So, What Happened to AVSIM?

[eclipz 14]

Taking my Moderator hat off for a minute:I suggest to you Eclipz that you don't have a dog in this fight. What Tom says to a snarky post or how he handles said criticism is just none of your concern. And, to take public offense at this and call Tom out on it is inexcusable.

So i don't get to express my opinion either ? Just wow !!!

It's just a reaction of what i read on a forum, so keep the comments like "none of your concern" to yourself. If it were a private conversation, you'd be right... It's not !

As for "inexcusable", yeah, right... Like i just did something horrible

[Noel 4,499]

 

 

Exactly what I see too [4-6 seconds], the performance is much better than previously and hopefully it'll be even better when the RAID synchronization is fully completed.

 

Interesting.  I did a ping test to avsim and came out at at 100ms.  So data to avsim only takes 1/10th of a second.  I did a trace route to FlightSimStore.com in Australia comes in at 170ms.  The site takes about 4-5secs to load and change pages.  I have a fast internet connection--about 25-40mbps on cable internet.  I tried using a different browser and it was actually worse for me at avsim.

 

It takes a range of 11-18 seconds, typically 11-12 currently for me, to get the avsim homepage opened.  Which is tolerable in itself for certain.  But the problem is that is how long it takes to refresh any page at avsim.com.  So if I want to navigate to a thread, it's another 11+ seconds, now post a reply it's another 11 seconds.   So for you people out there who ask this inane question, 'but is 11 seconds too long' ... go back and see if you can answer it yourself!

 

What's puzzling is that for a few others apparently, it's a 4-6 seconds affair.   What can possibly cause this discrepancy?   I visit lots of sites as most of us do and don't see this poor performance hardly anywhere else.  Glad to see we can be back to visit Avsim and at least the connection now happens reliably, but the performance is such that I will definitely find myself avoiding the site going forward.  I'm going to take this conjecture about site performance out of the realm of mostly anecdote and post a poll to see how most others experience the site.  For those knee-jerkers who see these comments as complaints take note I've suggested twice to Tom to consider creating a funding drive by using a thermometer graphic to illustrate progress towards a goal of picking up new hardware to bring the site up to par w/ other web sites, but alas no replies that I recall seeing about that idea, which was constructive IMO.  Hopefully that's because hardware is not needed and there is some other issue that make my experienced performance at Avsim non-typical.  Off to post the poll...

[n4gix 4,947]

So i don't get to express my opinion either ? Just wow !!!

Of course you "get to express (your) opinion." You've done so twice now. That's more than enough to have gotten your view across...

[Guest]

So i don't get to express my opinion either ?

 

Vincent,

 

Your posts weren't deleted so it looks like you did get to express your opinion.  But since you aren't the owner of this site you probably should thank Tom for allowing you to do so.

 

It's just an opinion of your "character" that some don't like, if you are interested in those specific points that may not sit well with people:

 

1.  Impatient, no ability to wait a few seconds longer than some expectation of how long it should take, so complains

2.  Feels that one has a right to complain regardless of situation

3.  Expects something for nothing

4.  Complains about a resource they rarely use

 

Your opinion is certainly not unique, there are other's with very similar opinions.  But if you are going to complain at a public level, then realize you should expect a response and many are going to view those 4 issues above as character flaws not web site flaws.

 

It does seem a little odd why you are posting negative comments about a web site that you have little to no interest in?

 

All I can suggest is to contribute via PayPal and your expectations of speed "may" eventually be realized.  Otherwise, try to enjoy the site and be patient, have a cup coffee, relax, multi-task, no sense in raising your blood pressure because you have to wait XYZ number of seconds.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[eclipz 14]

 

 

It does seem a little odd why you are posting negative comments about a web site that you have little to no interest in?

As a matter of fact, the main subject of my messages was not performance of the website, it just happened to be the subject discussed by DunMac (but, yes, i did say i agree with him... but, no, i don't really care about that).

Also, i didn't say it's a crappy website, nor did i say the team does a bad job (i don't think any of those things, not even vaguely)... and i'm not saying somebody said i said that, i'm just making sure my comments are not somehow transformed.

 

 

Oh for Pete's sake! Tom simply answered 'hyperbole' with 'irony."
 
I'm constantly amazed at the apparent lack of reading comprehension...

Irony in a text and you're amazed by the lack of reading comprehension ?  You know it's hard to convey irony (or any tone, in fact) in a text ? Smileys do help though (even if some don't like them)

 

 

Everyone saying that they only come here for product support

not really for support... but for news, yes... for example PMDG do not post news on their website... so it's here or Facebook.

 

 

Of course you "get to express (your) opinion." You've done so twice now. That's more than enough to have gotten your view across...

not exactly twice... i was elaborating my first message in order to reply to olli4740

 

anyway... sorry for the trouble.

[Guest]

On a personnal level, i don't pay a dime to avsim because, in my opinion the website and forums while helpful are not that great, the way it works is annoying... And no, i don't participate (=post) much, but i don't spend a lot of time here either (i come mostly because WOAI, PMDG & FS2Crew use your services, it's not really my choice). So yes, avsim is helpful, but not important to me... Not enough so that i want to financially contribute. But I'm not sure it makes me more or less able (or authorized) to say if the forum is slow or not.

 

You don't clarify what is annoying to you?    

 

Improved performance = more money, more money comes from contributions and advertising and other vendors using resources available here (such as support forum, the store, etc.).  How can more money be acquired:

 

1.  More donations

2.  Increase fees to advertisers

3.  Increase fees for support forum usage

4.  Increase fees to use the store, etc.

 

Option 2,3, and 4 will increase costs to 3rd party vendors and they will need to evaluate if it's worth it to them and how do they recover that increased cost (increase product prices to recover advertising/deployment costs, aka what us consumers will pay).

 

Many seem to think everything accessed via the internet (which is really just a means of data communications, content is optional) should be for free.  Like they are somehow guaranteed it's existence (and performance) and that it doesn't take real money to keep web sites running.  NOTHING is for free.  If you sense any frustration, it's probably because we see the same expectations over and over and over again from people with ZERO understanding of what it really costs to keep a site running.

 

Another common mis-conception is that people feel support should be for free, there is nothing to suggest that expectation is valid.  If I want developer support from Microsoft I have 2 "Free" (not really as they come with yearly subscription) instances with my $4000+/yr MSDN ultimate subscription, anything beyond that (regardless of bug, no bug, or whatever) it's about $365 initial call.  We should be thankful that the only thing most 3rd party FS vendors ask for is a valid purchase order number in order to get support.

 

So I'm suggesting, before formulating an opinion, get more information related to your opinion as it may change your opinion/expectations.

 

In the meantime, there is plenty to explore and enjoy for free (reviews, products, jibber jabber, whatever) - dislike or like, think it's funny or not, but as of right now, you are still not required to "pay a dime" (unless you are actually buying 3rd party products via the store) to get whatever it is you need from AVSIM.  So enjoy.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[kittyhawk63 0]

First time I have posted and though I didn't know the site was down, glad to see it running because I have a problem which I will post in the section where my question goes. Great to know that people like Tom are managing this site. I look forward to checking in ever so often to see what's kicking. kh63

[CrewF16 26]

Great job Tom! I would check the forums every morning as I was drinking my coffee before work. I was lost. I even replied to a post on Sim Flight from 2009 trying to figure out what was going on. I know most all of us appreciate your hard work to make this the best site available for our hobby.

[Cameron XA 272]

Glad to see you guys have things figured out here, Tom. Hardware issues are not fun, and I must admit I was missing my daily dose of AVSIM!

 

Thanks for working so hard to keep this place running!

[awash2002 12]

I'm so glad Avsim is back online and I know all too well about hardware failure my old Celeron Windows XP computer just this morning gave me the blue screen of death 

[BlackVoid 1]

As an IT Manager, I feel your pain. Welcome back and thank you for the hard work both in the past and present.

[bobrbend 28]

I'm still having a minor problem. I can't access the AVSIM home page. Every time I try--Whether from my bookmarks, clicking on the homepage button or physically typing in the AVSIM url, I get redirected to the Forums page. Any ideas?

 

Dan Cole

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

I'm still having a minor problem. I can't access the AVSIM home page. Every time I try--Whether from my bookmarks, clicking on the homepage button or physically typing in the AVSIM url, I get redirected to the Forums page. Any ideas?

 

Dan Cole

 

My fault. I was doing some redirection experiments last night and forgot to set them back. Check in twenty minutes or so, and they should be as they were.

[bobrbend 28]

Thanks.

[richardgmartin 0]

May I enquire what disk array you were using?  So I can avoid!  Worst nightmare scenario.