I think by the reaction here, it shows that we are not toooo bad of a community. Yes, I do think mud-slinging is too easy behind our computers and fail to recognize just how nice a pat-on-the-back is. It can make your whole day. Sometimes, I get on occassion a thank you note for something I created nearly two years ago and that's 'purty cool' to get.Try this if you think your work isn't appreciated: just "google" your name or addon scenery and see what happens. I did this for one of mine and I got hits from countries all around the world. I would find my addon talked about in foreign forums. What a kick to read! Even after 30,000 d/l's on one I have maybe gotten only a handful of replies on it.One thing I found funny is even when simmers were having lot's of problems they would not even email me for help (I guess people really don't read those README.TXT much) ;-) But we are all different. I really do take the amount of downloads as a "tip-of-the-wing" and if I get an nice email - icing on the cake. It has made me more aware of what a simple email or comment in a forum can do... it can make your day or break it. I've even emailed a few payware companies to thank them for thier contribution. Heck, they're human too.:-)

actually if you don't get any mail it means that nobody is having issues with it. it's the oddity of the internet.. one of many

needed or not common courtesy should be in order. i don't care how much you enjoy designing all these different addons a "thanks" would be the decent thing to do. remember what you're telling people when you do something nice for someone, even going out of your way and as much as you enjoy doing it, to have that person just "GRAB" whatever it is and walk off without saying anything. remember that, when ya hold a door open for someone who's carrying 2 grocery bags and they walk on past. pretty #### disgusting. yea, this is a bit different and maybe some people don't need or want a "thanks" but in general it's the right thing to do. william

"actually if you don't get any mail it means that nobody is having issues with it. it's the oddity of the internet.. one of many"One other thing that's known to happen is the anonymous email services many of us use quite often drop messages in transit. I've sent many from the popular anonymous services which I use for communicating to people I don't know, and in cases where I've expected a response, quite often the recipient has told me they never received the email when I followup via another email service. As authors I suspect we receive more emails of thanks than our in-boxes tell us. -John

>I don't d/l a lot a scenery but I have really appreciated the>ones I do. i never thought about emailing the author as I>assumed they would find it a bother to get a lot of emails>that weren't important questions etc. Your note gives me a>totally different perspective. When i get home i am going to>try to send some notes out to all those folks I've appreciated>over the years. Exactly what I was thinking.But whenever a designer posts here.. I usually thank them for a good job. Like VOZ and Kai Tak there is a discussion thread and in that process you post.Once I saw Shez post here and I made sure that I communicated my appreciation.But when I download from the library, I am not sure where to send an e-mail.But I can understand the disappointment when there is no feedback (a feeling of indifference)Just today I downloaded the Princess Juliana Airport at the Neatherland Antillies. WOW..what an addon. I need to findout and send an e-mail to that author.Manny

That wasn't directed at you John, it was directed at Edam's post of "Enjoy your new hobby! Make sure it's one that you don't expect feedback from." To me that sounds like "don't let the door hit your butt on the way out". Just my opinion. As you said, yourself and probably a lot of developers don't expect thanks but I think a few of them would appreciate the occasional e-mail for their work :) Anyone who doesn't have bandwidth to send an appreciative e-mail doesn't have bandwidth to be downloading in the first place :)Bud

good grief

Okay, William, "thanks would be the decent thing to do"???I designed my share of freeware also, and the LAST thing I wanted was an e-mail thanking me.Why? Because I would feel obligated to respond, even if it was just a "thanks" in return.Then, you would have folks thanking you and asking you a question, giving advice, "constructive criticism", etc.Then you would have folks with whom if you did not respond to their thank you e-mail who might feel offended.I counted downloads, and that was all the thanks I needed. I considered each download a thanks in itself. The LAST thing I cared to do was count thank you e-mails as a percentage of downloads. However, Larry is entitled to his opinion and feelings, and I am giving you mine.Or, let's look at it this way: If Larry got an e-mail from everyone who downloaded his work, that would be over 1300 e-mails for just one project. Even 10% would be 130 e-mails. Now, maybe Larry would not respond to each one, that's his style, but not mine.At times, I will send a thank you e-mail, and specifically say "no reply necessary", but not everyone thinks of doing that.I had some projects that maxed out at more than 70,000 downloads across various web sites.William, would like you like to deal with 70,000 e-mails, or at even 10%, 7,000 e-mails?Now, this is just my opinion based on my feelings, but, I did not do freeware for thank you e-mails. The thanks came in the form of folks taking THEIR time to download and install what I produced.Everyone is different, and Larry feels as he does, and that is fine, but, do not assume that all freeware developers want to be bombarded with thank you e-mails. Especially those of us who would feel obligated to respond to each one, or even many of them. I don't know about you, William, but I have better things to deal with than opening Outlook and finding 500 e-mails in my in box. ;-)Just my opinion, formed after 8 years of doing this work. No offense intended toward anyone.Regards,http://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...R_FORUM_LOU.jpg

>Another example of the fine attitude towards contributors. >Have you contributed back to the community?Being part of an open community is not a privilege. And it doesn't need to be earned.Regards,http://www.bremmekamp.com/img/misc/avsim.jpg

Hi,I read your post and checked the library to see what files there were and found that I had downloaded your Alaskan Lighthouses! Did I thank you for them? No.Was that thoughtless of me? Yes.So, a belated 'thank you' and apology coming at you. I dare say we all make assumptions about uploaded freeware files and finish up taking the authors of them for granted on occasions. We assume there will be another 50 files in the library and I for one don't spare many thoughts for how they got there. The mouse is a bad tool for inter-personal connections.It would be a pity if you really decide not to do any more sceneries as you have a skill and an artistic ability that most of us do not have . Your many thousands of downloaded files show that your work will be missed, even if you get no thanks for it.Andy.

My freeware files have been downloaded over 25,000 times at various websites (Avsim, Flightsim, FSdome, FSfreeware etc). I've received the following emails (I've summarised them):"Thanks for the Real Weather" x 3"Your A380 doesn't conform to reality, as the outer engines have reverse thrust" (I only painted the plane :-lol)"How do I install this file?" (Full instructions were included :-lol)I have received less than half a dozen emails from 25,000 downloads ... that's ~ 0.02% http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/Dar...0/blinkblag.gif . I'm sure a lot of those downloads were never even installed .... they were burnt onto CD and archived :)As Lou has already said, I wouldn't want 25,000 emails anyway. Having said that I do thank authors for files that I use :).

well, i've never had an email from any designers telling me my "thanks" wasn't needed or wanted. because something was downloaded ten thousand times doesn't mean it's good. you can't tell what these people are doing with it after they got it if anything. i'd also like to think that asking questions would also be in line. i mean why put something out for everyone and not support it or answer questions? that should be part of the package. it doesn't have to be i guess but i'd take that into consideration if i got into that type of thing. looks like it could turn into more than a one man job. it's starting to bring me back to the starting point now. it could get so involved that you'd probably start wondering why even do it anymore. i don't know, just make the stuff cause ya like it is what it maybe comes down to, like everyone else is saying and forget the rest. for me though, when i see something good i say something, always been like that. anyway, i doubt you'd have to be to concerned with getting to many email thank yous. don't see that happening anytime soon. maybe all this is a carry over from work for me. i have to deal with alot rude and arrogant people and i usually have something to tell them. sorry if i'm stepping out of bounds here. whatever is going on with this issue will work itself out. william

>After a lot of consideration, I've decided stop doing>scenery. >>My last 2 sceneries have been downloaded over 1300 times>combined, and generated only 1 response (about .01 percent).>And the stuff before that has gotten about the same response>or less (what's less than 1?). >>I feel like either my stuff is crap, or just totally>unappreciated. If people think it's crap, I would have liked>to have known what could have been done to make it better. >Either way, I think it's time I find a new hobby. >>I've never been in this for fame or glory, but I don't think>it's out of line to expect an occasional thank you after>putting a lot of time and work into something, and giving it>away for free. >>Larry Silsbee>Hi,Although I don't do flightsim stuff I can relate as I have put many, many hours into an add-on and never got a kind word back. The biggest upset I ever had was getting endlessly slammed not due to the quality of the add-on but because I used the Comic San MS font in the screen capture announcing the add-on. Many people think it

Well sir, you gonna do whatever you gonna do ...For myself, when/if I DL some package it might be days, weeks or sometime next year when I get around to opening it. I track some 18 websites every morning (not all are FS either.) My complete DL section is somewhere around 19 gigs, 16,000 files, plus another 13 CDs which are offline storage. I find from reading this thread that I did DL one of your packages. Did I email you? Nope, I installed it more than a half year after I picked it up. Do I like it? Dunno, it's a biig flight world out there and for the area in question, I've only flown over it a couple times since installing it.Some time back I picked up the whole Norway thingies; installed them t'other day. If you got a thousand DLs isn't that an indication you're doing something right? Was there a thread on your package or did you just expect folks to start emailing you? I usually reply to threads for major paks which I DL but I realize, even though you don't seem to, that you really don't want 1000 emails in your inbox.Peace, :D

Thanks for saying it this way, John. I have enjoyed making scenerys and painting aircraft and expected no thanks. They were done for other people to enjoy. A great number have enjoyed my work.I still use your Landclass Assistant because of the simplisty of it. Did I say Thanks?Thanks John for all you have done.Joe W.http://home.comcast.net/~raptor67/Joe_W/Joe_sig.jpg