Complaint about censoring on PMDG Avsim forum

[MontyPreston 7]

Hello,

 

I am a new member here, obviously, and I have made two total posts since my membership was activated within the last 24 hours.      One of the main reasons I signed up at Avsim was to participate in the support forums for a product I recently purchased, the PMDG 777 for Prepar3d.    

 

I did have what I perceived as a technical problem with this product and posted on the PMDG 777 forum about a pitch authority issue that both myself and another PMDG customer had experienced.      My post was in fact a response to the original poster (in the same thread), basically concurring with his observations.     My post was considerate and well-meaning, legitimate, and civil in all respects.      I did nothing to incite any kind of negative reaction or 'trolling' type behavior.     As per the PMDG forum rules, I also clearly signed my post with my real name.  

 

I feel there was no legitimate reason whatsoever for my post to have been deleted , and I would ask Avsim moderators to intervene on my behalf.    My post is perhaps still recoverable from the Avsim servers if it needs to be scrutinized.     Since I did absolutely nothing to warrant a post deletion in any conceivable way, the inference is perhaps that I addressed an ongoing issue with their product that PMDG is uncomfortable about and/or does not want to acknowledge.     I do not want to believe this could happen on a forum as well respected as Avsim, but I'm completely clueless as to any other explanation at this time.    

 

I would sincerely appreciate any help or insight Avsim moderators could afford me.   

 

Regards,

 

Monty Preston    

[JRBarrett 3,046]

Your question would probably be best posed in the PMDG General forum itself. I believe that commercial vendors like PMDG are solely responsible for moderating their support forums and setting policies - unlike the main AVSIM forums which are moderated by AVSIM staff.

 

It's quite possible that the thread in question may have been deleted for reasons having nothing to do with anything that you did or said. Perhaps it "went off the rails" because of the actions of another thread participant.

 

It might even be a technical problem with the forum software itself. I know that recently, there has been an ongoing problem with the search function here at AVSIM, that the staff has been trying to fix.

[Jim Young 2,356]

Hi Monty,

 

AVSIM hosts commercial and freeware forums but, for the most part, we do not moderate commercial forums like PMDG's unless a person is pirating, posting pornography, spamming, and violating license agreements.  The forums belong to the commercial developer and he can do whatever he/she deems appropriate.  Therefore your complaint is between you and PMDG and you can go to their website and logon and submit a trouble-ticket and PMDG staff may respond.

 

We do not delete topics or posts here at AVSIM unless it is a duplicate post.  They are hidden from member's view.  Moderating is a difficult task in that you are in trouble if you do something and in trouble if you don't do something.  Except for PMDG, all of our moderators are volunteers and they try to do the best job possible.  If I interfered with the PMDG Corporation on their decisions, it would be like me going to the Aerosoft Corporation and telling them they shouldn't remove your post form view. 

 

What happened to you at PMDG was not public but now it is public as you have posted your complaint on AVSIM.  I'm sorry but there is nothing I can do.  Just do as I and many of our moderators have to do occasionally and take a deep breath and move on. 

 

Best regards,

[dave2013 1,123]

I stopped posting on the PMDG forum a long time ago.  Not only do I take issue with their overly defensive posture about their products, but I think that their requirement that posters sign their posts with both their first and last name is ridiculous.

 

I can understand requiring one to sign with their product order numbers to prove that at least they own one or more PMDG products, but requiring full names is just silly.

 

Dave

[krazyk 157]

 

 

I feel there was no legitimate reason whatsoever for my post to have been deleted

 

Welcome to AVSIM and in particular the PMDG sub-forums. For the most part, it's the 'it is what it is' mentality so your best bet would be to either pick it up with one of the admins of said sub-forum or join others who have seen this happen to themselves and others. Like Jim said above, it's PMDG and their rules in their forum so you can't do much about it, unfortunately. Just like you can't discuss product pricing and the mandatory full name requirement.

[qqwertz 772]

censoring on PMDG Avsim forum

Yes, they do that. Anyone remembers when they announced that you have to buy PMDG planes again when you switch from FSX to P3D? I was amazed that virtually all posters showed an understanding (and willingness to pay again) for this policy. Until I wrote a respectfully formulated post about my unwillingness to pay twice, that is - that one never showed up 

 

requiring full names is just silly.

I completely agree. I don't mind disclosing my full name in a private forum, but not on a forum that can be searched by Google.

 

Peter

[JRBarrett 3,046]

Thank you, everyone that responded. I did not realize that the PMDG forums were completely autonomous from the Avsim main site, so of course I appreciate your position as moderator here, Mr. Jim Young. I will say in closing that I am certain that my post appeared in the thread in question as I carefully checked it several times afterwards, anticipating a response. I have to conclude it was deliberately deleted by PMDG staff. A sad situation indeed but one that is apparently not unique to my own personal experience with PMDG support.

 

 

Did the ENTIRE thread disappear, or just your specific response? If the former (the entire thread), then perhaps you are being premature in assuming that the disappearance had anything to do with something you (specifically) said. There might be other reasons.

 

In any case, if you want a fair hearing - and conversely want to treat PMDG with the same fairness that you quite reasonably would ask for yourself, it would probably be best to repost your initial question directly in the PMDG forum. If you have a complaint, that would be the place to address it.

[Jim Young 2,356]

FYI, your post was removed as you tried to regurgitate an old topic (necropost).  The removal appears to be valid IMHO.

 

Best regards,

[Mike777 163]

 

 

PMDG unfortunately appears to be extremely sensitive about issues regarding the fly-by-wire simulation modeled with their 777 product.

 

There have been extensive discussions of the 777 fly by wire simulation, and indeed PMDG completely redid it between their initial release and their first major service pack.  User input on their forums certainly played a major role in their acknowledgment of a serious problem.   They accepted extensive criticism of their initial modeling on their forums.

 

If you have some new, thoughtful insight about 777 FBW I suggest you post it in their 777 forum.  I would be very surprised if it is deleted due to some supposed extreme sensitivity.

 

Mike

[MontyPreston 7]

FYI, your post was removed as you tried to regurgitate an old topic (necropost).  The removal appears to be valid IMHO.

 

Best regards,

 

I understand.    Thank you, Mr. Young for looking into this for me.     I am glad to be a member here at Avsim.   

There have been extensive discussions of the 777 fly by wire simulation, and indeed PMDG completely redid it between their initial release and their first major service pack.  User input on their forums certainly played a major role in their acknowledgment of a serious problem.   They accepted extensive criticism of their initial modeling on their forums.

 

If you have some new, thoughtful insight about 777 FBW I suggest you post it in their 777 forum.  I would be very surprised if it is deleted due to some supposed extreme sensitivity.

 

Mike

 

 

Thank you Mike.    I was made aware that there were some major problems initially with the PMDG 777 FBW when it was released, yes.     I sincerely appreciate your advice.    

[Jude Bradley 659]

Wow, Jim, I never heard the term "Necropost" before. Must remember that one.

A good name for a band actually
 

Jude

[Jim Young 2,356]

Wow, Jim, I never heard the term "Necropost" before. Must remember that one.

A good name for a band actually

 

Jude

LOL!  The lessons on "Necropost" are taught in the first two weeks at AVSIM Moderator University....  I would not have passed if it had not been for my friend Google allowing me to look over her shoulder.  :Just Kidding:  

 

It's great to have a website like AVSIM to learn new words!  Stay with us...

 

Best regards,

[Jude Bradley 659]

Will do, Jim

[Jim Young 2,356]

As stated above, it is best to post your questions or issues with PMDG in their General Forums.  AVSIM hosts the commercial and freeware forums for our members and we do not moderate except for the most egregious violations of the AVSIM Terms of Service, such as piracy and spamming.  You can send a PM to any of the moderators or the owner by simply clicking on their username and selecting "Send a PM" or click on one of the moderators shown at the bottom of each forum.

 

The OP has indicated his questions have been answered to his satisfaction so I am locking this topic.