Hello All,
I am pasting my response to the other thread here as this thread is covering pilot competency issues. I am getting frustrated seeing the pilot quality getting worse all the time. I think some very good points have been brought up in this thread. If I may, I would like to give some thoughts from a pilot's perspective.  Sorry for the long drawn out response in advance. I'll admit I am not the most amazing Vatsim pilot out there and only have 150+ hours on the network but I do have 1000s of hours flight simming (mostly xplane11 and a couple hundred on MSFS2020). I agree with alot of what the controllers are saying in this thread.

First, I feel like the addition of MSFS2020 to the network is a big issue. That "sim" is where alot of issues lie right off the bat. I feel like MSFS2020 is an amazing sim for VFR flying only and theoretically it could be on the network in VFR conditions for VFR flying. The real issue is IFR. I have tried the airliners (747,787, A320Neo and FBW A320) and jets in msfs2020 and they are nowhere near being ready for Vatsim (hence why I fly them offline until they are good enough to be flown on the network which will be later). I cannot speak as far as the popular CRJ7 and the other CRJ's that Aerosoft has produced however. The systems are not to where they should be in order to fly on the network. Speaking of aircraft on the network, I do alot of flights in a new aircraft off of the network before I even consider jumping on the network and flying it on the network like at least 5-10 hours of flying off the network before doing it on the network and making sure I am 100 competent in that airplane first. Alot of people seem to get a new airplane regardless of what sim they are on and jump straight on the network, which is the wrong thing to do which is where alot of issues come into play.

My second point will be about the incompetency of the pilots. The fact that pilots in MSFS2020 and even some in other sims don't even know what a chart is disconcerting. The pilots don't even know about such things as skyvector. I bring up Skyvector as a perfect example. Why? Because its free. When I started getting into IFR flying about a year ago, Skyvector was my go to tool before I upgraded my Navigraph subscription and as I fly real world I also have a foreflight subscription as well. I learned how to read the charts, I learned about spd/alt constraints, the differences of what different airplanes can or cant do. For example, /L vs /W vs /A etc. I learned the lingo of ATC and what to expect and what to have pre-planned for my flight (example, what is D-Atis saying regarding runways and taxi ways), what is the metar and current weather conditions and the airport im departing and what can I expect weather wise and runway wise at my destination? The fact that pilots are not doing the research and not having the knowledge is the issue even when the info is free and readily available even on the internet or on the particular VATUSA pages for those specific airspaces.

I feel really bad for controllers when they have to deal with incompetent pilots. I as a pilot even get annoyed with this issue. There's alot of great younger pilots but the immaturity of some of these pilots is an issue as well regardless of age. I feel as if with the addition of MSFS2020 there are alot more immature teenagers and frankly kids on the network. There are alot more trolls on the network as well who want to have fun and fool around even on the frequencies which is frustrating especially if say you are on an arrival or approach, etc. As a hardcore simmer, I feel like trolling is a big issue right now. Evryone wants to fool around and BS with their friends and so on and so forth. For example, I was taking off at ATL going to KSDF the other day. A youtuber and his following decided to spawn in at KATL (no big deal). This youtuber it appears has alot of younger pilots that follow him, specifically of the teenage age group. Like I said I have no problem with ages whatsoever. KATL and KZTL controllers were amazing and did a great job, however the other pilots were causing havoc. They were stepping all over each other on the ground frequency, not letting the controller do his job, chit-chatting on the frequency, and more. I think I sat there for approximately 30-45 min to taxi to the runway. (I wasn't even mad and was greatly impressed with this ground controller's skills).

Yet it seems vatsim gets on the controller's instead of getting on the real issue, incompetent pilots. I can totally see why the controllers get frustrated and burnt out. I feel like they get talked to or perhaps in trouble for something that's completely not their fault. It is the pilots responsibility to be able to fly their aircraft without the handholding of the controllers. Aviate, Navigate, Communicate (the responsibilities of the pilot). And if feel as if ATC is having to handhold one pilots hand or focus on them bc that pilot is competent or doing whatever they want to do and not listening to ATC, it takes attention away from their controlled airspace, etc, which can also make the pilots feel as if their service is degraded which isn't fair to those other pilots or the controllers. I think we have alot of amazing controllers on this network and I don't think its fair to them.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all of you Vatsim staff, VATUSA staff, Controllers of all levels, from C/D all the way up to center controllers. You all do an amazing job on this network, and us pilots appreciate you all! You all are the real heroes of this network and I genuinely appreciate the dedication and the time you guys put in to control us pilots. You all are amazing. Keep your head up and keep up that amazing great work that you all do! THANKYOU all so very much

Like I said, I apologize for the long post. Thankyou all for your time. Mods feel free to take this down or edit if something I said is not allowed.