AND THEY DID IT!!!!!

Please, all, join me in a bow of respect followed by very healthy applause for the team at Minneapolis. You guys are sick! awesome! for achieving a full 100% online presence -- a new VATSIM record (and, of course, one that can never be broken, only tied). Team Boston hopes you enjoyed all the Red Bull we had flown in there for you guys; give us a call in 4 days or so when you wake up, and we'll fly in some fresh Laaahhhbstaah for your team celebration.

[jumping to our feet]---[clap][clap][clap][clap]  

There just aren't the words. Amazing, simply amazing.

Ira, Meh, I may have a lot of time on my hands this week, but without work, I don't have anything to do
Also, I stated he was a newbie to VATUSA and controlling having done a Quick stats check prior to saying anything outrageous.

My sole point was to agree with Tom and point out that you should let him speak for himself.  If that did not come across clearly enough then I guess I should have chosen my words better.   Anyone has the right to ask questions but I too must admit to little bit of curiosity after seeing the words he chose.  

As long as it doesn't exceed our salary for being ATM's!  

The heck with the agreed upon ARTCC salary caps. It's time for the winter meetings and that means FREE AGENCY!!  Coffee, cookies, donuts, I'm easy. I'm not cheap but I can be had.  Call my agent at 1.888.atc.4you    

One time rentals available or fill those hard to staff early morning hours for a (phee)nominal fee. Remember -=> a time zone difference can be your best friend!

I passed, booyah

Well done!

So lets see if I have this now.  Option #1 respond to Manuel and Justin about how to keep people interested within some type of reasonable learning environment.  Then there's option #2, dive in and start adding my thoughts on how large and all encompassing our documentation should be and whether or not the controller must learn it or simply learn how to referrance it because I have 4 major facilities in my artcc and that would be great if I didn't have to learn it all and still be a cool CTR controller, or #3, jump in with both feet and pick sides in the my artcc is better than your artcc arguement because it was your fault in the first place and how dare you insult my mother and....  [breath] .....   Oh wait. Oh whatever......

Jesus guys.  


"We have met the enemy and he is us"  (Pogo)


Ira

For what it's worth, and I spoke to Brian about this, I think there is a clear distinction on the network between new members who honestly want to learn and who will cooperate with efforts to help them, and those who can't be bothered with even the most rudimentary of rules. It's my impression that the latter group is consistently increasing over time and has been the source of a fair number of complaints in the past. I don't have the solution, but I honestly think that while the VATSIM community does a commendable job with the first, it's truly in their best interest to address the latter.

And that I think is the heart of the matter.  The people who just don't want to take the time to learn anything. Now I don't see that there is much that can be done with a pilot other then to call a SUP and hope he is able to help. It's just the nature of the beast. But as far as new controllers are concerned I think that is something we can address.  Of course my solution may not be as all-inclusive as some people would like, but like anything else in this world you get out of something only what you put in. My theory is pretty simple; maybe this hobby is just not for everyone.

Look, if you pass the VATUSA S1 that means you must have read something. That's a great start. But come to me as an S1 who hasn't read more than just enough to get by and you won't. The whole process relies on the student doing some homework. It doesn't take much time to figure out if the student has read anything or just jumped into the controller pool. And it isn't our jobs to spoon feed them or cram the information into their heads.

Their job is to put in a little time and effort and our job is to make sure they understand what that time and effort is for and how to apply it. If you don't put in the time I won't waste mine.  I am a believer that there is no one that cannot be taught to do what we do.  But I am also of the belief that you cannot save someone from themselves. It's not my job to make you a controller. It's my job to make you a better controller.  And frankly, if the people who don't want to put any time into this are allowed to remain on the roster for any length of time all they do is corrupt the next group of newbies. And so these are the folks who remain an S1 forever and generally end up going away.

And if the write letters and complain to my boss so be it.  And this isn't about over-realistic standards or expectations.  I don't expect that anyone will sound like the guys who do this 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for 20 years. Yes this is a hobby, but I have other hobbies too and they all require a little serious attention every now and again. This one should be no different.

People have to learn that sometimes "no" is an answer. We can't be everything to everybody. We just are what we are and we should not be changing what has worked all these years just because a new generation of players want to make the game easier.  It has been said that "if it were easy everyone could do it".  Well we do make it pretty easy I think, but I don't think we should be "dumbing down" the basics to attract new people.

Congratulations!

Congratulations!!