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[Beowolff]

yes...  please remove ALL of my mods on this site as soon as possible, and in fact remove all comments/threads/etc, and close the account completely here.

you know why.

thank you.

to the rest of you guys here, old friends and new, and users of my work.  thank you for your kind support, your kind words, your using my work and any small enjoyment you got from it.  i apprecite it all, and trust me will never forget it, nor will i forget any of you, dear friends/supporters.

enjoy the game, enjoy your family and friends...most of all enjoy your lives.  and as always, good luck.  fly high and fast and always watch your six.

S!

Beowolff

[CWMV]

Well this is a shame to see, I've always enjoyed your work.
Best wishes to you and many thanks!

[razor1uk]

Good luck in all endevours for you Beowolff; virtually & in actual life too. Over the years you've contributed much to IL2 community, you'll be missed.

[Cranky.1]

I am in shock  ???
SAS1946 with out Beowolff & his Mods.
this site will never be that same again. 
Beowolff hope your still going to be on over at freeil2modding please.

[SAS~CirX]

yes...  please remove ALL of my mods on this site as soon as possible, and in fact remove all comments/threads/etc, and close the account completely here.

you know why.

thank you.

to the rest of you guys here, old friends and new, and users of my work.  thank you for your kind support, your kind words, your using my work and any small enjoyment you got from it.  i apprecite it all, and trust me will never forget it, nor will i forget any of you, dear friends/supporters.

enjoy the game, enjoy your family and friends...most of all enjoy your lives.  and as always, good luck.  fly high and fast and always watch your six.

S!

Beowolff

Sigh ...yet another public grandstand where a pm would have sufficed.

I locked your account for now, and will let clearer minds take this further tomorrow as to the deletion of accounts and topics, since I am realy very tired right now.

I dont have a clue what you are talking about though ("you know why."). I hear from time to time some of the horrible things you say about me, the other admins, and this forum, and it seems to me that our very existence is offensive to you, so, I would not know what specifically this particular tantrum is about. Nor do I realy care. I have never fought with you or spoken one single ill word to you, and never will.

I know you are struggling with cancer and I wish you the very best of luck with that, and my thoughts go with you. And I wish you also to continue to enjoy modding, regardless of where they are made available.

I am locking this topic, since I realy have not the constitution for another public lynching just now, as illustrated by the post right above this one.

All the best
CirX

[SAS~Anto]

As Beowolff has requested his account and mods to be withdrawn, with a somewhat 'mysterious' reason, there is a need for us (the SAS Team) to publically state a few facts, only for those that may otherwise create all kind of theories, or feed gossip.

First of all, Beowolff requested this a long time ago, but the admin team refrained to close his account as a silent sign of friendship. He now requests it again because, as he stated at his own site, his access was removed from the modding private forum a month ago (which he just noticed now).

Beowolff was invited to the admins private forum AND modders private forum a long time ago. Whoever accepts such invitation, does it under agreement of not distribute tools without discussion first (at least), and certainly not publically (more on this later). Beo accepted and gave his word on the agreement.

We all know Beowolff turned into a very prolific and productive modder. Sadly, as he was growing in importance, he slowly started to metamorphose into a conflicting person. Maybe he felt he was not being paid enough attention for all mods produced, but point is he started to rant at other modders (and keeps doing it at his "free" site) and manifested to be losing "trust" on other team members, which started to be an uncomfortable situation for all, including him. In particular, Beo put considerable effort into producing WW1 content and whilst it was greatly appreciated by the community at large, he lashed out at other modders for not supporting him (despite the fact there were and still are, quite a few WW1 projects in the works).

At this point tension were high and hence Beo and Checkyersix both announced their retirement from open modding on the same day together. They were both part of the admin team, and both expressed that they were tired of politics and the complication of site admin and of modding from that point of departure. Thus both of them were removed from the team, and written a letter to explain why, and to say that there are no ill feelings or motivations. In fact other SAS admins have taken this route before and after also, still wanting to participate in IL2, but just wanting to be uninvolved with the sometimes stressfull part of bearing responsibility for this forum.

CY6 accepted this, and even thanked us for it, and remains a friend to the SAS site to this day. He was then also told that if he ever wanted to re-join the admin team, he would be welcome.

Beo, however, took it as an insult and as proof of some conspiracy against him, he felt betrayed and wrote a horrible pm to CirX about it, and was thus not responded to or given an open invitation to re-join the team. Disappointed and angry, he opened his own site under "Freemodder_one" pseudonym and put together two goals:

1) teaching modding, since he was always a nice teacher and had pleasure with sharing abilities; and
2) spiting SAS which, allegedly, betrayed him.

He used such "betrayal" as a moral justification to leak private tools, under another name at his forum (we know from different sources that Freemodder_one, Beowolff, Rebelwithoutaclass are all one and the same person), without even giving credit, and this was the reason. After he was given 3 whole months to set it right (crediting) and failing to do so, he was removed from the private modders forum. And, as mentioned, it took him a month to notice this. The specific tool that Beowolf posted to public without even giving credit, even after asked for it by an SAS admin (who was overtly threatened), was a private tool that the maker asked specifically and pertinently to others in the private not to distribute, even over and above the agreement of honour that all members of the private forums undersign when being allowed there.

The threads where those conflicts develop (SAS admin asking for credits being given and a threatening answer) can still be seen at his "free" site, for those who are registered and not yet banned. And since we knew for a fact that Beo/Freemodder1/Rebelwithoutaclass were the same person, the attempt to post the tool anyway and simply "blame it" on the other persona did not fly with us. It was such refusal of crediting and further threatening which made a "simple" break of honour look as an purposive offensive move of "revenge".

As an ending note, it is also to be noted that many admins still see Beowolff as an old friend, but nevertheless can see how he has screwed up all the way down to this. So handling him has not been easy as emotional forces have been into play too. It's sad, because Beowolff was well-liked amongst the team at one stage and the only person to blame is himself.

Regarding the "modding mafia" myth:

It is relevant to also mention that no one here has even been treated badly by us because they have participated there (in freeil2modding site), in fact most of the modders at freeil2modding site are SAS Admins under other names (and some with same nickname), with the full knowledge & compliance of the rest of the SAS Team.

So much for the controlling intolerant "mafia" that we are.

It is also very relevant, after so much badmouthing from Beo, to remind that the private modder forums are not so secret. We have always opened to anyone who displays a dedication to modding and a responsible attitude to it, and who is prepared to meet more senior modders halfway, not just to be spoon fed, and who then ASKED for such access. The reason it is private is not any paranoid conspiracy theory.

It is for 3 reasons:

1) To give modders a private place to communicate and work together, in an atmosphere of respect and trust, before involving other teams or players in a thing. (and without constant 'are we there yet?' posts)

2) To somehow restrict some things that could be very destructive to online communities e.g. tools and knowledge about making/compiling flight models and net code (and in this we are not alone). ALL Il2 communities do so, even from the first time QTim posted his first tools "incomplete" to ensure they dont lead to the utter destruction of online gaming. We do this, even though we are primarily for offline gamers, not because we want to be "in control" of any info, but simply because we are not assholes (oh, well sometimes we are, but in a different way ). If every 12yo kid was turning their Bf-109 into an X-Wing, Il-2 would suffer the same fate as did Red Baron and we don't want to see that.

3) We are simply not geared up or prepared to provide the level of tech support for more complicated tools and procedures if we posted them to the wide public.

So this is it. That is the big mystery, and we hope this cuts short any disproportionate gossip that's running about.

Regarding removal of Beowulff's mods
Beowolff has requested that and in our next forum cleanup we will attempt to accommodate that. Having said that, quite a few of his projects were in conjunction with others or based on others work. So unless there is some agreement between all parties, such threads will remain until deemed appropriate.

[SAS~Anto]

*UPDATE*

Just been notified that someone has tried to hack the il2freemodding site. This is unfortunately the 'online' world we live in, but it would be sad if a member of the Il-2 community was doing it to their own. Despite what might be implied over there, the SAS Team have nothing to do with this attempt. We've experienced many hacking attempts in the past (some successful) but now have sufficient security measures in place to prevent this from happening.

So, on a personal note, I hope that Beowolff can resolve this issue and that the party involved is uncovered/ceases to continue these attacks. BUT again, we will not stand for being instigated in such attacks. Sure, as Beo knows, there are members here with the knowledge or connections to do such attacks (really, anyone in IT can) but for SAS to do so would achieve nothing but to tarnish both parties names.

In case the guilty party is here and reading, I ask of you to cease what you are doing. You aren't doing either of us any favours. And if the party is an identified member of this community, we may be required to take action against you, in protection of our own site.

[SAS~Anto]

About the airing of the 'dirty laundry'
If you read Beo's website, you will notice his reply to my above post. Personal insults about my sensory perception and ability to speak freely, I wish to clear up a few details.

• Prior to the leak of Canvas Knights, this package was already available amongst closed circles. It was bound to surface at some stage. What  has failed to be mentioned, is that the work wasn't solely DMs and the leak did have the blessing of some former CK team members. Now Beo did admit involvement with it, but is it fair to persecute his former friends based on those actions when he committed the same deeds himself? No, it's not! Read into Beo's post as you want, but the outcome was in the end beneficial. The Il-2 community was informed that CK wasn't going to be for IL-2 and whilst there was initial bad publicity, DM was able to announce the development of his sim. Anyway this is old news and the issues between communities have been resolved. DM and myself are amicable and deal with inter-site issues as they appear. Last 4-5 months, been nothing to report.
  
  
• Viikate incidence has been discussed elsewhere. What Beo didn't see is the PM exchanges between Viikate and some SAS team members. I've pulled some logs and can say, Viikate did like to push modders buttons. He disrupted the admin/moderator team and to me, that's enough to kick him out. This is really a separate issue and comes down to personal opinion. Beo might not agree with the method it was done (same with some others) but regardless it had to be done.
  
  
• The missile code. I have to clear this up, because there is a huge amount of communication that Beowolff was not privy to (as it was kept to PMs only). I have to clear CirX of involvement in this. He might not have seen eye-to-eye with DM, but he has always supported Storebror (based on his personal merits and qualities, not mod output), and should not be blamed for mine and Storebror's. It was me who approached Storebror to begin with, after I saw he had been working on improving Twister's missile code and was having some better success than my efforts. I said to him, there is no need to duplicate efforts, we should work together. We began discussions and so far things were going well. Storebror, a very honorable man, said he had promised to help the AAS team and until his commitment was fulfilled, his primary focus was to help them. He did share same open attitude about modding as I did I and believed that mods should be shared for the benefit of the community. In fact, the first few versions of his source code was available to the public domain.
  
  

Anyway discussion continued for a bit and whilst we thought things were going well, a new version of the missile code was released, which was obfuscated and included a 'logo' mod that branded each loading screen with an AAS logo. I was a bit disappointed, as I thought Mike and I had reached an understanding and that eventually our joint work would be free to the public. The community though (even at AAS) were outraged at it. This was the point CirX stepped in, as this then became a big inter-site issue. He mainly talked to DM and quelled the topics here, as well as providing support for me. I did most of the negotiating and conflict resolution.

Now as for attempting to steal the code, I am man enough to admit that at this point I considered adapting Storebror's code (with credit) and continuing work without him, even though such a morally grey move pained me. The JetWar project was in its infancy and didn't want to see it die over some stupid politics. There was a long running discussion thread about the whole situation in the admin forums and as Beo would have seen, I did go through each version of his code, comparing it to my own. I definitely was disappointed when I saw his latest versions were obfuscated. As obfuscation of code was a recent topic of discussion in the admin area (due to TD implying they might 'lock the game'), this generated a lot of heat. Indeed, much of it directed at Storebror. Having talked to the guy, CirX and I both realized that something wasn't right and that his actions didn't fit his character. In fact, even after this whole event, we both advocated for his work and his eventual granting of moderator rights. It's because, as we now know, he has a wicked sense of humour, a strong impartial moderating style and most of all, an expert level of programming knowledge which he is happy to share with anyone who asks.

Anyway this is where Beo's story ends and it fails to acknowledge and account for what happened then. The matter was resolved, lines drawn in the sand and things moved on. There were some extenuating circumstances and at a later date it was revealed that some members of AAS had stolen (read: taken without crediting and then flaming the author) CirX's latest Mod Activator and were courting Storebror to make a SFS packer. All this influenced Storebror's decision. I must add, HE made his decisions on his on grounds and he stands by them. In fact, I invite him to post and clarify his position, as Beo does not know about 90% of the conversations that went on. He said I'm welcome to quote a PM from him here on his perspective (note his classic humour )

Let me clarify a few (really few) things. I might stand quoted since I mean what I say:

• As long as I'm legally sane, I take the liberty to make decisions on my own.
  
• The above mentioned decision was taken by myself when I did that branding thing, which turned out being a wrong decision. The same goes for the code obfuscation. Bad luck. I'm mankind, I've made mistakes and I promise I'll do so in the future too.
  
• Again the same type of decision by myself was to shift my IL-2 homebase to SAS. Of course this has been influenced by many things before, including but not limited to a whole lot of PMs between Piet, Anto and me. Beo in fact has no clue about most of it and he won't want to I guess, since we three all have been writing a whole set of complete memoires of ourselves inbetween these PMs.
  
• And once again... my personal decision was to leave AAS inner circles and to quit modding for them. Interesting enough the order of decisions is like written in this post, there was no need to leave AAS in order to become part of SAS, this has never been requested by CirX or anybody else involved, it was just my plain own decision to do so.
  

Bottom line: Whatever bad things happened to "poor" Storebror, I deserved it. Whatever good things followed thereafter, I'm glad there have been some who put their trust in me despite all the political hassles which I've been, am and will always be, sick and tired of.

Regardless of the bad stuff that happened, much good has come from it. Both Storebror and I get along splendidly, as do all the other admins with him. Without his help, there would be no 1956 project (or at least not in the state it is in). I am personally indebted to him and despite any trespasses we may have had in the past, we now both work for the common good (and of course, for personal enjoyment).

FINALLY!!
At times, I think the Il-2 community experiences more drama than a poorly acted daytime soap opera! There is all this political bulldust that goes on to try and keep the peace. There was a time where things were very shaky for all IL-2 communities and now halfway through 2011, we can say we have finally reach some peace. Much of this stuff isn't aired out in the community as it polarizes and divides. Plus, who wants to read about bloody politics each time you go to fly your aeroplanes? No one! You want to go shoot down some bad guys and relax. So whilst a lot of this stuff goes on in private, it isn't because there is a big bad modding mafia or illuminati. Simply isn't aired as the utility of such discussion is to divide the community and ultimately impede progress. You can flick onto Fox News if you want a real world example! There is not such thing as the truth, only measurements and opinions, both of which can be false and die hard.

To end on a personal note, Beo, I didn't have much to do with you when you were here but always had a high degree of respect for your work. Most of all, I have a great deal of respect for what you are going through (I live with a cancer patient, not fun). I don't care for personal insults and will not take them to heart. Now both sides have had their say and most of the 'dirt' is out in the open. I know you don't like CirX, but as one of the owners of this site, I ask that you keep any matters that are personal on a personal level. Wish you the best of luck and following on from the 1st part of my post, let me know if you identify the hacker.

[SAS~Storebror]

Thanks for the quote Anto
I really aint in the mood to go on riding a dead horse, but just in case there'd be some doubt about it: Yes, it was me who originally wrote those lines and yes, that quote is right by the letter.
I touched my back and couldn't find any string which could make a puppet out of me, nor could I find any sign of remote control receivers in my head, so I guess now that I am legally sane, nothing keeps me from frankly saying it's my own words you can read above.

Best regards - Mike