Vatsim Policy on World Affairs

Dear Members:Most of you are no doubt carefully following world events, particularly in the past few weeks, and I have received many inquiries while online and by email about what can and cannot be re-enacted while on VATSIM. Our community has always prided itself on its ability to remain neutral when it comes to issues such as politics, ethnicity and race. The simple reason for this is that our community was created and exists so that we can all join together and celebrate our joy of flight. When you log onto VATSIM, you can forget your real world concerns and enjoy a flight or a few hours at the scope. Politics have no place after you hit the connect button and join the network.With this in mind, I ask you, our members, to respect one another's feelings and viewpoints by not making statements or engaging in any conduct online related to real world events which could inflame or anger another member. In particular, please do not include political commentary in your ATIS or on an ATC frequency (voice or text) or make military or inappropriate commercial flights in areas of the world which are currently the focus of our attention. VATSIM Supervisors will politely ask you to stop such activities and will remove you from the network and initiate suspension procedures if you insist on continuing such conduct. It is my hope that this will not be necessary but VATSIM is determined to maintain the neutral position we have all worked so hard to create.Thank you all for your support of VATSIM and continued blue skies.Harv SteinGovernor VATSIMLondon, Ontario Canada