Urwumpe, calm down! Firstly, it's his choice to pull out all of his addons. It's his personality and if he got hurt by people repainting his work, so be it.
I am calm. You don't want to see me ballistic.
Now, I don't know why you're offended by him stepping away and giving SSU more space.
It is the use of SSU in that context as "desired successor of SF". we have never tried to be rivals or successor for SF and I don't want to change this. But I am just one in a team, maybe others think different there.
Along of a long chain of buck passing in his post, David413 also passed the buck for future Space Shuttle missions in Orbiter to us. Without asking us or really caring about our view of our project.
I mean, stupid people (without the intention to hurt anyone), if that's what you mean, fine. I'm sure you can deal with stupid people.
The question is: Do I want this? I don't.
I don't want to answer questions in SSU that are caused by not reading the manuals. I also don't want to make SSU simpler by sacrificing some realism, so the clients of Shuttle Fleet can also feel at home in SSU. SSU is not Shuttle Fleet 5.0.
Shuttle Fleet was always the compromise solution. It was complex enough to fly realistic missions, but still relied on a few MFDs and keyboard commands for its operation.
I already felt badly annoyed that people wondered why they can't launch without starting the APUs. In Shuttle Fleet, this was never needed, in SSU, it is mandatory. In Shuttle Fleet, it was assumed that the pilot did just that at the right time. In SSU, you have to do it yourself and watch the displays to be sure everything worked fine.
SSU is a pretty egoistic project. I admit. We do it for us. We don't give a damn about being nice to beginners, or have a less steep learning curve. We do a Space Shuttle simulation like we wanted it, and of which we knew that Shuttle Fleet will never be, because David413 never wanted it that way. We also don't create a switch-throwing simulation like Space Shuttle Mission 20xx, we simulate a spacecraft, to the point that we can even enjoy what-if scenarios. I love reading the files that Graham2001 digs out of NASAs servers about never built projects for the Space Shuttle. SSU should be the NASA HSF program without budget constraints.
So, should I feel really happy, if David413 retreats for us, without us even asking if we would like to take his territory? He pretty much created the rather embarrassing situation that we either declare strongly that we are not responsible for his fans and add-on users, or have to be implicitly responsible, since there is "only us left".
Really: I would rather see somebody creating a second Shuttle Fleet than making the SSU project overexert itself with being a Shuttle for everyone. We can't please everybody.
PS: Yes, SSU does not forbid making stupid repaints. Maybe we should include the effects of the paint in the damage model, so your reentry temperatures have to be 400°C lower and you are constantly overheating in space.