Sorting, deleting, reacting..

[CoolP 283]

Hi and welcome in 2015 if I haven't seen you so far. :smile:

 

With me not being that much if a regular visitor anymore, I was wondering about some policies or behaviours which, at first look, don't make much sense or at least break the communicational flow.

 

The issue:

The FSX main forum, other than separate support forums for certain devs, used to collect all the information, heads-up messages and "what do you think" type of threads concerning well FSX (addons). For some reason, it became fragmented since some key words seemed to trigger a more or less instant thread relocation (take 'Carenado', or 'Captain Sim') while others remained where they started.

 

Now, if this wasn't confusing enough, mentioned relocation could well mean that one individual starts a new thread, which then gets moved and another individual, responding to the absence in the initial section, the "FSX news and chatter", then starts another one in good faith. Causes.

 

 

As a side note. I did not mean to interfere with the forces of Avsim when I replied to a thread focusing on the issue regarding a new Carenado plane. The thread starter had a point. For some reason, that whole thread now is deleted and I received no message as to why. I actually saw that my notifications listed some more individuals responding to it, so, yes, I would have liked to read their views as opposed to reading.. nothing. :Black Eye:

 

Suggestions and notes:

1) It could help to delay the thread relocation since this establishes a sort of 'main hub' for all the thoughts and information regarding a new addon. This hub shall reside in the most visible forum section, namely the FSX one.

2) The current thread move policy always leads to threads appearing in the dedicated support sections (labelled "UNOFFICIAL support forum" for example) which doesn't make sense for the ones just asking about whether to buy or collecting recommendations.

3) There's no use in moving 'this' addon thread away while others, due to the lack of a dedicated support section, stay in the FSX forum indefinitely. Realair (love their planes!) would be such a case or take your average Aerosoft addon. Same for all please.

4) There's no harm in discussing issues. Deleting is not discussing. One cannot discuss extra buttons on forum software.

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

I feel obliged to answer you CP, but all I can say is, I hear you. But don't be too hard on moderators, it a hell of a job they do. :smile:

[CoolP 283]

 

 

But don't be too hard on moderators, it a hell of a job they do.

Agreed. Perhaps I'm even advocating some relief in the sense of less sorting/moving being needed. But lets hear the other voices and thanks for your +1, Ron. :smile:

[Jim Young 2,356]

Since I hid the topic that you are talking about, I suspect you are specifically referring to my actions.  I can bring that topic back. 

 

We have a forum for many developers, like Carenado who do not have a forum and members would like to discuss their products.  We set up an Unofficial Captain Sim forum several years ago because members were complaining that no one was answering their issues in the Official Captain Sim Forums.  Same goes with several other flight sim products.  Usually, we will keep new release topics in the FSX Forum.  We did for the recent release of Carenado and Captain Sim products.  Anything after that, I and others began moving to the proper forum.  We have many Official and Unofficial Forums here at AVSIM covering a multitude of products, like ASN, OPUS, P3D, X-Plane, FTX/Orbx, PMDG, DX10, FS9, Microsoft Flight, , Milviz, and Wilco to name just a few.  We have a photo scenery forum that covers just photo scenery and, of course, a screenshot and flight sim video forum too. Not to forget, a Hangar Chat forum for things not covered in other AVSIM Forums and a Crash to Desktop Forum to help those have problems.  We would like to keep the FSX Forum related to FSX issues and general discussions about member experiences.  A review of a product will go to the appropriate forum so that members can go to that forum and find a review of the product, good or bad, before they go to purchase the product.  There are some who have ulterior motives to rip apart a software developer in the FSX forums in the hopes they can stop or hurt the sale of their products.  The FSX Forum is a good place, they think, because more members visit this forum and they can truly get the word out to a much larger audience. This is trolling/inciting and we do not condone trolling or inciting our membership.  It's just not the appropriate place to doe this and, if we have a forum for that product, we'll move it there so people interested in that product can see everything about that product. Here's a good explanation of trolling/inciting - http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-forum-etiquette.htm.

 

If we have an official forum for a product, like PMDG, we normally do not move these out of the FSX Forum as we treat this as if PMDG had their own forum on their own website.  We certainly would not move an Aerosoft topic to the Aerosoft Forums.  See what I mean?

 

About other developers, like RealAir, REX, Eaglesoft, etc. Why do we allow topics about those products in the FSX Forum?  We do not have unofficial forums for many developers for many reasons.  One being there is a lot of talk about a new product when it is originally released but, a week or two later, the discussions begin to go away.  Others, like REX has a support forum and members have not complained about not getting support in their forums like we saw with many other products.  The developer visits frequently too and usually answers questions to issues.

 

I am not trying to be a hard nose Staff member and condescending to our membership (as the OP in that hidden topic stated).  I have 20 years in the US military and 20 years in the US government in the counterintelligence world and none of those careers certainly prepared me to take on this volunteer position.  I do know something about management and administration though.  I wish I could meet the demands of every member here at AVSIM but that is impossible.  It would be great to have everyone here as my friend but that too unfortunately is not possible.  Someone has to make the hard decisions, good or bad, and that's what Tom and Chase brought me on to do as they have more important things to do to make AVSIM one of the best websites in the flight simulation community.  Unfortunately too, I and our many moderators, have to ban or suspend members for violating our Terms of Service and policies.  Very unpopular!! That certainly is no joy.  Like Ron Attwood said above, it's a hell of a job.

 

So, go ahead.  Beat up on me.

 

Best regards,

Edited January 22, 2015 by firehawk44
Edited to post missing link in response.

[CoolP 283]

Jim, can you help me understand why suggesting something gets read as "beating" someone? :mellow: I think this is the main misunderstanding here.

 

I read through your answer in full but felt like it exceeded or missed the scope of my simple #1-4 points which addressed the perceived logic on the current sorting and the fact that the hiding (of the thread) went without notice and/or explanation. This, by design, isn't able to solve anything or deliver insights. It actually spoils the context in my eyes.

 

 

I am not trying to be a hard nose Staff member and condescending to our membership (as the OP in that hidden topic stated).

By this, I don't even know to which part of the initial thread this refers to. Excellent example of how hidden information leads to confusion btw.

 

I see my case as closed and certainly would have to apologise if feelings got hurt. As explained above, mod workload would likely decrease if the policy on moving and hiding threads had become clearer beforehand. :smile: Thanks for offering your views and taking the time to answer.