New Reviews Forum?

[asda_price]

Is it possible to have a forum dedicated to freeware/payware addons for Flight Simulator? It would be easier than having to post them in the Payware forum and then having it being made a sticky...

Cheers,

Rob.

[C]

There is a reviews section on the main site. The last was in July last year. May be worth asking Pete about reviving it. I'm inclined to agree with you though Rob, and have a review forum alongside the payware ope.

Charlie

[RichieB16]

I wrote the last review for Pete back in July (and I think most of the reviews posted on the main site over the last 2 years-for a short time I was even the "Simviation Staff Reviewer").  The reason there hasn't been any reviews lately is because I haven't had time to write any - I'm too busy with school -  and I guess nobody else has wanted to do them.

What I used to do was I just wrote the review on a word document and took a handful of good looking screen shots of the aircraft (or what ever I was reviewing).  I put them all in a zip file along with a little notepad file for Pete explaining basically it was a review for what ever file.  Within a couple days he usually had it posted on the main site.  I never did any reviews of payware things, only things that could be downloaded here.  I don't know if he would want to post a review of sometime payware on the main site, but you could always ask him.  

[Hagar]

I have mixed feelings on reviews, especially where freeware is concerned. I've read some of Richie's & have to say they're excellent. However, when people ask me what I think of an aircraft or any other freeware (which they often do) I tell them to try it for themselves as my opinion might be very different from theirs. It costs nothing to try & if you don't like it you simply delete it. I have no way of telling what people are looking for. I've also seen many harsh criticisms in the past that I've always thought unfair. I should point out that this has been in forums & not official reviews like Richie's. I suspect that in most cases he writes a review on something he personally likes. I doubt that anyone would take the time to write one on something they hated unless they felt very strongly about it.

It might be different with payware but I never had any so don't visit the Payware forum or read the reviews.

[C]

In some ways I agree with you Doug. Having said that however, some of the larger freeware packages are now topping 30mb, which when you consider that most broadband operators have download limits, so maybe they would worth reviewing...

[Hagar]

I can see your point Charlie. I'm on dial-up & unless it's something very special I wouldn't even bother looking at one of those huge downloads. In most cases those big fies are not necessary & if all the junk was removed they could be made half the size.

I never took much notice of reviews for the reason I mentioned earlier. Other people's opinions might be quite different to my own & very often are. For example: If I see a bad review of a film, that's the one I pick as it's almost certain that I will enjoy it. Others have told me the same which confirms my opinon of reviews in general. Film reviews are written by professionals so make of that what you will.

That's why they call call me Grumpy.

[RichieB16]

I suspect that in most cases he writes a review on something he personally likes. I doubt that anyone would take the time to write one on something they hated unless they felt very strongly about it.

Actually, that was what I did in all cases.  Personally, I feel like I couldn't sit down and write about something I didn't like.  First of all I was raised to believe that "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" (OK, so I don't always succede there-but I try).  To that extent, I don't want to publically denounce someone else's hard work, all that does is discourage a designer who is doing their best and giving away the product-I feel an action like that would be beyond rude.  Plus, why pick one of the thousands of different addons and write about why someone shouldn't download it.  I enjoy flying these planes, and if I find one I really like (especially if I have time to write), I like to share my feelings with other simmers.  I look at it as a way to thank the desiger-a way to say "look at this one because its really special."  Anyway, I enjoy writing about the addons that I especially like and hopefully people out there like to hear what I have to say.

Also, I do plan on writing more-it just comes down to when I have the spare time (I'm a Biology student at the University of Oregon so they give us a pretty heavy work load).

[SilverFox441]

My first-ever review was for a product that I didn't like MS' Starlancer)...made me wonder if I was being over critical.  It took a while before I accepted that I just couldn't give a good review to something that I had found so badly wanting.

It is easier to write when the subject is pleasant...it's a lot less like work under those cirumstances. Strangely, I've also found it easier to write a fair review for something I don't like all that much...I'm not too picky so that there is "somthing" negative to say and I'm not emotionally involved with the subject.

Strange as it may seem...Having written 20-odd reviews in the past...I don't read them except for factual content. Things like options included, sizes, costs and the like I will check for, other than that it is only screen shots to show detail.