Alert - VATSIM bans military and space agencies!!!

[Guest]

I'm writing this to let the Flightsim community at large know about an unfortunate decision made recently by the Board of Governors at VATSIM. For those who may not know, VATSIM is an air traffic control network, a series of servers around the globe that lets flightsimmers connect to each other and participate in a rich virtual world as pilots and air traffic controllers. Many of you probably belong to virtual airlines (VA's) and enjoy the interaction with fellow enthusiasts.I belong to a VA called SimNASA. It's just what it sounds like - a virtual space agency. SimNASA has conducted training missions, and actual space launch/landing operations, on the VATSIM network for some time now. We have been good, professional virtual citizens, and have enjoyed interacting with other agencies, such as the Virtual US Coast Gaurd, and the Virtual US Air Force. SimNASA launches are as enjoyable as an ARTCC's Fly-in.Amazingly, VATSIM has recently banned all military and space agencies from their networks. SimNASA, and others, have literally had the plug pulled on their on-line activities. To say that this came as a shock would be understatement. SimNASA actually has a crew "stuck in orbit" right now - this ban came in the middle of a mission. The reasons provided to us by VATSIM have been vague and baffling. As far as I can understand it, VATSIM is banning our activity because - our launches use too much bandwidth. A dozen pilots? Overloading the server? Huh?We are asking for your help in convincing the VATSIM Board of Governors that this was a bad decision. We believed that VATSIM was trying to promote an open, inclusive virtual community of like-minded hobbyists who enjoyed flightsimming. Their recent actions run totally counter to that. Please e-mail the officials at VATSIM (www.vatsim.net) and express your disappointment at their decision.Also, please visit the SimNASA homepage (www.simnasa.org); we've set up an on-line petition to collect names and VATSIM PID numbers of supporters.Thank you very much for your time. We put a lot of energy and enthusiasm into our hobby, and simply want to enjoy doing it on-line.

[Guest SIX]

I went to VATSIM's website and didn't find a scratch of information about it. Is this a descision that was made in the cover of darkness?Quite frankly, I understand some of their decisions about no military excersises in "politically incorrect" areas and such. But, SIMNASA? Give US a break!It boils down to this, you guys can use the AVSIM Bush Network. Everybody can get an I.D and it will work just like VATSIM with SB and even procontroller with a little modification. Everybody could do what they please there! Think about that!-----------Wilson HinesChief CaptainBush Logistics Corp.http://heavylhc.comAOL IM: dal276wh