Time to leave this site and stop promoting flight simulation

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I was just sanctioned by one of the forum mods by expressing my feelings about 9/11, I have had enough having just left London and Barcelona before the terrorist attacks there.  I lost someone in the twin towers, a former mentor, who like me was a road warrior flying every which way across the world.  She was brutally murdered by a twisted, sick religious attitude that says its all right to kill in the name of God, if God even exists, the one who said he would never flood the earth again, tell that to Houston.  People of all faiths seem to kill in favor of their deity, or in the case of North Korea, their monarchy.

Our hobby was disparaged by people using it to learn how to crash into buildings, and some of the younger among us here seemed to do that too.  This is supposed to be a hobby, I am often told I am not a serious simmer.  I think I helped build the franchise--I see examples of Soft Horizons in P3D, I beta tested the product for MS and helped them thru many issues.  I made updating Landclass Easy, did something that someone wanted to charge big bucks for, I did it for free.  With photoreal scenery today, that's become moot, and I think Xplane has raised the bar on their use of landclass.

I tried to present the sims in the best light in the screenshots forum, trying to stay away from controversy.  This post will be deleted for certain, because censorship has become the common rule in our Trump mania society, not just Trump, both sides of the aisle try to shout down the media and then backtrack.  Oh no, I am discussing the forbidden religion and politics.  But they are a part of aviation, they were used to close down Meigs in Chicago, where I was born not too far from that field.

I feel am not taken seriously here because despite my contributions, I never made it to solo.  Only real pilots have bona fides here, sightseers are told they don't belong in the skies, I heard that a lot during my wing views threads.  When I was a mod here I felt like I was just used, when people started threatening lawsuits because of deleted posts I decided I am not getting paid for this, why bother.  What else can I say, I will enjoy the sims on my own time, in my own way, but I won't advertise for this hobby ever again.  That goes for Carenado, Lockheed Martin, and Xplane.

J

[somiller 694]

Cactus521,

Personally, I'm sorry to see you go. I always read your posts because I have seen that you have a lot of experience to offer this community. I did solo, but didn't finish to be licensed, but it was a personal decision, based on a near tragic event, that ended my flying IRL. Certainly AVSIM is a place with egos, and those who are convinced they are expert above all others...too bad for them...it's more of a reflection on them than on you or anyone else.

Please reconsider, and stay with us, and continue to offer your wisdom.

I almost cried when I read the first stories about the cowardly destruction of Meigs.

Regards,

Steven Miller

Edited October 28, 2017 by somiller
correct error

[HighBypass 2,339]

Hi John

5 minutes ago, Cactus521 said:

....I feel am not taken seriously here because despite my contributions, I never made it to solo.  Only real pilots have bona fides here, sightseers are told they don't belong in the skies, I heard that a lot during my wing views threads.

IMHO complete and utter horse hockey, my friend!  I'm one on , but I enjoy your contributions and real life stories. Everyone has opinions, but i grant that most of them would be with you regarding the 9/11 atrocity and other. We just can't get too political on this forum, even in Hangar Chat I guess.

There's plenty of AVSIM members who are just armchair pilots, myself included. Yes, I've been fortunate enough to have a few hours in gliders, but have never gone solo & cannot justify putting the rest of my life and hobbies on hold to do nothing but attain that goal (especially now the miserable UK weather is closing in).

I'm not a serious simmer - I only have 1 20 inch monitor on my PC desk and a Thrustmaster HOTAS X stick (hey,  I must be an Airbus jockey then !). I haven't even bothered learning how to program an FM for crying out bloody loud! I've posted pics of a Valkyrie buzzing Manchester's tower with all six burners ablaze. One of my sim planes of choice is an Avanti with a Reno Racer inspired paint scheme!! I like to have a laugh on AVSIM and still learn about aviation (I could easily learn about the FMC should I choose). Why should anyone be degraded about not being a serious simmer? I don't believe this is what AVSIM is about (I certainly hope it isn't).

Don't get me wrong I can see a person not faring too well when arguing about a plane against a pilot of that type with actual stick time, who says it IS doing what the real one does. But those are usually specific cases. Who is to say real pilots don't fool about in sim because they cannot do so in their job?

Sightseers don't belong in the skies? Why the hell do people fly VFR then if not for the damn views? Why all the fuss over accurate sceneries?

No John, I'm sorry you feel this way and I don't know what's happened to make it so, but here's one fellow simmer who will always make you welcome on here, should you decide not to leave.

[JYW 2,980]

Sent you a PM, John.

I hope you will decide to put this behind you and stay on here at AVSIM.    It is a great forum.   When politics have been brought up here before, it's always led to a lot of problems and conflict, so I can fully understand why AVSIM prefer to keep politics out of the community.

I really enjoy your screenshots, enthusiam and contributions.

Take a breather buddy.   Blue skies.

Bill.

[Beardyman 604]

Take your time, sleep with your decision for 2 nights - hope that finally you will change your mind and stay with us.

[tonywob 4,769]

To offer perspective here, your post was inappropriate and had nothing to do with the topic at hand (It was a topic about X-Plane scenery). We hear enough about politics on other sites and the news, so it would be nice if people just stuck to what we are all here for and enjoy it. The moderator who hid the topics did so because it was inappropriate and insulting.

I hope you do stick around but please take some time to calm down/reflect.