New Forum Software

[SP2472]

8 minutes ago, SP2472 said:

Still can't post pictorials due to a lack of a new posting tab. No problem replying though.

 

Please help, Darryl

 

Never mind, the "new topic" button is there today.

[Nels_Anderson]

3 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Is there a possible format for naming uploads that might help in searches? Such as "FS Version - Name - Complete/Repaint/Textures/Paint Kit/Etc" 

Want to make it easy for people to find our works. Thx

As file librarian, I used just such a standard format. I once wrote up a highly detailed document on how a good file description should begin:

 

Template for Perfect File Description

Part 1: Title

If the file is an aircraft the title should contain the following parts in this order:

1) What flight simulator(s) the file is for
2) If it's an airliner, what airline livery
3) The name of the company that built the plane
4) The model/type of the plane
5) Additional descriptive information such as:
   a) aircraft registration numbers
   b) terms like "fleet" if multiple planes are included

 

Sections 2 and 5 are optional.

 

Examples:

 

	FS2004 United Airlines Boeing 747-400 N747UA

	------ --------------- ------ ------- ------

	1      2               3      4       5

	FSX/P3D Delta Airlines Airbus A320-200

	------- -------------- ------ --------

	1       2              3      4

	X-Plane Piper PA28-181 Archer II

	------- ----- ------------------

	1       3     4

 

If you remember the old file library, you saw this standard format on every aircraft file. Scenery is done in a similar manner, adjusted for the different information required.

 

What you have to remember is you're not just writing text, you're actually putting down a whole list of tags that the search engine will use to find the file.

 

So further, an ideal description should include every possible term under which it might be searched. For example, airplanes often have an official name and a nickname, i.e. F-15 "Eagle". Someone looking for that plane could possibly use either of those terms in their search. You also run into cases where multiple terms are used for the same thing, i.e. "USAF" and "US Air Force" and "United States Air Force" all mean the same thing.

 

In scenery what I've seen lately is people won't fully describe what and where the scenery is. I.e., they will include the ICAO code for the airport, but NOT include what state or country it's in.

 

So now that the uploader is responsible, it's up to you to provide a description that will make your files findable by people doing reasonable searches. Hope this helps

 

[mrzippy]

Right now I don't worry about searching the Library!  Hows about increasing the time after a post is saved for editing?  Right now it's way under 5 minutes.

[PhrogPhlyer]

8 minutes ago, Nels_Anderson said:

Hope this helps

Fantastic Nels. Exactly what I needed!

I see that I can edit the names for the current files.

Thanks!

[Tom Gibson]

Oh no, you've changed the links to all the forums and the library files.  Great.  I changed dozens of links on my site and now they're all broken.  I understand that the site is still in flux but a basic thing like links to files wasn't finalized when you brought up the site?  Wow.

 

They will remain broken until someone assures me that they will NEVER change again in the foreseeable future.

[PhrogPhlyer]

Glad to see site is back to flightsim nor forums/flightsim. That and being an https seems best in the long run. Slowly it all comes together.

[lnuss]

It would have been nice to have warning about the change back to the previous address. I tried connecting this morning and got a "can't find server" message, so I figured you had the site down for trouble. When it was still that way a few minutes ago I googled (well, duck duck go'ed) for flightsim.com and found you back here.

 

It's great that you are fixing things, getting things more suited to FS specifics, but at least please give some notice and, perhaps, a note on the previous URL explaining what happened.

 

[loki]

28 minutes ago, lnuss said:

It's great that you are fixing things, getting things more suited to FS specifics, but at least please give some notice and, perhaps, a note on the previous URL explaining what happened.

 

I have to agree with Larry on the communication part, especially with changes such as the URL that stop people from getting into the site and/or forums.

[Adrian K]

We received a last-minute warning from our software provider, which caused us to experience a brief period of unavailability. During this time, we were unable to access our system due to DNS propagation delays.

 

We were hoping forums.flightsim.com would still work without disruption. Right now it does not work but we hope to make it work again tomorrow so all links and bookmarks work again. We understand the frustration around the lack of communication. This was not our intent and we greatly apologize for the inconvenience.

[lnuss]

Thanks for updating us on that, Adrian. It helps a lot.

 

[jgf]

Thanks Adrian. I posted elsewhere that Firefox kept throwing "forum" into the link then complaining it could not find the server, even when I only listed flightsim.com; using Brave browser right now and it gives no trouble, accepting flightsim.com and coming right here.

[Tom Gibson]

I’d like to thank Adrian and the team for fixing this issue quickly, we all appreciate it!

[mrzippy]

Just re-signed in and still using the link I was before!

[oosterlo]

On 1/31/2023 at 6:57 PM, leuen said:

Since when did you run your website?

Bernard

Since 2003. So it's coming up on it's 20th anniversary

[defaid]

Here's another request for an extension of the editable period for new forum posts.

 

Also, deleting an attachment in dropdown menus User > Content > My Attachments doesn't seem to remove it from a post.

 

After 90 seconds, I can't change or remove a screenshot that shows foul language.

[Baron Fritz]

I noticed that the topic "what happened to this website" has mysteriously disappeared, along with all the posts it contained. I read that it may have been moved to this topic, however, as none of those posts are visible, I suspect they have simply been "accidentally" deleted. I hope that a knowledgeable administrator will come forth and explain why this is so.  You must forgive my suspicions for thinking that way, I come from a large country in which it is becoming increasingly common to suppress dissenting opinions. I remain optimistic that the bugs will be ironed out .... eventually. On the topic of "bugs", I am not able to see more than two visitors to my profile even though the counter indicates that there have been over one hundred! I am not planning to harass anyone or do any spamming, just curious. I am confident this issue will be addressed soon. 

On a side note, I received an interesting email from Fly Away Simulation, very likely anyone who has subscribed to their newsletter has also received it, recruiting freeware MSFS Mod/Add-on developers to upload to their site. It seems that they are making a push to attract disgruntled developers from other sites to theirs. Some folks may find it interesting reading, food for thought anyway.

[defaid]

9 hours ago, Baron Fritz said:

I noticed that the topic "what happened to this website" has mysteriously disappeared, along with all the posts it contained.

 

I was casually following the topic and I suspect some comments may have got a bit out of hand.

 

Apparently I don't now have permission to view the topic, and my posts in that thread have also disappeared from my profile. I couldn't replace a foul-language screenshot in one of them; deleting the entire thread seems a bit overkill 

 

(Actually, I ended up deleting the whole post and recreating it using a censored version of the screenie).

 

I guess that the thread is still there but now only visible to admin. A more informative "You can't... " notice would be a good idea.

 

D

[jgf]

No idea what happened to that thread.  Yesterday I had a notice that someone had quoted me there, but when I tried to go there got a "Sorry, you do not have permission to view..." message.

10 hours ago, Baron Fritz said:

suppress dissenting opinions

If the new owners feel a need to do this, I feel a need to longer be a member.

[daspinall]

Seems to me it's giving the same message, I translated it to Thread Closed... Just give them time to fine-tune everything......

[Adrian K]

2 hours ago, defaid said:

 

I was casually following the topic and I suspect some comments may have got a bit out of hand.

 

 

That is correct. Many comments were off-topic and inappropriate. The thread was essentially a duplicate of this one and posted in an incorrect location. ( fs2004 forum) We would prefer to consolidate and have people continue commenting here.

[mrzippy]

Pretty much what I thought and said here:

Basically a duplicate thread and ADMIN decided to close it.  No big deal.  It was in the wrong forum to boot!

[Baron Fritz]

...... I believe that a vigorous, rational discourse should be allowed to flourish. This is essential to maintain a healthy forum and, ultimately, the website. It would not hurt to allow people to drift a little off-topic or crank up the volume now and then. As for the inappropriateness of some of the comments, we must rely on the discretion of the poster to keep a lid on things, keeping in mind that this is a "family show".

[mrzippy]

@Baron Fritz  Read the Forum Rules...especially rule 11.

[ViperPilot2]

All I want to know is what happened to the roughly 2,000 posts I was credited for in the 13 years I've been a Member of this Site? Everybody else got to keep theirs...

[lnuss]

1 hour ago, ViperPilot2 said:

All I want to know is what happened to the roughly 2,000 posts I was credited for in the 13 years I've been a Member of this Site? Everybody else got to keep theirs...

Nope- not everybody, perhaps nobody. Although I currently show a couple of thousand, I had several thousand more before the switch. I'm pretty sure many others lost a chunk too, including Nels. But a lot of other stuff apparently disappeared too, including lots of stuff in the FS98 archives and in some other sections where there were a lot of answers to fairly early questions (including FS98 and real aviation) of which there is now no sign, and many of those answers would still apply today.

 

I'm not overly concerned about it, but don't want you to think that it was just you that lost something.