Blog Post

Here at YSFHQ, our mission is to enhance the experience of those playing YSFlight by creating a fun, inviting atmosphere. One of the ways we create such an atmosphere is by offering ways for YSFlight players to interact online – the discussion forums is our primary way of doing this, but we also offer a TeamSpeak server and [most recently] the YSFHQ WW3 server. These such services give community members new ways to interact with each other and the game itself.

TeamSpeak has always been a key component of the YSFlight experience, and any online gaming experience, for it allows users to communicate easily over voice, leaving hands free for holding a joystick and shooting at opponents. The staff take great pride in being able to provide this service to our members. However, it should be noted that just like the website, we pay for the bandwidth and memory needed to host the TeamSpeak server. Advertisements and donations help fund these costs, so we can provide it free-of-charge to our members to use for various YSFlight-related activities.

Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that not all patrons are using the server appropriately. On multiple occasions we have noticed that community members were inviting non-community members onto the server. While we certainly enjoy the additional company, they were using public channels for other non-YSFlight activities such as playing World of Tanks. There are many other servers suitable for playing non-YSFlight games with one’s friends. By actively coordinating non-YSFlight games in YSFlight channels, those who do so are infringing on the rights of those who are trying to discuss YSFlight with others in the channel. We have recently added a “Misc. Discussion” channel below the YSFlight channel – this channel should be used if you are not playing YSFlight or not doing something related to the community. However, this channel should not be used to bring non-YSFHQ members on and coordinate other games. Being able to use the TeamSpeak server is a privilege, not a right, so we ask you adhere to the recently updated TeamSpeak server rules. We have also updated our Terms of Service (sec. 13) to reflect this policy change.

We hope you understand why we have made this decision and ask that you respect your fellow YSFlight community in adhering to these rules. We reserve the right to discontinue services if they are not used appropriately, but certainly nobody wants to see this happen – so let’s do all we can to improve YSFlight activity. Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,
Eric Tendian
On behalf of:
YSFHQ Community Architects & Community Managers