In recent weeks , i have made a conscious effort not to post , on practically every forum , and i must say , for having done this , i feel alot mentality better within myself , maybe forums are not for me perhaps , well i have decided to take this one step further by publically stating that it is my intention , to no longer post on sim forums - period .

I will however pop in daily purely to keep up to date with the game enhancements eg patches , new features , new campaign theatres etc , but purely to read , i intend to keep to the shadows , and keep my thoughts , feelings and aspirations to myself !

For whatever reason - i feel the following ,
I remember reading an article some months ago , about the sim community , how we the users ,should rally the sim community and we should try to oprganise , focus and help each other out ,further the genre etc , alas i feel the opposite is the case ! :-(

Of late i find myself very selective in my thread reading , also i am sick and tired of the same old **** that gets posted , and sometimes the damn right scary and very sick stuff that gets said

some examples -
e.g

member X had died !! ???

slag off member X or IBETA or whoever , for not delivering a campaign , patch or whataver !! ??

The slagging off of sim x for sim y , on various forums - often resulting in flame wars , unplesantness , and it goes beyond pointing out game play deficiences of game x or y !!

the source code issue , the problem of non registered members , campaign tool debacle , is chopstick genuine and many more spring to mind etc etc etc !!

These aside , patching of F4 has got out of hand , my head hurts just thinking about it , multi player gaming aspects also does not interest me personally .

There also seems to be a xenophobic and some what of an intolerance and pack mentally that also seems to pervade generally on forums !

Eg note ,we dont all live in the USA , we dont all see history and politics the same way ??

we dont all fly hard core , we dont all have cockpits in our living rooms , or aspire to be f16 pilots !

I appreciate this is a democracy and we are all different , and have different views , thank god , but it seems that on almost NO level is there much common ground here , let alone give and take or that dirty word - RESPECT and HUMANITY for each other !!

So i am going to spend more time off line , i have my web site to focus on , which is giving me an immense amount of fun , learning and achievement .

I intend to use my time constructively , playing the sims i love off line , single player , maybe some mission building , also i intend to write more articles , and produce more screen shot feature articles for my web site .

I think this is the best way for me to contribute to sims , and avoid the above issues i have mentioned .

I will continue to very selectively read constructive info threads , and of course i am fully contactble via my site and at the ICQ and email address below .

My parting comment is that , i think i can in some small way understand why sims are dying-
If developers and publishers , follow and read forums , they too must realise what a fractured lot we are , pitch that against the cost and development and sales factors , and no wonder the sims we love are getting a kick in , and why they have, and probably will continue to be canned / killed off left right and center !

If this happens , i have a lot of sims in my collection to still play , but they won't last forever , i hope the pedictors and harbingers of simming doom are wrong , i really do , and i hope it will not take years for the decline in simming to be reversed - time and sttitudes will tell !!

So verbally it is over and out for me , i will be watching from the shadows at a distance .

I wish you all, all the best , and many hours of fun and happy flying , maybe i will chat privately to some of you all in the future .

Roger , over & out :-)

Troffmeister's Flight Sim Screen Shot Art Gallery
http://www.daviesr.freeserve.co.uk

Email Roger@Daviesr.freeserve.co.uk

You are clearly above the things you mention in your post and therefore don't participate in them. You are also open to counter arguments, otherwise you wouldn't have posted, you'd have just done it!

To monitor a forum to glean information from it, without putting something back when you have something to offer, would be a terrible shame. If you apply the same ethics to your posting as you are doing to your reading, I think you'll get by. The "community" wouldn't loose you.

There are many names on the forum who's posts are consistently helpful, non-offensive and informative. Don't write everyone off!

Whatever you decide, good luck to you.

As with all human endeavors, you need to separate the wheat from the chaff.

I agree that there are many conversations on these boards that are not worth participating in, but this forum is a great resource for people (like me) who need a place to come and ask questions of people who really know what they are talking about.

The Xenophobia, over and above all the in-fighting, I found really offensive. I read "Nuke the Bloody Chinese" communists from the F-18 forum a month or so ago and I was so alarmed. I was even a bit embarrassed for those who posted such inane shite.

It seemed to me less and less a "community" where I would wish to belong.

People in this world, on this net, on this forum, in this community are capable of so much creativity, altruism and good humor.

This is evident once one has sifted through the dreck that winds up in the posts of some.

I must say I'm only encouraged by your words and those above my post on this thread, however. They are a very necessary contribution.

I hope that you (and others who share your views) would consider posting in the future.

At any rate, it's nice to know you're out there.

Cheers,