If I want to buy something, I go to the store -
if I want to be entertained and/or educated I watch TV or read a book.
Certainly, when it comes time to test my credit card, I want all the info I can get - including customer opinions. When that time comes I'll head to the Payware section and see what's been offered, updated, applauded, panned or cursed. I'll read it all and look at the developer's own website and then decide.
In the meantime, I don't want to be confronted with promos and reviews (and service calls) for products I'm not interested in buying. Interspersed among the discussions, led by teasing (and sometimes misleading) titles and often turned into spitting sessions The Ad Channel and Consumer Reports deserve their own place.
I dislike ads on TV and telemarketers who interrupt dinner. A separate forum for the commercial products lets me have a choice since we don't have a "no-call list".
Bearing in mind the stated philosophy that there won't be advertising on the Outhouse (and advertising is advertising)...
1. Keep the Payware Corner (and yes, for both FS2004 and FSX - according to all the signs, FS9 wouldn't clutter the place too much)
2. developers get to start a no-reply thread introducing new products, updates or a survey.
3. any thread that reviews, seeks help, offers kudos for payware, stays in the Payware Forum.
As for the complexities and changing shape of the forums...
it crosses my mind that if a forum is too complicated to keep track of and navigate... a flight simulator might be...???
Rob