This Forum is hostile, helpful and entertaining

[Col_StinkFinger]

I am an avid forum reader and am consistently impressed by the knowledge and experience shared here.  I have to say that there for the bashful forum members or complete newbies, it can come off as being smarmy, sarcastic and sometimes downright nasty (albeit nasty with intelligence, not just mindless trolling).  I think this prevents free expression from many users.   Maybe there should be a "stupid question" section so the less informed dummies, like myself, can freely express their shortcomings through obvious questions that are often repeated and poorly researched.  I think people would get more involved because the fear of a negative reprimand would be lifted.

I am willing to start this with this email because there will be probably a few that will tell me that this is already done in a sarcastic, holier than thou manner.

So bring it on fellahs! I can take it!

Edited April 15, 2014 by L_arfFlavinHoffer

[Gort]

Ask anything you want, the good guys will be happy to help. Ignore the dinkleberries that chime in with snarky comments. They are insecure and are only able to feel significant by sneering from behind their anonymous keyboards at a well meaning member to "use the search function!".

 

A real fighter pilot welcomes the opportunity to help a fledgling aerial assassin, a sim-hero/poser sees an honest question as an opportunity to be important.

 

What would you like to know?

Edited April 15, 2014 by Victory205

[BraveSirRobin]

The only problem with a stupid questions section is that you have to do the research to determine if your question is truly stupid.  And in the process of doing that research you'll probably find the answer to your question.

How about an "I'm too lazy to look this up on my own" section?

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

Agreed. There have, in the past, been some really vicious flight sim forums. I blame the freewheeling comments section on CNN and YouTube for such poor behavior. Shop around, some of those forums are still in exsistence.

 

While there are some A type personalities here and a bit of intolerance (by me even, on occasion) there is usually information to be gleaned. And the mods tend to be really good about controlling the vitriol around here.

 

Being of Irish descent I can appreciate a bit of sarcasm and bitter humor.

 

Now ask your questions but Get Off My Lawn!

[76SQN-FatherTed]

Ask away, I say!  The flipside of the so-called A-type personality is that they often want to show off the depth of their knowledge, so you'll probably get your answer in amongst any barbs.  Also, most of what aggro there is around here is between established members carrying out long-standing arguments rather than the dissing of new-comers.

 

Most of us are acutely aware of the fragility of the market for games like this one and know that encouraging more people to buy into them is the only way for us to secure their future.  Questions like "I really want to get into this, do I need a joystick?" will engender a huge number of positive responses, whereas "Why is this game so damn expensive?" may well elicit some attacks on the OP.

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

Maybe what we need is a list of long standing fueds..................................naw, JK.

 

Don't ban me bro.

[Sternjaeger]

it's a forum frequented mainly by males, so the testosterone levels can run wild, but I second Extreme One and Victory 205 thoughts.

 

You have a question? SEARCH it first, if you don't find it, then ask it in a polite manner and you shall receive the most educated answer possible. Yes, we have our trolls and self-righteous characters, but that's something you meet in real life too, nothing unusual I'd say.

[Georgio]

I am an avid forum reader and am consistently impressed by the knowledge and experience shared here. I have to say that there for the bashful forum members or complete newbies, it can come off as being smarmy, sarcastic and sometimes downright nasty (albeit nasty with intelligence, not just mindless trolling). I think this prevents free expression from many users. Maybe there should be a "stupid question" section so the less informed dummies, like myself, can freely express their shortcomings through obvious questions that are often repeated and poorly researched. I think people would get more involved because the fear of a negative reprimand would be lifted.

I am willing to start this with this email because there will be probably a few that will tell me that this is already done in a sarcastic, holier than thou manner.

So bring it on fellahs! I can take it!

Try this on the banana forums of old and you'd be lucky to escape with your scalp. Luckily the World has moved on and most of the trolls have grown up and do their homework every night instead of trying to massage their egos.

As extreme says we occasionally get the odd chancer who jumps on a newbie but everyone tends to jump in and help scare the nasty troll away.

Aside from that feel free to post whatever needs enlightening after all this is a public forum aimed at educating the masses so pile in and enjoy the fun, just remember two things. Don't bite if someone gets personal and don't get personal yourself...^^

Edited April 15, 2014 by Georgio

[BMW801]

I like the post from Victory 205.

With his background, his comments carry tremendous weight in my book.

This is supposed to be fun.  We are all here because of a similar interest.

I don't understand why people take some of these posts so seriously.

[Cybermat47]

Some of the people here are holier-than-thou assholes, bit for the most part, people here are nice.

Ask anything you want, the good guys will be happy to help. Ignore the dinkleberries that chime in with snarky comments. They are insecure and are only able to feel significant by sneering from behind their anonymous keyboards at a well meaning member to "use the search function!".

A real fighter pilot welcomes the opportunity to help a fledgling aerial assassin, a sim-hero/poser sees an honest question as an opportunity to be important.

What would you like to know?

I'm going to save that. Could come in handy when confronting a poser. I'll leave you anonymous though

[J2_Trupobaw]

The only problem with a stupid questions section is that you have to do the research to determine if your question is truly stupid.  And in the process of doing that research you'll probably find the answer to your question.

How about an "I'm too lazy to look this up on my own" section?

 

Finding expert in the field to ask for directions (or complete answer if problems turns out to be trivial) is legitimate first step of any research. Whether expert has time and patience to answer is just matter of luck...

• Time for an ignorant to research problem like what we discuss here from ground up: up to hours if Google does not find exact answer to the same question. Weeks if problem is complex and answer must be pieced from common knowledge scattered on different boards. 
• Time for an expert to answer: as long as it takes to type it .
• Time for non-ignorant to provide link to answer: one Google search since he knows what he looks for. Some people will just give hints that help narrowing down the research.
• Time for thread disappear from front pages once question is answered - days, unless forum is boring anyway.

 

Edited April 16, 2014 by Trupobaw

[I/JG27_Rollo]

Maybe there should be a "stupid question" section

Not really a section but there actually is a "stupid question" thread which hasnt been used in a while: http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/1365-ask-stupid-bos-related-question-thread/?p=29000