column5

America. F*ck yeah.

There is historical precedent--in ancient Rome the pater familias (head of a family) had absolute authority over everyone in his household, including the right to kill them if he saw fit. Its just that everyone else in the world has evolved above this sort of thing, while islam remains unreformed, and thus stuck on 7th century dogma.

Probably best to call him an islamo-fascist. Just because one is on the "right-wing" does not make one a religious radical or a fascist, jsut as not everyone on the "left-wing" is a communist.

Excellent!

What kind of pr0n do you think he would use the name for?

Its just a courtesy in this community that we extend to each other, to check with another modder before using their work. No one is forcing anyone to do it but it is generally accepted as a common courtesy. If the community was really big, like MSFS, I imagine this would fall by the wayside.

It could have, but as I wrote in my article it is a symptom of a problem that I think is bigger than one person and their files. Outside of our normal infighting and hooliganism, it seems like tolerence and good-neighborlyness (not a word) are on a decline. Its not about whether someone has the right to do something, its about whether they should do it. In fact, now that I have finally been informed about the history of this, I feel bad for Diego because his actions amount to surrender--by retreating he let the guys who misused his files win.

I will stand by my original post--I still think there is a problem in the community. The proper course would have been to make my point, allow Diego to respond without interruption, and then let people make up their minds from there. Otherwise, things spiral, as they did. I do not regret stating that zerocinco has a foul odor about him.

Oops. Well my intent wasn't to get anyone banned, but I had to speak up about this attitude. It really bugged me that he wouldn't hook that guy up. Reminds me of those hollywood types that think they are so superior and crap all over their fans.

Well crap now we can't fight anymore. Maybe zerocinco will come back...

Not only selfish, but consistently selfish! At least you treat everyone that enjoyed your work equally poorly, a true egalitarian is you.

Zerocinco. I recognized your foul stench the moment I came on baord. I find it absolutely hilarious that you of all people come to Diego's defense. There is something to be gleaned from Diego's behavior and you showing up here to defend him, but I'll let people figure that out for themselves.

Yes I feel better for you because admitting your problem is the first step in resolving it. Also, not helping a guy out who lost his stuff in a hard drive failure (or whatever it was) fits my definition of treating someone poorly for no good reason. No matter how you try to explain it, it boils down to you being very uncool with people who you could just as easily help out.

Everything you say just reaffirms my position. You are being a jerk to people with no good reason. You had no reason not to help that guy out. Instead you forced others of us to intervene and make sure the right thing was done. You are so selfish that you can't even see that. At any rate, the rest of us can use you as a reminder of how not to behave towards people looking for help.

I think everyone can read what Diego has said and make up their own minds regarding this situation. Don't be misdirected though. This is not, as Diego tries to imply, about whether he has the right to withdraw his files. When he asked for that, we all complied. This has to do with a member of my forum who had downloaded Diego's work when it was still publically available, and who lost those files in a computer crash. When he tried to acquire new copies, he was told to stuff it and gnerally treated very poorly. For no good reason.

Worse than that, these people have to make sure no else gets any enjoyment either. Image you had downloaded some files that you really liked, and later lost them in a hard drive failure. You contact the author of those files to get replacements, and he tells you to bugger off. Pretty crappy.

I don't think this has as much to do with intellectual property as it does with showing some class. As I alluded to in my article, this is supposed to be a fun diversion from the BS of day-to-day life.

I agree with everyone. I do think however that this goes even beyond the situation I described in my article. Certainly that's the most aggregious example, but I think we as modders need to guard against any knee-jerk reactions, including being impatient with new people who for whatever reason don't search or use the knowledge base. Maybe I'm being affected by the charitable spirit of the Christmas season, but I think we should all take the opportunity to calm down, and refocus on maintaining a strong, healthy community. I'll be the first to admit that in the past there have been times when I have been guilty.

I agree Dave. The analogy here is the RIAA treating everyone like a potential criminal when it comes to music piracy. When we put something on the internet, its a certainty that someone, somewhere will use it for a purpose we don't condone. For example a lot of warez sites link to the downloads on my site, but there is nothing I can do about it, so I ignore it. I would rather they were not able to, but I'm not going to take my entire site down and deny access to the 99% of users who are legitimate.

Out of all of that, the above is what strikes me most. Has everyone forgotten how BVR missiles were going to revolutionise air combat in the 1960s, and then in Vietnam the ROE required visual ID before shooting? Does anyone think that there are going to be very many situations in which taking BVR shots without positive ID on the target will be acceptable?

...

It looks alomst like a circular array of antennas with a pedistal at the center to hold something for testing purposes.

I'll try to find the book.

I read somewhere, maybe in one of Steve Ginter's books, about how the author was given a ride in the backseat of an F-4 flown by a Vietnam MiG-killer, and they engaged in some ACM with a pair of F-8s. The expert F-4 pilot was able to fight off both F-8s, through several engagements. Its all about the pilot.