I don’t often suck up so blatantly but there is a reason. My other forum addiction is a place called the Biplane Forum. I have gained knowledge there that has saved me time, saved me money and might even have saved my life. Right away, even before I bought the Pitts, I became a “lifetime” finacial supporter. That same forum is now making changes that will enforce an annual fee schedule for users. Whether any of us there agree or not with the changes, the admin and staff have been very upfront about why the changes are needed. I sometimes fall into the myth of thinking that the internet and its associated services are free. They are everything but as the changes in that other forum demonstrate. If someday, this forum made similar changes, I will gladly pony up. (Easy everyone, I am just speaking for me). But during this season where we all incure added expences and might even get to buy nice new toys for ourselves, there are a handful of guys who are taking money from their families to make this forum possible and taking time from those families to make the forum experience richer. Thank you!
Only been here a month or two. This place has saved me a small fortune. The peripherals reviews and the depth of knowledge on here is invaluable to me. @staff do a fantastic job and reply to any and all queries quickly and honestly.
Thanks for the kind words. The place exists because of people that come together to keep the hobby interesting, and for that I’m grateful. The cost outlay is worth it because this stuff IS my hobby. Like people who build train sets or fiddle with cars, I love sims and sim type stuff, so it is simply a cost of my hobby. It also keeps my mind engaged and rather than watch TV passively, I enjoy the interaction with sims and the community.
None of it would be possible without @fearlessfrog who smartly gives me only one instruction at a time when possible, but more often than not just deftly handles any problems that crop up. His sacrifice in time is greatly appreciated and we are lucky to have him.
Thanks too to @Fridge and @Troll - who are invaluable to keeping an eye on things and helping shape the tone of the site and making some great events happen.
My only hope is that we can all continue to be friendly and generous and patient with each other if the site continues to grow. The goal is all of us having fun together and by and large that has been the case. We certainly aren’t perfect and while we try our best to keep the site positive, we also want to allow enough latitude that people can roll out a complaint or issue without it becoming a drumbeat of criticism. I’m always impressed that most people try to find ways to have fun with the sims we fly instead of just continually pointing out all the things some of our sims don’t do well. I think we have a pretty cool crowd here and we appreciate that everyone does their best to get along.
Hopefully everyone has a great holiday season coming up and I know we’ll all enjoy spending time with our family and friends. Maybe with a lot of us having some time off we will run into each other online - I certainly hope so!
Seriously though, Mudspike has become my online home these past few years, primarily because we have great people here and a generally upbeat and positive vibe. That continues to be a breath of fresh air, and I hope we can continue with that.
That all comes down to moderation. We as fans are no less susceptible to redit-like behavior than other groups. Good moderators nudge us to proper behavior and help us blush over our darker instincts. After awhile being nice gets baked in. People either except it, or leave. In other words—there’s another Thank You!
@smokinhole were you talkkng about me?
Well, yes!
We flew il2 a lot and for sure i flew on Warbirds!
Then we flew Clod a little BOX and now we are flying DCS! (European Air Force is celebrating 20 years activity!!!)
We are preparing a small DCS WWII campaign to be flown Europe evening time once a week! (More info when we’re ready!)
I am mainly a lurker but that’s about to end as I take one more deep dive into flight simming in the new year with a new rig. I would happily contribute towards the upkeep of this most excellent and unusually civilised site.
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