....

 

That showed 2621 new registrations. That's an average of 55.2 registrations per day over the 47.5 day period. This value is 86% of the long-term average.

Hi MD,

 

Actually the numbers are doing well and have a continuous seasonally adjusted growth pattern, although last year the excitement and aggravation of Flight put them out of the atmosphere.

 

Hello Stephen

I still pop in here daily as it has been my habit to do so for many years, but I don't use the Sim anymore these days.

 

The reason I asked about the forum traffic is that taking the FSX forum as an example, there are never many more than a dozen or so users showing up as being in there.

Does the forum software only register those that have actually entered that forum rather than reading posts from the list of new posts on the front page ?

This may be why the figures viewing seem low.

As I write this there are 681 members somewhere in the system but only 7 showing in the FSX forum,

Where are all of them hiding, if there is a party going on somewhere I would love to join in :smile:

Of course, many people may be logged in, but not actively using the forum. For instance, I was "on" yesterday technically, for the whole day, but in actuality I may have been mostly doing other things. (Was up till early morning hours fighting dragons and monsters in an morpg)

 

I have friends that will often show up for most of the day, but may not actually be doing very much except occasionally checking to see whats up, as well.

 

I've been particularly keeping tabs on what's going on in the flight forum lately, for instance.

 

I guess it's Iike having the television on in the background, with cnn running. :-/

What is it they say? There are lying statistics and statisticians lie! lol. We see a steady increase continuing over time but of course with slowing growth. There are a lot less people in the hobby overall but Avsim is maintaining its own. Of course if the hobby dies, we will die with it unless we adapt too other venues.

 

If the hobby has substantial renewal of platforms, X-Plane, P3D or another 3rd party it would spell a brighter future. The point I was making is it is still growing, but not as fast as it once was, but I am guessing because I don't have historic growth rate data. To answer the first question, we have not had a recordable loss due to recent events.

 

Please don't turn this thread into a referendum on forum policy, management decisions or recent events just to see how quickly irritation will surface and shut it down. If we want to ponder points is one thing, but to open wounds and poke at sore spots is another. Please keep from jumping up and down on thin ice or we all get wet rather quickly.

 

A word to the wise and a heads up: I won't let this thread become a nuisance by bringing up disagreements on past controversial decisions or other sensitive matters. Don't go there. The question was, what makes a good forum, right Devon? I doubt whether it is sitting around a camp fire swaying to the music and singing kumbyall either.

 

Kind regards,