Alphasim forums ditched

Crap. That place nearly felt like a virtual home to me. I don't like this at all.
 
having been booted off the alphasim forums some time ago, I'm personally at no loss.:costumes:


I do have to say, however, that we shouldn't make a big deal out of this. Most manufacturer's forums are no more than clubhouses these days. I have respect for the amount of effort it takes to run a forum. Forums are probably costly monetarily as well. It's no secret that Alphasim has not been highly lucrative for all involved. There comes times when every business, for better or worse, must cut their overhead.

That being said, the best support I've recieved for Alphasim products has been by going directly to the likes of Dan, Mike and others. I've never been turned down and I've never waited more than a day or two for detailed one-on-one support.

We've seen this before. Let us not judge a company or their products by the actions of one man. Alphasim is a consortium of talents.

We can't say that the company is going downhill when 2008 has seen top level, highly competitive releases of the utmost fidelity. Moving towards the release of boxed products will only increase their profitability and it's possible that some of the internal struggles there wil cease to exist.

:redf:Let us also ignore the angrily written comments that are now featured at the top of their news page.:redf:
 
CodyValkyrie said:
You were one of the people I was referring to when I meant friends! Don't you work for or with AS? If my assumption was wrong, my apologies!
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I'm not part of the AlphaSim team but I have created quite a few movies for them.

Forums are easy to control if you ask me. Not timeconsuming at all as long as you've got the self discipline to stick to your ROE.

Developers - Simply only add news like preview shots and new releases.

Admin - Simply said the tech guy who keeps the forum software healthy and running.

Moderators - They are the voice of the company. Make sure these guys know what is going on. They need to have excellent PR and marketing skills. They will handle the customer support.

And the golden rule, when opening a forum make sure you have crystal clear rules layed out for the moderator so that they know exactly how to respond to any situation. Nothing is worse than two moderators saying two different things.

I just wish we'd get a forum back. Even if it'd be very basic. It's not just a forum, it has developed itself into some sort of online community.
 
I just read the simflight comments. I don't know why Phil (or someone else) would make such an angry post on the Alphasim main page:

"Customers must not be concerned by the moronic comment made by the SimFlight News page editor that 'AlphaSim has given up supporting its customers'. Such stupidity beggars belief. Like many developers, we do not require a forum to provide support, that will be done initially by e-mail and later by a dedicated support page which we are putting together. SimFlight should realise that the purpose of an FS News page is to simply announce things - not to make harmful subjective comments. We trust that the saner minds there will eventually prevail. "

I don't think the simflight comments are out of line. Alphasim has indeed given up on supporting customers VIA their forum. Simflight didn't say anything about Alphasim ceasing support all together. Here's what simflight said here:

"It was pointed out by readers that the New Zealand based Alphasim has taken its forum off-line. There are no further indications as to why, but speculations run high in the (military) flightsim communities on various forums. Their ‘Coppermine’ based photo gallery is also off-line. Aphasim has had its share of forum ‘discussions’, from both sides, and recently published a first product through Flight1. Their website is still on-line.
Update: it is now confirmed that indeed Alphasim has given up on supporting its users via their forums and they are closed now."
 
tigisfat keep in mind that the original text might have been edited between the moment that simflight posted and now. Not saying this happened but this is what is tricky with such situations. It's hard to know that for sure unless someone saved the original page once it went up and can display the source.

I'm unsure as to what really happened but if this is indeed how it was written intentionally then AS in my opinion is out of line. Again, I can't be 100% sure about that.
 
deimos256 said:
well hopefully these developers will move their efforts elsewhere, didn't a scenery team recently pull their stuff off AS? Maybe they knew this was coming
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The scenery guys can because they own all of the product, one other plane developer did the same, I only provide a slice of the product, much as I'd like to write to AS and say thanks for all the fish and please remove my work, I cant, the product would become unsaleable and that would impact on other innocent parties ( many close friends ), thats an impact I find intolerable.

Best

Michael
 
I have spent a ton of money with Alphasim and at one time bought just about everything they sold.
Then when their prices passed $40 and then broke $50 with, I think the A6, I nicely:d expresssed my concern about how expensive they were getting.
Man, the Alpha groupies attacked in force and I was ripped a new one. One was even a mod.
After getting roughed up and humiliated, I have NEVER poster there again.
All they do is bloat about how great the screenshots are.
Never mid the ****ty flight model or that 4 things work in the vr cockpit.
I will not miss em.
 
I refrained from visiting the AS forums since their E.E. Lightning was in build; they released some WIP shots. Having grown up as a child in and around the beast in question I pointed out, in a very polite and constructive manner, that there were a few minor but quite visible discrepancies. I was ridiculed and debased openly by staff and patrons so I felt compelled to leave the forum with my tail between my legs. Lo and behold the actual designer contacted me via email and being the gentleman he is thanked me for my input and after conducting his own research he rectified the small issues in question.

I am sorry to see the forum go and so many people being affected by it's loss but as one person has already said it is Phil's decision and he has to go with it whether for good or bad.

JimJam I also have spent hundreds of dollars on AS products, picking up every release regardless as after all it was an AS product, since way back in 1999 and I agree that if you so much as whispered any concerns with the model, Flight Dynamics (their FD's being my biggest bone of contention with AS products except their latest F-105 which to be honest is a master piece) then you were effectively black balled beyond reason.

My support for AS waned quite quickly, forums can be both good or bad for a Dev but if managed properly are a true asset.

I share MD's opinion 100% and admire his outlook and attitude.
 
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Didn't see that yet..... :d Phil must be smoking New Zealand Sheep Wool or something ....

Some people..... :isadizzy:
 
Francois said:
Didn't see that yet..... :d Phil must be smoking New Zealand Sheep Wool or something ....

Some people..... :isadizzy:
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Better than Sheep Wool I think.........Maybe he just wants out and doesn't know how to pull the plug....
 
Apparently Phil feels the need now to resort to selective quotes when he doesn't like people reporting on what he's doing, to try and shift the emphasis from reality into "they're attacking me!"

As a previous Alphasim customer who was very seriously considering a number of their newer models (Liberator, Blackhawk, Longbow) until this latest burst of insanity, he's just cost me any further business with them. No forums I disagree with, but can live with. Factually inaccurate rants and misquotes to show how hard done by you are just make you look stupid.

An abnormally large number of FS sites seems to have had database failures recently and I sympathise greatly with those working to put them back together. Been there, done that, decided it was quicker to repopulate than repair, which made me very unpopular.

However, you don't just decide to close them because of a technical difficulty - or if you do, you say "we're sorry, but we are unable to resolve the problems which were caused by..."

Talking of a "leaner" company sounds like management speak for "we're going bust". Dropping back from an efficient to an inefficient support mechanism doesn't make sense regarding staff loadings. Then they wonder why people speculate?

Ian P.
 
michael davies said:
You see thats what the rub here is really all about, a large percentage of Alphasims products are team efforts.

By closing the forums and other 'adverse' actions, Alphasim is not only hurting customers but is seriously hurting the third party developers who helped make those products.

In some products a respectful% of the product fee goes to third party developers, not to Alphasim. People not buying isn't hurting Alphasim as much as its hurting the fringe that prop up Alphasim.

This isn't a case of please buy from someone you disagree with to help support the fringe and often important minions, its a case of actions taken by 'some' having an adverse impact on other innocent parties.

Closure of the forums will generate less interest and lower sales, thats a no brainer before it even started, lower sales will effect those on the outer fringes the hardest, not the inner core.

If you cut too much fat and skin off the carcass your only left with a pile of dead bones.

Best

Michael
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Michael, now may be the time to believe in the saying, "When one door closes, another one opens." Alphasim seemed to be a good model upon which small developers could work together.

IMO, from an outsiders POV, management became paranoid over the lost of revenue from pirates and began to have a "we vs. them" mentality. This was exacerbated by an individual who seems to have a very strong will and believes his opinion is the only correct one. It led to "them" becoming anyone who expressed the least bit of criticism. We are all witnessing the results.

Now may be the time for you and others like you to look for other outlets for your talents. Maybe to band together to form a new company based on the same model but with management who guides and steers in a manner that brings individual talents together for even better products.

Good luck!
 
I admit that I am a full on Alphasim product fan - especially their rotary hangar. It will be disappointing if the forums have gone but if it means that Dan and the team are able to continue to improve the quality as well as quantity of products - then I will be happy.

They did have to put up with an awful lot of unnessary crap at times. It must be demoralising if you are putting 100% into it.

Gotta say that if it were my business I would have introduced much more control without losing the focus for genuine support and information.

ps - i notice that SimMarket has stopped reviews now on products which is a great shame as it saved me from falling for a lot of purchases.
 
jmig said:
Now may be the time for you and others like you to look for other outlets for your talents. Maybe to band together to form a new company based on the same model but with management who guides and steers in a manner that brings individual talents together for even better products.

Good luck!
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Already been done by a number of Alphasim contributors. :icon_lol:

Check out http://www.skysim.co.uk/home.htm for current and future releases by some of us.
Others may show up elsewhere, but rest assured WE are not dead or down and out! :a1451:
 
I would have loved to have seen one little flurry of AS forum die-hards posting.....


Fantastic stuff Phil, now we will not have to waste time saying how 'awesome' or 'mindblowing' everything is, we can just fly the planes.....oh dear I have not actually bought any planes, just loved the hype:redf:

Having the forum was a great idea, it allowed (moderated, sometimes harshly) transparency of thier products, often those with problems could find the fix (or at least find out the lack of testing was the fault, not them) without e-mailing and waiting ages for a reply. As to saving time, with the usual number of snags, I think Dan will be spending weeks at the 'Customer Service' PC rather than the designing machine!
 
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