"Over-and-out"

Microsoft Flight Simulator has been my favorite hobby for a lot of years. It seems like we are just now beginning to see the kind of potential I always hoped for. Most of us know that Microsoft is not known for being an “open-source” environment. But luckily, there has been an awful lot of sharing information to make Microsoft Flight Simulator a loosely collaborative work.

I have always needed more than a little friendly advice because of the highly sophisticated software environment to make flight simulation possible, and of course, the rigorous demands from hardware and operating system. So, in order for one to become a flight sim enthusiast, requires one to also learn how to get the most from his computer. Thus, I have benefited greatly from the wealth of knowledge to be found in forums like this one.

Alas, after spending approximately a month or six weeks seeking to get as firm a grasp as possible for the ongoing development of MSFS , I find it too difficult to ignore the constant barrage of disrespect and lack of common regard that any question or comment should be given. Snarky replies seem to come out of nowhere.

It seems that the longer a thread continues, it is only a matter of time until Someone has to descend into a negatively charged conversation. Which makes it next to impossible to ignore, and try to simply share information.

And, share the same hobby. I suppose I will continue to glean needed information on software updates, but I sure wish I could hang out here and share in the hobby. I expect that this very post will attract the same kinds of critical, condescending, mean-spirited b.s. Which is fine. Because I’m over-and-out.
P.S. Anyone know of a forum where friendly folks share knowledge and hobby of Microsoft Flight Simulator? I’d be interested in a referral.

24 Likes

Part of the problem is:

Some users don’t want to or don’t know how to search for their answers. Given this board has rapidly accumulated useful and in many cases, precise and on-point answers since well before August 2020 launch, chances are excellent that a given question has already been answered. Respectfully, we encourage users to search using basic terms, and the Search Engine here is quite good and flexible. You can even switch from board-wide to sub-forum to within a thread just with one click without leaving your current search parameters.

I’ve tried to alleviate some of this by creating a “How to Ask and Search for Help” Guide.

The Community Managers, Mod Team and long term veterans are doing a stand up job of keeping this place friendly, neat and orderly.

What you’re seeing in instances is “FAQ fatigue.” People not using search, not thinking about their parameters, and in some extreme cases just wanting to be spoon fed responses. While it doesn’t excuse behavior against ToC/ToU, it’s understandable given human nature.

You’re going to find this is the case no matter which board you go to. I’ve been simming since the 80s and I’ve seen all the variants of boards, going back to BBS and listservs. Human behavior is the same no matter what. The quality of the place is held up by the management and staff. This place is very decent if I may so myself.

So as we say on the open radio net: “Switch frequencies. Roger, out.” We’ll keep the lights on for you.

6 Likes

This has been my experience of the flight sim community since before this sim came out isn’t just msfs,not everybody though. It’s like this with social media these days it’s just full of nasty comments and arguing. Nobody can disagree without someone getting offensive.

4 Likes

welcome to a society of instant gratification: If it doesn’t work out of the box, it’s broken garbage :wink:

8 Likes

Hi @Crossave1957,

Thank you for your message. I do hope you see this reply, but if not hopefully it will help someone else.

Unfortunately, as CasualClick pointed out, the type of behaviours you mentioned are common on many message board platforms. While I wish you luck in your endeavour to find a platform with more “friendly folks”, you may struggle in this endeavour.

I have found a few things, that help when using forums:

  1. Understand where some of the negativity and snarky comments come from.
    CasualClick outlined one cause. I would suggest another comes out of the frustration some users have about the current state of the simulator and its updates VS what they expect it should be. These are users who are passionate and often want whats best for the simulator.

    Others may be struggling with current global circumstances and maybe a bit stressed. Either way, I try not to take things personally.

    However, with that said, we don’t want an environment where people feel uncomfortable or unable to politely and constructively unable to discuss their point of view. This is why we have the Code of Conduct, which aims to protect users, and provide a positive environment for constructive discourse, both in support of and against the simulator.

    To that end, the moderation team monitors the forums, and we step in when we have to. We are a small team so we cannot catch everything, so we ask that if you see posts/topics that violate the CoC, please report them to us. As you have not reached Trust Level 2, you will need to send @moderators a private message. However, once you reach TL2 you can use the flag button.

  2. You may find it useful to mute/ignore forum users who you find annoying or upsetting. The easiest way to do this is to click on a users profile picture, then their biography card that pops up. This will open the user’s profile page, from here you should see a button on the top right corner of your screen that defaults to “Normal”. Change this to ignore or muted.

    Note: Some of those options may be unavailable to TL0, TL1 users.

  3. My final bit of advice, and this seems to be a solution you’ve come to on your own, is to take a break or alter your usage of the forums. If you find that they are unenjoyable, either step back and take a break or change how you use them. There is nothing wrong with coming here primarily to search for important information. You can always come back to create just a topic here or there if you want to.

    Either way, you will always be welcome back.

Hopefully, we see you again sometime in the future, keep enjoying the simulator. Best of luck.

14 Likes

I’ve been around “forums” since the early days of net news “rec.simulators.*”. Yeah, I am that old. Admittedly I concentrated more on the racing simulation oriented “forums”. I don’t think its much different now than it was then tbh. Simulation attracts the more “passionate” user and as a result, opinions tend to be more passionately expressed.

Some people struggle to express opinions with passion whilst maintaining some level of respect for others. For me, its always been like this. I am not saying this is a good thing, but its hardly new.

4 Likes

I remember some of the great flame wars on Usenet, sometimes over the most trivial things, and with no real moderation to cool things down. They could run on for months, and end up spilling over to other places outside Usenet.

2 Likes

Ahh, flame wars!!! Yes! Weren’t they fun? Almost all of the Usenet groups, forums and BBSs before them were minefields. One false step and you were quite literally toast! And they often lasted longer than the shelf life of the topic they supported.

I agree that the current state of the forums of nearly all sorts isn’t much different than the groups of yore… the thickness of the skin of the participants may be thinner these days than then, but the groups and forums seem close in kind.

Also, current forum software aids the moderators greatly in stifling “bad actors” and allows them to clean up much more quickly. This alone helps to keep the tempers from becoming too unhinged.

1 Like

To MS’s credit I’d say this has changed quite significantly in the past 10 years or so. A lot of stuff has become open source and/or freely available on the software development side of things.

2 Likes

Well, I must say I had not at all expected a rapid response from some very thoughtful people. Especially from a moderator and others who help maintain this forum. On a Sunday too.

Those of you who recalled some of the days when forums were hardly moderated at all, brought back memories. So, I do stand corrected. Not to excuse the cheap shots and snarky replies to honest queries, but I can see that there is a level of moderating going on.

I also get that many folks are frustrated by the time they reach out to the boards, and that there is a labyrinth of information, all in the form of conversation threads. As one of you pointed out, the Microsoft Flight Simulator site has tried to offer a system of sub-groups to help users to navigate their particular questions/comments as specifically as possible .

Plus, I agree with the observations regarding human nature and how that must always be a factor in conversation in any form. For me, I think the best overall help I have found in this discussion, is that there is certainly enough civility and structure here to provide a place where we can work together to tame this beast that has captured my interest for the past 25 years, Microsoft Flight Simulator. Check out my post where I took pictures of every edition going back to Sub Logic. My thanks to each of you who took the time today to respond to my rant. Much respect to you!
Phil “Crossave1957”

7 Likes

Good to know. Hey, maybe Microsoft learned from the Flight Simulator, how much could be gained by sharing their code. Sheesh, they could have learned that from Linux. :grimacing:

So true! Have look at the comments @ the MSFSOfficial in Twitter. That is just awful.

Keyboard warriors are on every forum I’m afraid, most users think that their own experience on any particular subject should be written in stone, without acknowledging that other users experiences are different, the tech bubble. I too have come off this forum a few times now, tried to make light happy posts, praised the tech in the sim that shines and been critical of the sim when I feel it has been needed. Unfortunately after looking around to source information quickly due to the fact that many issues occur within the sim, here is the only place I can find real time updates if users are experiencing a similar issue to mine, this saves me time trying to debug the issues myself. I do enjoy most of the posts on here, and it seems it only takes a small thing to upset the Karma, I can deal with the negativity as the sim is not perfect on any level (yet), but I agree, there can be some real underlining nastiness on here, I have been in the same situation, it’s usually from users who won’t or can’t accept that users experiences are unique due to all kind of different factors, system builds, stability etc even real life experiences, I know many autistic users of MSFS I donated my old FSX system to a special needs school, the kids love to play on the new sim when they come to our house because they can see their own house in the sim now (my Wife is a School teacher) but I know they would have a real hard time on here if they wanted to take the sim as a personal hobby because some people wouldn’t even account for special needs. The list is endless and this makes it harder for any developer to debug their software. But there are some real genuine users on here who really want to help us, ignore the derided remarks as I for one hope you stick around a little longer Crossve1957 :slight_smile:

3 Likes

unnamed

4 Likes

There are also many of us on this forum that don’t have english as a first language and when the fustration sets in that can result in clumsy or coarsely worded messages.

11 Likes

For the most part I agree with Crossave’s topic.

I also think we’re all aiming for the best experience using FS in our own favorite setting. Some wish to master an A-320 using all the technical developments, while others prefer to fly a less detailed aircraft.
FS ‘demands’ a fair bit of technical knowledge to be able to tune the most basic settings provided by MS and Asobo. Some questions about more complex settings like the ones in Nvidia Control panel and other applications sometimes results in ‘negative’ replies.

It’s also difficult for non English members to express them selves because they can’t use the correct words. Google-translate isn’t always the best option. But they at least try.
Besides that some terms just don’t exist in other languages which makes it even harder to explain or translate a question.

That said, we’re all adults and need to be able to resist normal criticism or a joke. That’s not the problem for the most of us. But being targeted deliberately can take away the motivation to ask- or reply to a topic.

Especially in this period of limitations and tense global atmosphere, we should try to be a bit more patient and empathic.

3 Likes

Try simahaven group on FB- they moderate it pretty heavily, and most things seem more-civil over there than in a lot of places I’ve visited.

1 Like

Many thanks for your reply CHorne82. After many kind responses like yours, I amnl sticking around. :grinning:

3 Likes

Very good observation, thanks. At times when I see some of these annoying posts, I wonder if it might be some kid…young or old. :grimacing:

1 Like

This ain’t an airport no need to announce your departure.

1 Like