May we expect an apology from the OP?

Thanks for your reply. Can we first clear up something? Are you a British company or an American one? When I spoke to your reps at the recent show in Birmingham I got the impression Saitek was British.As to complying with COPPA regulations these are US laws so I'm not sure why everyone around the world has to comply with them. AvSim don't have this policy so I'm surprised Saitek feel the need to. Are AvSim being lax or are Saitek being over-sensitive?How can you possibly validate a DOB? Do you have access to a database that would allow this for US citizens? I wouldn't have thought so given the minimal information requested.Any child (or adult for that matter) could supply a false DoB and you would have no way of validating it. So I fail to understand its purpose. And as the very first question asked it does rather raise the hackles of genuine users wanting to seek advice from your message boards. Well, it did with me anyway.As for the prevention of hackers and spammers I fully understand why you seek to protect yourself but I fail to understand why it took so long before I could gain access. What were you checking? Or was it simply because your staff were not at work that day? Registration at sites like Flight1 take a matter of minutes.You'll appreciate that registration at AvSim and other major flight simulation sites does not require a DoB and the way in which the question was posed - the first one on the registration screen meaning no progress was possible until it was entered - did aggrivate me at a time when I was trying to resolve a problem with the hardware I had just purchased. I appreciate Saitek are doing what they consider best but I'd be surprised if I was the first person who was annoyed by the DoB request.Anyway, I'm now registered on your forum and have already contributed to a thread. I hope you will take on board my feelings about personal information especially in these days of identity fraud.

I also have recently purchased (in Australia) a Saitek yoke and quadrant. On the box it says "made in China" (isn't everything :-) ) copyright of Saitek Ltd Hong Kong. Isn't Hong Kong and China one and the same these days?But it is possible that there are Saitek subsiduries in various countries and with the current globalisation of the free market economy it's anyones guess as to the country of origin of the parent company.I haven't yet tried to register for the Saitek forum - I'll give a false DoB though.Roger

Roger,I haven't yet tried to register for the Saitek forum - I'll give a false DoB though.And you will undoubtedly be granted access even though you have supplied false information. It makes the whole registration process a farce.On your point about the country of manufacture, yes, China and Hong Kong are one and the same these days although I understand HK still enjoys some financial privileges denied to the rest of China.

Google will tell you that Saitek is a US company with offices worldwide.Regardless of that, Saitek's decision to follow COPPA is its own choice regardless of what other sites may do. Anyway, wwhat does it matter?Having to wait almost 48 hours is not a tragedy - after all it's not an important matter of life or death - except for those who seek instant gratification. Neither of these points justify calling it a shambles.

mgh,Why do you keep commenting on this? Are you an employee of Saitek or just someone with too much time on their hands?I am now having a dialogue with Saitek. Feel free to read what we write but I won't be responding to anything you have to say as your only purpose here seems to be to wind me up.:-roll

Come on Ray, don't you know he is the legal voice for everyone and everything?Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/banners/hifi-community-sigbanner.jpghttp://www.hifisim.com/

Hi Jim,Come on Ray, don't you know he is the legal voice for everyone and everything?:-lol Every forum has one it seems. Looks like I'm this month's lucky... loser. ;-)