I agree with Alan as to a paid membership will make many feel entitled to say whatever they want. It's a tough battle with these trolls. We mods are volunteers, meaning we probably have a life outside of Avsim. I try to read as many threads as I can but I just cannot read them all so many unwelcome ones get through. This goes for the other mods too so we really need to have the offender reported ASAP.

I have a theory about the increase in trolling. LM has made itself more visible in the sim market since just prior to release of V4. I've noticed and increase of new P3D users since then. I think that some of the flack is coming from this group. I can't be sure but it seems that many are very young gamer types.

IAC JImmy64 - take a break but do come back.

Vic

While I can see the point I do define trolling as deliberate trying to disrupt.  It is often taking here as asking questions which have either been answered before (though if they have the problem is the user has not seen them) or asking questions or making comments which do not correspond with the mods positive view of a product.  

If it is only an advertising forum it should be stated as such.

Over a period of time, even advocates for things like dissability get tuned to the viewpoints of providers and as they are now convinced that the problem does not need to be solved by the user it is the user that is wrong to bring it up.  

While trolling should be stopped, please make sure that is is not reasonable comment that is being stopped.

Well the ideal thing to do is to just ignore trolls. Reacting to anything will only cause them to enjoy it and do it more. If a troll goes ignored and there is nothing to fuel it then they'll move on. 

Having a paid service, as Alan says, would make things much worse as you will get members who believe they are entitled to say whatever they like to anyone. 

 

I really enjoy visiting Avsim.  I joined way back in April 2006 and my posts already total 129  -  Heavy user eh :)  I  have always tried to give respect to all and have, in return, received the same.  As a Senior Citizen, I can only donate a tiny, tiny amount and believe this is "worth every penny".  I would not welcome Avsim becoming a "paid" service, I suspect I would struggle to afford it :(  But I would also encourage James to stay - it can, and for me, has, been a welcome place to visit.  I have yet to press the "report post" button and sincerely  hope I never do.  Best Regards.

Maurice

As some others have said I also think the increased problems (more about that later) are mainly due to the increased number of sims. I noticed that a while ago I myself got involved in a few topics about sims I don't even use but in which I was interested because they were new. I am sure a few of my posts at that time could regarded as trolling, even though I seriously didn't mean to troll. People tend to defend their sim and that can become problematic. There is however a difference in defending a sim and promoting a sim. I do think a lot of people just want others to 'see the light' so they too can truly enjoy their magnificent sim. I do think that trolling often is in the eye of the beholder.  (Not always, of course!)

At the same time I have to say that I don't see any increased problems myself mainly because nowadays I only follow the subforums of sims and products I actually use and I simply try to ignore any posts I don't like. But I also don't really see increased problems because these kind of problems have always been a part of the internet and can be found on any forum. It's nothing new. 

If I would really get sick and tired of specific behavior on a forum I usually report it and if things don't improve I might take a brake.

On a sidenote: I personally would never announce a definitive goodbye because, well, usually after some time away you tend to come back anyway.  I've seen that happening LOTS of times. Even in this topic already LOL (no problem, James, we are all human!  ) I personally would either talk about a problem or I would simply leave for a while. Or forever. So my advice to James would be: take a brake and we will all look forward to seeing you back again whenever you are ready for it. 

As far as I can see, there are a FAR greater number of mature and respectful AVSIM members than there are trolls and idiots, so don't let the latter win!

It's an unfortunate part of human makeup to always want to divide ourselves.  You can take the most homogenous group of people, throw them together, and without fail, they will find a reason to split themselves down the middle and take sides on some issue - it happens every time.  

People become passionate about their own choices and sometimes irrationally defensive which always erupts into a bun fight.   Some people (like me)  have a short fuse for irrational generalization and drama and I tend to call it out here too.  

Some kind of conflict is inevitable here.  We are a diverse bunch of people but we share a commonality which means the same to all of us.