All the personalities aside, consider this....
Pyro has made it clear he wants the tone of this board to change, and has said so in quite a few posts recently. He has continually warned people to clean up or he would take action.
Witness:
1. The continual flame wars
2. The continual squeaking about what is being added to the game
3. The continuing mocking of the work of HTC employees
4. The continual open channel tirades and abusive behavior
This stuff isn't friendly anymore, it is abusive. And it isn't just new guys, or guys trying to be malicious either. It's all of us. I have contributed my share of the bad, debating a point far beyond the need to express myself. Whether I was right or wrong doesn't matter; it contributed to feeding something that should simply have starved to death in the first few posts.
I know better. I work for the public. I wouldn't dare behave at work the way I do here sometimes, because I would lose every time, right or wrong. Some times the best way to react to people is to not react. It isn't my place to contribute to running people away from this board or game. I pay $15 to play and post, not dominate others with my personality. I have to back off.
In Pyro's defense, Cit does have a history of explosive anger, and most oldtimers know this. This also wouldn't be the first time he's tried to get himself banned with his behavior. Pyro isn't going to tell you new guys about this when you defend Cit or free speech, because they have a strict policy of not discussing personal customer information with other customers. I repeat, this is not the first time this has happened here.
I've seen the warning signs for some time now, and you have too. Rabid discussions over which planes were manly and which weren't. Ridiculous comments about the flight model of aircraft that are routinely killed with ease. Perk debates over planes that defy logic. Side balance discussions over and over. With every announcement of whatever new plane, snide remarks follow almost instantly. "Why THIS and not THAT!?" Well, finally one of the guys snapped back a bit. Can't blame him, but it was very uncharacteristic for HTC. I could clearly see they've had enough then.
In closing, I like a BBS as much as anyone. I feel people need to express their opinon to the company, and a BBS can be a good form of feedback. Lately that hasn't been the case, and this board has served little more purpose than to provide the venue for WWFBBS players to smash virtual folding chairs over one another's heads.
