Thanks to Gkirk's thread, I thought it would be funny to do this. Will A.net return to its former glory? Back when the chatroom had a scrollbar with users talking about random stuff? Bring back those pushing the envelope threads?

Leo/ORD

I remember being on here constantly around 2002. I used to work in the airport then, actually had friends on here. It was an interesting time. I for one really hate how political the non av forum is, so I just scroll through and move on. I am not American, so the polarity between the Republicans and Democrats is of little interest to me.

[Edited 2013-10-10 16:42:57]

I always enjoyed the polls on the homepage which were updated every couple months. Also, wasn't there a time where the news feed on the homepage was open to all and not First Class only?

  

Short answer: no.
The long answer involves a flux capacitor and an old DeLorean, among other things  

No.

filler

filler

filler

I would like to see some very rich individual take this off the hands of DM. Take it back to the personal level we had with Johan. So...no,it won't happen.

I'd start a "Bring Back Fly2HMO" campaign, but it will only get me banned.

BTW, he says he does lurk from time to time (he and I are in touch on Facebook). He's still sexually frustrated, sarcastic, skinny, and he's even still Mexican  .

And he sends all of you his love. Except for Gkirk. For Gkirk, he sends sheep.

Quoting LFutia (Thread starter): Bring back those pushing the envelope threads?

I'm really impressed by all the airline CEO that leapfrogged high school, college and grad school and went straight to the top.

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 7): Bring Back Fly2HMO

Did he actually fly to HMO?

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 7): And he sends all of you his love. Except for Gkirk. For Gkirk, he sends sheep.

....which amounts to the same thing.

Quoting Superfly (Reply 8): Quoting DocLightning (Reply 7): Bring Back Fly2HMO Did he actually fly to HMO?

Most unfortunate username choice ever. I miss him just because I miss seeing that username everywhere.

Yeahhh gkirk still occasionally pops in chat every once in a while and I still remind him of the sheep. I really do miss the personal touch a.net had.

Its nice to see Carmen after a long hiatus! It would be nice just for one 24 hour period to let us recreate the old a.net!

Leo/ORD

I like it just fine now. The civil and trip reports sections are better than ever and the non av site is more relaxed with no over the top people.

Like I said before, there are a lot of people who are no longer on these boards and that is why it is better...

Quoting fxramper (Reply 5): No.

   It's been a while

Never! It's much to easy to offend people these days. And a.net no longer wants that. PC all the way!

Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 9): Most unfortunate username choice ever. I miss him just because I miss seeing that username everywhere.

Agreed. Knowing him, I thought he'd be Fly2CLT
Or Fly2CNT.

Most unfortunate username would be this guy;
Bill Would Let Airlines Consult On Scheduling (by Hairyass Apr 1 2001 in Civil Aviation)?threadid=430849&searchid=430849&s=Hairyass#ID430849

Quoting type-rated (Reply 13): PC all the way!

You've just offended Klaus and all other Mac users.

Quoting Superfly (Reply 14): You've just offended Klaus and all other Mac users.

Just Klaus and Ken777. The other Mac users aren't as short sighted.

I wasn't around in the "glory days" so I can't comment on how brilliant or free it might have been. Based on another thread I did visit the haunt of some former members and if their postings are typical of the past, I can not understand why anyone would want this site to go back to that. That site pretends to be satire but is perhaps better described as puerile as the main intentions appear to be a) write deliberately provocative comments simply for the sake of it, and b) pour scorn on this site. That is fine if that is what people want, but it is a very different discription of quality.

During the time that I have been a member and before actually joining, I have seen lively debate and conflicting opinions. I can not say that there is a pattern of posts being deleted simply because they reflect the wrong opinion. Some are deleted because they are written in a manner that is deliberately insulting, attacking a person rather than the argument, or simply because they are off topic, though this is not always consistent. Purely for the sake of example, sometimes ImperialEagle is banned for accusing someone of being an "antisemite" and sometimes The Commodore is banned for "being one" or for repeating "anti-American rhetoric". Sometimes both poster's commmets are allowed to remain, despite possibly falling into those catagories. Dreadnought and DocLightning clash swords, only to live and fight another day.

Perhaps there is just an expression of nostalgia. All sites develop or they die, just like very other body. I wonder how many people joined and left during those "glory days" and I wonder what their reasons were. Somebody once commented along the lines of, nostalgia is about remembering the good old days that in reality weren't all that good. How far is that true of the comments in this thread I wonder, as a person who wasn't around in the good old days.

[Edited 2013-10-11 07:23:18]

I gotta say, i'm getting kinda sick of all the political threads on non-av....and my contributions to those don't make things better do they   

Quoting Superfly (Reply 14): You've just offended Klaus and all other Mac users.

Quoting Bill142 (Reply 17): Just Klaus and Ken777. The other Mac users aren't as short sighted.

I use macs exclusively except when I'm playing old computer games from the early 2000s....then it's a laptop tuned to Windows 7.

Quoting AyostoLeon (Reply 18): I wasn't around in the "glory days" so I can't comment on how brilliant or free it might have been. Based on another thread I did visit the haunt of some former members and if their postings are typical of the past, I can not understand why anyone would want this site to go back to that. That site pretends to be satire but is perhaps better described as puerile as the main intentions appear to be a) write deliberately provocative comments simply for the sake of it, and b) pour scorn on this site. That is fine if that is what people want, but it is a very different discription of quality.

I think I know which site you mean (if I´m correct it was founded by today´s Mogadishu airport chief for fun, but soon became quite nasty), but this so called "satyrical" site is in no way representative for what A.net used to be before under Johan. In fact, it was founded by people who were not happy even with Johan´s and Hendrik´s much more easygoing moderating style and who wanted to have pure anarchy in here.
There exists another site made up by former A.netters (most of them kicked out of here during the great purge of 2007, Carmenlu and a few others know it), which is quite civilised, but still allows for open discussion. I cannot post a link to this site in here though, else I´ll be banned.

Jan

I've been disillusioned by the car forum I frequent most that is completely unmoderated. It's turned me into a mean internet presence, and I forget myself here sometimes. My sarcasm gets misinterpreted. I've had more posted deleted here in the last 12 months than I think I ever had in the 7 years before that.

This place is too sterile, too safe, and too concerned with political-correctness. Even the off-topic forum, which is supposed to be a more open environment, is moderated to such an extreme.

Why not structure the website so that those who want to see a more aggressive, free-for-all environment can? We could, for example, have the Civil Av, Tech/Ops, Military, and Trip Report sections of the forum available to all, and then open up some parts (Non-Av, Hobby, Polls, and maybe a new "Humor" or "NSFW" section) to First-Class members? It would encourage donations in ways other than ad-free surfing.

We could also split up the Non-Av into various entities (Automotive, Photography, Politics, Sports) and make them very lightly moderated. We're adults (for the most part), we can handle humor, sarcasm, and some "advanced" language.

Other forum features to make the surfing experience more pleasant would be great. The ability to "tag" or "mention" members (for example, @ANITIX87), or the ability to receive notification when someone quotes you, would be spectacular.

There are ways to improve this site without complaining to DM and saying it's their fault.

TIS

Quoting ANITIX87 (Reply 22): (Non-Av, Hobby, Polls, and maybe a new "Humor" or "NSFW" section) to First-Class members?

That happened at one point with Non-Av. If memory serves, the place basically died until they lifted the restriction.

Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 21): In fact, it was founded by people who were not happy even with Johan´s and Hendrik´s much more easygoing moderating style and who wanted to have pure anarchy in here.

That's probably an important point as well. Even before DM, there were plenty of complaints about A.net. Maybe less site bugs, but still plenty of complaints about moderators, etc.

Personally, I've never quite understood all the complaints. But that's probably because I don't get posts deleted very often, and I've never been banned. I'm not even sure how I would go about getting banned! Maybe I'm just too laid back when it comes to internet forums - I've never felt the need to post something that might result in a ban. Oh well.

As I've said before, Tech/Ops is my primary concern when it comes to forums, and there are still plenty of interesting topics and knowledgeable people posting there. Not necessarily the same ones as 10 years ago, but hey, people come and go. To be totally honest, NonAv to me is just an add-on to an aviation/photography site, and I don't understand people focusing so much vitriol towards it.

And we still get plenty of great photo submissions, which keeps the photographer/screener side of me happy. If only more of those great photo submissions were my own....

I also used to be a fairly active member before DM took over, but since that time, I've been much more of a lurker. For me, it was the change in atmosphere that just made the place seem a lot less like a family. I no longer felt like I was talking to a bunch of good friends, but a few good friends and a large corporation. But I'm still around, and I'll chime in from time to time when I feel I have something to say. But honestly, I don't feel it is possible to for A.net to "return to its former glory." Sorry to be pessimistic, but I'm afraid this is just what happens when a large company takes over.


Devon

I'm loving the a.net nostalgia. I joined back in '99 and I didn't participate much in those days since I was so young, but the TWFirst Volumes, Snowglobe et al threads made for some great reading, and I'm enjoying seeing a lot of old names pop up that make me feel a less like a dinosaur here.

A.net is great today, it really is, and the civil aviation forum is now a source for breaking news rather than a bunch of kids making the case for CO/AA because their fleets are so common, despite hubs in close proximity to one another. Then I felt like an intelligent midweight, now I'm a featherweight. Quality of civil-av is definitely better, and a lot of the other forums like Travel Polls and Trip Reports have removed some detritus from Civil Av.

But, this non-av forum definitely isn't the same, and I remember how it popular it instantly became as soon as it opened; felt like the tail wagged the dog sometimes. We weren't as smart back then, but we had a lot more personality and fun.

Nope, I don't think so. Even I came after the "glory days". I've told the moderators as such. A.net used to be a community where people would post about gatherings (in person) and more community-oriented non-av things.

A LOT of people left too. Professionals and people that just made it a fun community atmosphere.

Demand Media...

Quoting Pellegrine (Reply 23): Demand Media...

Quoting HorizonGirl (Reply 21): I also used to be a fairly active member before DM took over,

Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 20): That's probably an important point as well. Even before DM, there were plenty of complaints about A.net. Maybe less site bugs, but still plenty of complaints about moderators, etc.

Quoting ANITIX87 (Reply 19): This place is too sterile, too safe, and too concerned with political-correctness. Even the off-topic forum, which is supposed to be a more open environment, is moderated to such an extreme.

Quoting ANITIX87 (Reply 19): There are ways to improve this site without complaining to DM and saying it's their fault.

I wonder if a different company was to buy Airliners from DM..... (then again I could be outright banned for suggesting this)

Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 18): There exists another site made up by former A.netters (most of them kicked out of here during the great purge of 2007, Carmenlu and a few others know it),

Anyone care to elaborate what the hell happened then? Reading through some threads I've been horribly lost on 2007.

Who is DM again? I really have not been very participative. I had no idea there was a change of hands.

Quoting captaink (Reply 25): Who is DM again? I really have not been very participative. I had no idea there was a change of hands.

   have you been under a rock for the last 6 years

a.net has a high percentage of US members, and the country is severely polarized between right and left like in the late sixties. This unfortunately brings a lot of unpleasantness into Civ Av and we start to dislike and hiss at each other. Thanks to Doc, HMO and others at least the flickering flame of humor still lives on in the meme threads (but are memes a dying meme?)   

Quoting type-rated (Reply 13): Never! It's much to easy to offend people these days. And a.net no longer wants that. PC all the way!

Some of the reasons given for post deletions have been truly comical. There are signs things are changing though, there was a recent purge in the moderating ranks. Finally. Just the fact that this thread is still here gives us all hope that the Stalin Era is over.

Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 20): I'm not even sure how I would go about getting banned!

Easy. Go to the Site Related forum and tell them you are sick and tired of all the IT problems on a paid site. Instant ban. I'm sure it must be in the rules, Thou Salt Not Complain.

Looks the same to me....

Quoting KaiGywer (Reply 6): Take it back to the personal level we had with Johan.

Not gonna happen -- not here at least.

Quoting LFutia (Reply 10): Its nice to see Carmen after a long hiatus!

Hi there!    I do check in from time to time, but rarely ever post... though it seems Kirkie managed to drag out a lot of familiar faces!

Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 18): There exists another site made up by former A.netters (most of them kicked out of here during the great purge of 2007, Carmenlu and a few others know it), which is quite civilised, but still allows for open discussion.

*whistles carelessly*

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 7): He's still sexually frustrated, sarcastic, skinny, and he's even still Mexican  .

Being sexually frustrated, sarcastic, skinny is PART OF BEING MEXICAN...   

Quoting Superfly (Reply 14): You've just offended Klaus and all other Mac users.

I see what you did there....  

Anet has changed, so did we, so did the world..its part of life, some things get better, some worse but change is part of it all.

I miss the wacky threads of non-AV? sure! in fact I loved some because you could even lightly troll on somebody just to keep the flamefest going, lately only the global warming threads have been as interesting. even weird themes get deleted or if you make sarcastic remarks you get deleted. I have never EVER suggested a deletion or reported something, if I dont like it, I let it pass or if I think the comment is way off mark I dont even bother to get into an argument.

The civil av and tech ops forums are WAY ..WAY more technical with a lot of industry insiders and technical people, sometimes is good because they have first hand info, sometimes is bad because you get an attitude you dont deserve from those "in the know". Anyways I like it that way and even today when there is an accident some members here are contacted by the media and the media checks info here!!! who would have thought !!!

well after the long diatribe .... a toast for the old "guard"... happy trails to old friends !!!

TRB

Okay United Airline.  

Former glory. pfft. Former dignity would be the better question. And since a corp took over anet, nope. Never will happen.  

I find the current moderators very fair and straightforward. I would NEVER like to go back to the old mods during the pre 2007 days. Then, the mods were playing favorites and rules didn't apply to certain members.

The aviation boards are so professional now and trip reports and tech are of high quality.

I was never into meets so if the days of LHR meets are over, it's no loss. I think corporate ownership is always better than having ownership in the hands of people out of their dorm rooms!

In short, I left because of the old era...I returned because I loved the purge of 2007. Purged all the people that should have been purged. The site is better than ever.

Quoting texdravid (Reply 33): I loved the purge of 2007. Purged all the people that should have been purged. The site is better than ever.

You are probably one of the very, very few that feel this way.

Quoting mham001 (Reply 28): There are signs things are changing though, there was a recent purge in the moderating ranks. Finally. Just the fact that this thread is still here gives us all hope that the Stalin Era is over.

I was thinking the same thing. For too long, trigger-happy mods seemed like they looked for some reason, any reason, to exercise their power to delete, ban, and otherwise enforce a Dean Vernon Wormer "no fun of any kind" style that is not good for business.
The fact that I'm surprised that this thread, and the other, still exist speaks both to how bad it got, and that there may be hope that the winds have changed a bit.

Quoting TheRedBaron (Reply 31): , lately only the global warming threads have been as interesting

And as a result, that subject became off limits. People would disagree and go back and forth and seemed to make mods who strived for perfect "order" uneasy. Maybe we have a little more leash to play with, and a bit of the community vibe that existed can get enough air to come back to life.
Air that is.
Not carbon dioxide.
Because everyone knows that carbon dioxide will be the death of us all.

Quoting captaink (Reply 1): I am not American, so the polarity between the Republicans and Democrats is of little interest to me.

Same here, I never read or concern myself with US political threads. There's enough polarity in the A vs. B bashing that goes on regularly between certain members.

Ahem.

Anyway, I think it is much the same now as it was in the "glory days", it is still by far the very best aviation board in the world - I guess the slower pace has a lot to do with the fact that now the B787 is out and so is the A380. When we were waiting for those planes there was more excitement and activity.

Cheers all.

-a

I miss the days of Johan, and the personality he brought to the site. However, as mentioned, the purge of 2007 NEEDED to happen! I remember when Johan first mentioned he was selling the site, there were very few nods of approval, and had we all been members of a Board of Directors for this site, there would have been at least a 97% NAY vote on it. But, money talks, and while it appears Johan loved airliners and all it was worth, he loved money (much like all of us) even more.

Johan was indeed a very good airliners.net boss.

Nevertheless I think airliners.net is at its peak/all times high glory now. Very systematic/well managed. Also with its peak number of members.

My 2 cents

Quoting United Airline (Reply 38): My 2 cents

Is that .02 HKD or .02 USD. Big difference.

Having just reread the epic trip report after it was linked in that other thread, I must say that no website, anywhere, until the end of time, will reclaim the ultimate glory that was possessed by Singapore_Air's thread, however fleetingly.

But it is good to be reminded every few years that years ago, on a 747 somewhere over Asia, there were a few stewardesses who would make good wives.

Quoting texdravid (Reply 11): The civil and trip reports sections are better than ever

TR is fine - especially when Udo posts something.

Civil isn't close to what it once was.

Quoting texdravid (Reply 11): the non av site is more relaxed with no over the top people.

Read: People you don't like.

Quoting texdravid (Reply 33): I find the current moderators very fair and straightforward. I would NEVER like to go back to the old mods during the pre 2007 days. Then, the mods were playing favorites and rules didn't apply to certain members.

Mmm'kay, well, I'm glad that's working for you. I won't discuss here why you're wrong about that.

Honestly though, there's quite a few members who make it their job to target certain members' contributions........even if that member is factually correct. I see it quite a bot.

Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 20): That happened at one point with Non-Av. If memory serves, the place basically died until they lifted the restriction.

On another popular travel and aviation related site, they restrict access to their equivalent of Non-Av until a member has 200 posts. Couldn't a.net do something like that?

These "Former Glory" threads have proven more popular than I thought, they made it all the way to the homepage today!   
.



I wasn't active on the forums in the pre-DM days, although I did have a look at them from time to time. I think complaining about political correctness is futile, the world is changing and there's nothing we can do about it.

IMO, despite all the changes over the years, airliners.net is still a great aviation site, just consider the fact that a website that's not for everyone, has 221,000+ Facebook likes! That's quite an achievement if you ask me.

I think more photos by these photographers will definitely make airliners.net even more glorious  :

* Adam Wright
* Ander Aguirre
* Anthony Jackson
* Bailey
* Ismael Jorda
* Javier F. Bobadilla
* Jeffwell
* Joe Pries
* Tim de Groot

Those guys plus the sadly departed Frank Schaefer & AirNikon (Mickey Bednar) uploaded some of the best photos in the database.

Quoting Jetsgo (Reply 2): I always enjoyed the polls on the homepage which were updated every couple months.

   I loved the polls too. I visit some websites just to participate and check the results of their polls!

Quoting ryu2 (Reply 43): On another popular travel and aviation related site, they restrict access to their equivalent of Non-Av until a member has 200 posts. Couldn't a.net do something like that?

Probably, but what's the point?

Quoting L0VE2FLY (Reply 44): I think more photos by these photographers will definitely make airliners.net even more glorious : * Adam Wright * Ander Aguirre * Anthony Jackson * Bailey * Ismael Jorda * Javier F. Bobadilla * Jeffwell * Joe Pries * Tim de Groot Those guys plus the sadly departed Frank Schaefer & AirNikon (Mickey Bednar) uploaded some of the best photos in the database.

You obviously forgot my name in there. It's OK, I shall (les eaux (who remembers THAT??)) not hold it against you this time.

Quoting vikkyvik (Reply 45): You obviously forgot my name in there. It's OK, I shall (les eaux (who remembers THAT??)) not hold it against you this time.

I do like your photos, but to be on this list you should concentrate more on out-the-window, contrail, air to air and cockpit shots!

Quoting L0VE2FLY (Reply 46): I do like your photos, but to be on this list you should concentrate more on out-the-window, contrail, air to air and cockpit shots!

No. To be on that list, you have to add me to that list. Here, I'll do it for you:

I think more photos by these photographers will definitely make airliners.net even more glorious :

* Adam Wright
* Ander Aguirre
* Anthony Jackson
* Bailey
* Ismael Jorda
* Javier F. Bobadilla
* Jeffwell
* Joe Pries
* Tim de Groot
* Vik S.

There we go. Now all has been made right, and the world can continue turning.

Guess who's back, back again. Delta's back, tell a friend. Ok that was an epic fail. For some reason I decided to come back for awhile. I can't believe how bad I used to act on here over the years. Thankfully I'm over all that juvenile stuff.

Having been gone for about 5 years, I see much has changed. I liked A-Net a lot more years ago simply because we did not have as many members. 10+ years ago we seemed more close knit then we are now. Anyway, I am glad to be back and will see you guys around here.

I think that the big question on everyone's lips is 'will RussianJet' return to his former glory. The answer is both yes and no.