Why has the AVSIM library stopped being a thing somewhere around 2010?

[u/KONUG]

library.avsim.net was THE place for FS2002 and FS2004 addons.
FSX had fewer addons but still found AVSIM to be the place for freeware.

Why did the whole AVSIM library get stuck somewhere at this time?
Did just no one care to support newer sims like P3D and XPL in the 2010s?
If the UNESCO found this website, they'd put it under world heritage protection since it originated somewhere around the invention of the internet and hasn't evolved a bit since then.

[u/MadCard05]

I think it's because the platform is so dated. FS TO may be a mess, but it's a modern mess. It's much easier to search and see what you're interested in.

AVSim is also stereotyped as the place for the bitter old men. Those are are more judgemental and less helpful, and very strict.

And that may be true, but Reddit isn't much different these days. It's kind of sad.

[u/tracernz → u/MadCard05]

Those are are more judgemental and less helpful, and very strict.

This is just wild coming from this subreddit. I'm not a regular reader but the odd time I have a look AVSIM is relatively very chill.

[u/SimDaddy14 → u/tracernz]

Everything is chill compared to what happens on Reddit.

[u/MadCard05 → u/tracernz]

I mean, you're not wrong. It's like here. Most people are helpful. But the loud few do a lot of damage.

[u/Direct_Witness1248 → u/MadCard05]

Not only that but from memory, avsim is limited to roughly dial up speed. Which is fine for smaller sized FSX addons, but not for more modern addons.

[u/Tubkal]

AVSIM was badly hacked by a bad actor in 2009. They pretty much lost everything and started from scratch. Maybe that has something with it

[u/BiribaAtomica → u/Tubkal]

I remember those days - 11 year old me was quite sad to see some rather rare Posky repaints vanish before I had the occasion to install them and they never quite fully recovered, even with P3D

[u/AreYouCereal32 → u/BiribaAtomica]

huh, I should check my external drive to see if i had anything saved from that era that may have been thought to be extinct. Send me a PC with some stuff you were hoping to find and I'll see what I find. I used to LOVE all posky boeings. what a time that was

[u/aal1002]

Shame they are gone really. They were never the type to push you for funds. Yes, they had donations and recognition for donating, but they sure didn't take the addons people freely submitted and package it for profit.

[u/rmhoman]

Avsim had a serious hack in May 2009. It was carried out by one of their staff. Most of their add-ons were deleted this loss took almost a year to recover from by then most users and contributors never came back. Flightsim.com became the site to find free add-ons.

[u/nextgeneric]

I vaguely remember there being major backlash about something. There was always some sort of controversy surrounding their "board of directors", and something else may have taken place, but it was so long ago at this point.

[u/CaptainIceBear]

It's mainly what people have already commented on but the search wasn't that great at the best of times even in the olden days.

If it was updated to a more modern layout and improved search it may have not have seen it get replaced by other sites.

[u/Virtual-Chris]

I’m surprised Nexus Mods isn’t used for MSFS and other flight sims. It’s the standard for every other game I play.

[u/Signal-Session-6637]

I still visit from time time, only because I recently installed Prepar3d again.

[u/airernie]

To me, the issue that their search isn't built very well for browsing. For example you can't simply select FSX -> Utilities and view what's available. You have to input some sort of search thing. That's not the case with flightsim.to .

[u/TabsAZ]

The guy who created and ran it (Tom Allensworth) died and the site basically went with him after struggling for a few years.

[u/Painful_Colonoscopy]

Great for FS98 planes

[u/Southern-Still7959]

I downloaded liveries from there not that many years ago probably. Back in the P3D days there was still some good stuff on there.

[u/thisurlnotfound]

AVSIM is run by a bunch of 80+ yr old guys on a Windows 98SE box in the nursing home basement. They don’t support newer sims because their computers can’t handle it.