Attention all Users. Please Read.

Hello Everyone,

It has come to my attention that a certain post on this forum may have contained a link to a dubious website. This link has now been removed and will be investigated.

However, due to this link being “present” on this forum one of our Moderators, Alec (Rufuskins), who kindly posted a notice about our forum on Trainsim.com’s forums has recently received a life time ban from the Trainsim.com forums as the offending post was in one of his threads, he is a moderator on our forum (and therefore responsible for that particular post being on the forum at all), and he was the user on their forums who put the link to our forum up on their forum. Their reasoning was that he was “spamming” their forums with our forum name and provided access to a potentially “illegal” download source.

Now whilst I do not condone piracy, I also do not condemn those who make simple mistakes. This forum is still young and its team is still learning as we go. I give my support to Alec for his judgement to remove the “offending link” from the forum, I only wish I had personally acted on this sooner but I have been trying to find out about the website that was hosting the file and I did not act on the link myself. If anyone wishes to blame someone for the link being present on our site then please direct your anger at me, not Alec. I also do not condemn the user who posted the link, I only ask that he apologises for his mistake and that he work with the moderation team in helping check the legitimacy of all future links that get posted on this forum. Not as punishment, but to better help everyone with accessing things related to MSTS.

It has also been brought to my attention that anyone posting anything about the TSSH forums on the Trainsim.com forums may be considered to be spamming their forums and may also receive a life time ban from their forums. I personally think that this is a complete over reaction to a simple minor mistake made by a group who are still learning. Whilst this matter has rattled my cage to no extent and I have taken my own personal actions with regards to my own opinions, I would urge the users of this forum to think very carefully about their own actions in regards to this situation.

I personally have no issues to anyone being a member of any forum; be it this one, UKTS or trainsim.com; I do however have issues with another forum not contacting me or any of the other members of the Administration or Moderation teams in regards to any issues that they may have with our forum. As you all know, we do try to listen to every ones thoughts and ideas and try to make use of all the input that you give to us. As has become the nick name of this forum it is the “friendly forum”, we are open to discussions and ideas.

I have made sure that all posts on our forum can be edited by the users themselves without a time limit so anything that may become “unsuitable”, in error or merely just out-dated can be fixed by the users themselves without the need for a lengthy review and correction process. I believe that this is one of the major benefits of this forum over all the others, that and it is run by the community for the community. I hope that this forum promotes an open and honest feeling and that the users do not have to fear the moderation team, after all the moderators are members of the community and we do release our own things for use within MSTS.

So please show your support for Alec and this forum, and if you do happen to use the Trainsim.com forums please do not mention this forum as I do not wish for any of you to receive a ban from them as well.

If any users wish to terminate their accounts as they have lost faith in this forum, then that is your wish, I will not try and stop you. But I will say this now, can you honestly say that you would give up on a friend for a simple, minor mistake and never speak to them ever again? Or do you help that friend by showing them that they have your support and help them to fix the mistake that they have made and help them make sure that the mistake does not happen again?

Justin.

Justin
Thank you for your support and it is appreciated. However I must correct one point in your comments, and that is that it was only my opinion that references to TSSH could receive a similar response from Trainsim. I would hate it for further misunderstandings to generate even more ill feeling.
Alec

Alec,

Fixed the wording to hopefully prevent the misunderstanding.
Being able to edit your own post: priceless.

Justin

Hi Alec,

You have my support, I have never known you come across as anything other than courteous and sticking to the rules, If you have made a mistake without realising it, then it is just one of those things though a lifetime ban is a bit OTT if the forum in question will not listen to reason.

Just remember the biggest forum is not neccessarily the best forum.

Mick

I agree with Mick above, I'm sure this was a one off and anyone can make mistakes, you have my support Alex
Best wishes
Don

Don and Mick
Many thanks for your kind words of support, they are very much appreciated.
Alec

With not a clue what this is about, did I miss something?
I'm sure this was an innocent error and you did nothing to worry about.
It does make me smile that the accusing forum reacts in such away considering its recent lapses on certain issues.
Not wanting to start a forum war, that is far as i'll go.
Clive

Like Clive I have no idea what this could be about . Without knowing the "ins and outs" I find it hard to understand that Alec - or anyone on this site - would knowingly forward an inappropriate link . The response from trainsim.com seems very excessive and uncalled for.

Good evening everyone
I am truly shocked to read of Alecs ban from trainsim.com
Like others have said I cannot accept that this was a malicious act
I am also perplexed as to the issue which I'll admit to not having a clue
Alec you have my full support
I must be honest and say I only occasionally pop by the forum
Sending you and all the team my best regards
Stephen

The last 24 hours have been quite traumatic, as the lifetime BAN from Trainsim.com came as a totally unexpected shock, and even now it hurts.

It started when I could not find the thread that I had created on Trainsim.com for TSSH. When I read the PM from one of their moderators referring to a link that related to what they considered a pirate site, and that this merited removal of the thread, I was taken aback.

Once I realised what the problem was I quickly deleted the offending link, and tried to contact the moderator to say that I had removed the link and hoped the reference post to TSSH could be reinstated.

It was at this time that the message popped up about the lifetime BAN. Reading that was like being hit in the solar plexus! The inference from this was that TSSH would be considered as an unacceptable site, and that I was a thoroughly bad lot.

You can imagine how I felt in that attempting to promote TSSH I had inadvertently created the impression of something completely opposite. I am endeavouring to resolve this with Trainsim.com, as I strongly believe that global interaction is essential for maintaining interest in MSTS.

I have always believed that one should be responsible for one’s actions, and in so far as I had not deleted the offending link (posted in February by A N Other) that resided in a thread that I had initiated, I felt it incumbent upon me to accept that responsibility and tender my resignation.

The other administrators have asked me to withdraw that offer, and there have also been several posts offering support. I am very much touched by those kind words, and I believe this exhibits the friendly camaraderie that TSSH was meant to promote.

Taking this all into account I have decided to continue in my current roles, unless there are those who feel otherwise. I would like to think that I can continue to contribute to the promotion of MSTS, but of course will always bear in mind that links not carefully examined can cause untold chaos.

Alec

Alec,

No doubt about it, you have my 100% support.

Has anyone contacted Nels Anderson (nels at flightsim.com)? In my dealings with him in the past I have always found him to be a very fair and reasonable person. I would hope that drawing his attention to the situation would get it resolved pretty quickly.

Bob.

Bob Latimer wrote:Alec,

No doubt about it, you have my 100% support.

Ditto

Bob Latimer wrote:
Has anyone contacted Nels Anderson (nels at flightsim.com)? In my dealings with him in the past I have always found him to be a very fair and reasonable person. I would hope that drawing his attention to the situation would get it resolved pretty quickly.

Bob.

My thoughts exactly.
I think it worthwhile for Justin to make contact and explain:-
1) It was a genuine error, and was corrected as soon as the mistake came to light, and,
2) Explain who we all are here... well respected members of the MSTS community, here by invite only, and not a load of pirates and misfits.
Maybe offer an invite to take a look around the site, and see for himself?
IMO, All in all perhaps a bit of a knee-jerk reaction from over the pond?
T

My thought's exactly Terry.

This appears to have been a genuine misunderstanding which has resulted in a possible over-reaction by somebody at TS.com. From reading through a few topics there recently; it appears that the mods have changed and are trying to do the best they can (like us really!) and have therefore over-reacted in trying to keep their image looking as good as it can.

Hi Alec,

You ONLY started the thread whatever it was and if it included a dodgy link by someone else then it's really the collective fault of everyone who read the post and failed to pick up on it. I would be the first to admit that it would be very unlikely that I would have spotted it.

I wouldn't even blame the poster of the reply that included the link as I'm sure it was not meant to be subversive. It's a straightforward oversight and I can see no reason why you should have to resign over it or why anyone else should.

The fact that the US site seems to have blown it out af all proportion is their problem.

Alec & all,
This is completely my fault. I came across this when doing a search within the Google search engine. I cannot apologise enough. Sorry for any hurt/upset. I didn't realise it was a pirate site.
I will certainly make sure never to make the same mistake again.
And again so sorry for this. I wouldn't have expected a link I came across to go this far, nor realise. So sorry Alec.
Best Wishes
Andy

Andy
Thank you for your PM and comments, and I would like to think that we can now put this all behind us, and would request that we now concentrate on what is really important and that of course is MSTS.
To everyone else once again many thanks for your support.
We should now lock this and the other thread and move on. Perhaps Justin or Mark can do this.
Alec

Glad you have decided not to quit Alec

Thread now locked.

Hi Everyone,

Just to finalise this issue and put it to bed, the good news is that Alec has agreed to stay on as the forums second in command (2IC) and he has had his forum access on trainsim.com reinstated after an appeal by me to Nels Anderson who is the head of that forum.

Also Andy has agreed to help this forum out by becoming its official link checker. He will also be helping us out with tech support with the forum if we get into any problems with its running.

From now on we all will be more careful with what we post on here, remembering that there are others who visit this forum who are less tolerant and forgiving towards our minor mistakes.

I would like to thank you all for your support shown to Alec and this forum whilst this issue has been resolved.

Justin