I have two of their planes.

They have only an archaic contact approach to deal with inquires.

They are a small outfit and support through a forum is not available, and closing down the unofficial one here is not going to cause them to open a forum.

I have been helped greatly here by having a forum and support "reinstating" it.

I am aware there is a review of this decision to close going on, but I thought I would put forward my two cents worth.

Hi Bryan,

You can post your questions about the your flightsimware products in the appropriate forum (FSX, P3D, X-Plane).  Why do we have to maintain a forum where the owner does not want to provide an official support forum for his products and then give him free advertising by having an "unofficial" forum on the largest flightsim website in the world.  Why don't we have an unofficial support forum for FS Dreamteam, FlightBeam?  They could use the advertising too!

Best regards,

Jim

I, of course don't want this to degrade to endless debate nor ranting. But here are some views.

FSDT and FlightBeam Studios have very good official forums and are bigger outfits and can provide that level of support. At some point perhaps Flysimware will be able to or will move into their own official forum to control/manage their customers and products.

Yes, a certain amount of "free advertising" happens. One: have you folks approached Flysimware on making the forum "official" and on "advertising"? An obvious opportunity?

Two: All AVSIM forums are in effect defacto advertising every sim and every company/vendor providing addon products through actual ads or reviews or general banter about products. And because AVSIM is the worlds largest....this then is why we all come here and experience these ads and other money making experiences.

Three: I have found recently it is almost impossible to search "big" forums (this "hobby" has become massive) to see if someone has posted about a particular product, to pose a question of a issue similar to one's elses. Folks use weird subject titles, don't necessarily use a phrase similar to what others might use, use incomplete references, use acronyms which can mean nothing to a search...this then leads folks to just ask the same question all over again....happens all the time now. By separating product lines, by using separate forums one can more easily focus their search...just my view and was one of my main discussions with Tom A many years ago for keeping the unofficial Orbx site open which he was thinking of closing. All one has to do is subscribe to those forums that fit their specific needs.

I have no idea how much pressure you folks might experience to close down your forums from vendors who maintain "official" forums of their own. This is a factor I can't speak to.

In my vision, the unoficial forum is a service for AVSIM USERS and not a free service to the developers. This unoficial forums brings people to AVSIM. Making questions for a particular product inside a general forum like FSX, P3D or XP will only make it less visible for people that can actually help. And soon, the topic will fade away in the many pages from this particular sub-forums and the original poster probably will end without the desired answer.

2 minutes ago, FlavioSSA said:

In my vision, the unoficial forum is a service for AVSIM USERS and not a free service to the developers. This unoficial forums brings people to AVSIM. Making questions for a particular product inside a general forum like FSX, P3D or XP will only make it less visible for people that can actually help. And soon, the topic will fade away in the many pages from this particular sub-forums and the original poster probably will end without the desired answer.

Bingo!

I would figure that posts in the screenshot forum or in the bargain hunters forum have an advertising effect, too. Would AVSIM staff ever want their members to post those topics in the sim forums as well, when the named developers were concerned?  

 

And since a great deal of free advertising is bound to happen anyway (news, livery upload notifications, videos etc.), why not keep the unofficial forums open for clarity and usability?

 

I understand that AVSIM would like to earn additional money from developers by hosting more official forums, but making things harder for those members who, until now, have been active here, probably isn't the most promising way for AVSIM to go ...  

48 minutes ago, FlavioSSA said:

In my vision, the unoficial forum is a service for AVSIM USERS and not a free service to the developers. This unoficial forums brings people to AVSIM. Making questions for a particular product inside a general forum like FSX, P3D or XP will only make it less visible for people that can actually help. And soon, the topic will fade away in the many pages from this particular sub-forums and the original poster probably will end without the desired answer.

I support keeping the unofficial forums or whatever you want to call them!  I always get quick advice and help from people using the same product that I use then I get wading through the general forums or trying to use key word searches. 

Airbus

 

I support all of those comments. Traffic for these forums brings you ad revenue.

chris

 

And there's donation revenue to consider also. Last I checked, donations are voluntary.

I am removing the links to AVSIM from my favorites in my browser for the next few weeks until the dust settles on this one. My reason is because I recall good banter with Tom on those unofficial forums and him saying 'Good Grief' with what some people were dealing with certain developers and turning here for support from each other instead. Therefore I vote with my actions, AVSIM is removed from my favorites for a few weeks so I am giving this a break until then....

Cheers Guys 

I appreciate it that we are allowed to continue this discussion here in Hanger Chat. It is appropriate and everybody is being very civil.

 

35 minutes ago, ytzpilot said:

I am removing the links to AVSIM from my favorites in my browser for the next few weeks until the dust settles on this one. My reason is because I recall good banter with Tom on those unofficial forums and him saying 'Good Grief' with what some people were dealing with certain developers and turning here for support from each other instead. Therefore I vote with my actions, AVSIM is removed from my favorites for a few weeks so I am giving this a break until then....

Cheers Guys 

Totally!  I had many a PM with Tom on this issue and he our "founding" father, supported the approach of "unofficial" forums.

Certainly a every closet should get a clean up now and then but to nuke the entire lot, all at once seemed somewhat draconian. 

My actions to close the unofficial forums to "read-only" forums only has been reversed by the Board members and CEO, AVSIM, Inc., and the forums are open to the community to post questions again.

Thank you very much !

Regards,

1 hour ago, Jim Young said:

My actions to close the unofficial forums to "read-only" forums only has been reversed by the Board members and CEO, AVSIM, Inc., and the forums are open to the community to post questions again.

Greatly appreciated Jim.  Thanks.

Very nice to see Avsim staff is open to debate in this situations. Thanks!