Sorry to interrupt the discussion on politics, but it occurred to me while reading all the gnashing of teeth is that what we ought to be discussing is why we have trouble attracting *PILOTS* to VATSIM.
So what is it that attracts people to IVAO? About the only thing I've heard is "a family feel."
Wade you nailed it with "PILOTS", in my observations of IVAO vs VATSIM, IVAO has many more pilots than ATC, while on VATSIM we tend to have a larger presence of ATC. After being on this network for going on 5 years the biggest thing I have seen is the intimidation of pilots, not necessarily on purpose, but it does happen. Some ATC attempt to tutor pilots when needed and traffic permitting, others have been blatantly rude and obnoxious to the very people that make ATC possible on this network. While I have not flown on IVAO, I can speak to the pilot experience on our network specifically when he hears the guy providing ATC dress down other pilots.
IMHO ATC on VATSIM has taken precedent over pilots. We tend to forget that without the pilots we as controllers would have nothing to do. We can ask for a certain level of appropriate piloting knowledge, but pilots do not go through nearly as much training as ATC. Many pilots on this network learn by doing, so when one makes a mistake he may not know better and may be embarrassed to admit it.
We need to be much more Pilot friendly. As Andrew P. has said in the past we have to be customer service oriented, VATSIM to its ARTCC's and ARTCC's to the pilots who fly.
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