Lets go back before the GRP1&2 was forced down from the top, There are many more examples of this, but with each change that we've seen from the EC, the people down towards the bottom are throwing up their hands. You want me to re-write my training curriculum not once but twice? Oh, we've gotten rid of S1, now we have it again. Oh, S2 is back.
What has happened from the EC and BOG level, is an unprecedented amount of NON-COMMUNICATION. They see a problem, and rather than asking the ARTCCs how they think they could fix it, they come up with a solution amongst themselves and write a directive or statement. And when ARTCCs, or VATUSA1/2/3/s want to contribute to the knowledge dump, the EC says "Your say doesn't matter anyways!". This is problem number 1.
Problem number 2 is caused by Problem number 1, where we have a constant rotation of 1/2/3, the people that applied previously to these positions feel shat on, over and over, because the people that are being chosen are all friends of the first guy who's up there. Or, thats how it appears. Well, that constant rotation also includes a constant rotation of policies, which this last group was actually pretty good at not doing, but if you go back a few VATUSA1's, there were alot more policies to be shoved.
Because of this problem, Problem number 3 arises. You have a lack of coordination between administrations. One VATUSA group will be Pro ARTCC, the next will be Pro Region. One will be totally hands on, the next totally hands off. You have some who sit down and write the entire training website mostly by themself (Good work!) and some who ask the ARTCCs to do it, and submit their work.
I've said this for a long time now, if you want to raise money, then put a little "Donate Now" button with a chart of how much money is needed to run the VATSIM servers. I've done this for years on my website, and I've netted over 10 thousand dollars a year - and I only have 3,000 active members.
Sure, you could be like Vroute and charge for a client, but that's a chicken s**t way to do it, some people can't afford the upgrade. Instead, those who can would donate an equal amount of "help" towards the organization.
[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE [/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]When you have declining new membership, and a perception by the public that VATSIM is full of ATC zealots, it makes it hard to sell.[/quote]
If we have a declining membership, we could attribute this to many factors. But how many of those members are hard core pilots or controllers, and how many are becoming more hard core, even though the numbers may be diminishing.
You could consider me an ATC Zealot. However, I think you have a VATSIM success story on your hands. I started VATSIM when I was 13. I was a pilot first, then a controller. I fell in love with controlling. When I graduated High School, I went to Embry-Riddle. When I stepped foot into my classes, I was already an I1 on VATSIM, and while I didn't know absolutely everything, I knew 99%. All of my ATC courses I took, I was miles ahead of my classmates, who were just learning the ATC material for the first time. Got an A on every test without studying, and graduated with a degree in Aeronautics and minor in ATC. Now, I'll be working for the FAA soon as a controller, and I strongly believe that VATSIM had a major part to do with that. So when I teach my controllers, I teach them like I'd want to be taught, with realism and being true to the real thing. And 99% of them eat it up. I'm not one of the only one of these ATC zealots that have gone to the FAA. EZ from ZLA, Marc Sykes, and many other guys that I know. And personally, I couldn't of done it without VATSIM.
VATSIM truly can be a training environment for controllers or pilots. It's not just a game like we make it out to be, sometimes.
There is a significant lack of trust, respect and coordination from the BOG&EC to the normal controller/staff member/pilot. This has been caused by years of 'closed door' meetings on policies, and then the creation of these new policies. It's just like the work place, if Corporate tells you that the new policy is that you can't drink water from a paper cup because it's bad for the environment, you're going to be pissed off at corporate because you like your paper cups.
There have been no meeting notes posted, no topics of discussion, nothing, over the past several years. And to be honest, as a staff member, I couldn't even tell you who is on either one of these boards. The only thing I know is that Harv Stein was up there, and so are you, Richard. But I only know that because I used to see him on the scopes, and I see you in the forums. And I see you on the forums helping members and actually providing positive advice.
Alot of the EC/BOG have a Holier 'than thou' attitude, and they feel that the need to communicate to the controllers/pilots/ARTCC Staff/Division Staff is nil. If you liken it to real world, the soldiers are the pilots and controllers. The Staff are the Lieutenants and the Divison staff are the Captains. Above them, in our present situation, you have Bryan, the Colonel, and then a series of Generals that never step foot into the field. If you never saw your General, ever, then how much would you trust them?
And the awesome part about this post, is if I ever wanted to run for another VATUSA1/2/3 position, it would probably be held against me because I speak my mind too much.
