I agree to some extent what you say Tom. And if you have noticed, I am a AVSIM supporter from head to toe. And I very well know what AVSIM stands for. This forum has become some kind of virtual home for me over the years, aswell as to many other "oldies",...if you can call 48 old. :-lolI remember as if it was yesterday, when I, together with Eric, was involved in the first big copyright case, and you stood behind us all the way. I will never forget this. ;-)We can talk much more about this when you come to Stockholm...;-)http://www.scandicair.com/images/sa_banner.gif"Real men fly with round gauges"[/color]

Staffan, I am coming to Stockholm. I will come to Stockholm when you outlaw aquavit and herring. :-lolSeriously, I was last there about two years ago, but was only there for one night. Next time I will plan to spend the weekend and we can certainly get together, as I have wanted to do for a number of years.

Tom,In can certainly understand that you want to outlaw the herring,...but the aqvavit...?..:-hmmm :-lolhttp://www.scandicair.com/images/sa_banner.gif"Real men fly with round gauges"[/color]

Yeah, but you see, one leads to the other. Outlaw Aquavit and the herring disappears. Outlaw Aquavit and herring and I won't be challenged to spend a mid-summer's eve looking at beautiful Swedish women. I can simply go to bed!!! At my age, that is always a good idea. :-lolMy cousin Sheri and our friendly stray cat. Taken in Oregon last week, sans computer.... :)

http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/137707.jpg

Looking good. :-)http://www.scandicair.com/images/sa_banner.gif"Real men fly with round gauges"[/color]

I think that there are several issues at play here that could make people think that things are "worse" than they used to be. First off I would say that Avsims member base has grown over the past few years and given that the number of "problem" people grows as well. If you only have a membership of say 1000 people and maybe 20 of them like to stir the pot on occasion you would not see as many "problem" posts as you would with a membership of 10,000 and 200 people having their fun. Also the "problem" people tend to feed off of each other on occasion so while the ratio may remain the same, the number of problem posts will actually be higher as they have their fun with each other. The next thing that you might think about is that most people tend to remember the past as the "good times" more so than the bad times. I'll bet that if you could go back and read all of the posts on Avsim from the FS98 days you would see a lot of nastiness that you do not remember right now. Another thing is that since there are more people now maybe it does not feel as much like a family as it once did. I know that there was a time where I felt like I knew almost everyone who posted here, that is not true anymore. I was more of a lurker then but the membership was lower at the time so it felt more like a close family, today it is a very large extended family with the big gain in membership. All in all I think that everything is exactly the same as it was many years ago here, some people are very helpful, some critical, some are flamers, some are lurkers, there are newbies and old timers. The only change is that there are more of each group so the discussions are bigger with more people on each "side" trying to get their opinion heard. Sometimes having more people can make things seem to be "worse" but I think it is better, more ideas, more opinions, more creativity, more FUN! I too have thought that things were better in the old days but the more I thought about it the more I realized that things are really the same as they always have been, just with more people.Take care you all and have a great year! Philip Olsonhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

it gets in the way of the specialty beers ;)

Baker Bulldogs OSAA schedule?Tom, you certainly do find your way to some of the remote parts of the world.Hope you enjoyed the holidays with your family.Bruce