VATSIM is full of wannabe tin pushers with Egos OP. They're not ALL members, but they are vocal enough that it can lead to them being the face of VATSIM.Many of them forget that "It's Just a Game"The only advice I can really give you is "Suck it Up Buttercup", don't let one bad user give you a bad opinion of VATSIM as a whole. There are many GREAT people on the system. The best are the actual controllers who know how far from reality VATSIM actually is, and just go on to have a good time and give people a fun experience.Also: Don't bother with VATGOV, Conflict Resolution, or any supervisor. They are almost (and I emphasize almost) all useless and will quote line after line of the VATSIM agreement at you until they find one that they think fits your situation and suspend you for violating it, (ie: Arguing with them.)I hope this helps and that you have more positive VATSIM experiences in the future!

Heh, sounds like you've fallen foul of "the system" a few times cmdrnmartin? @ the OP: Apart from disconnects due to inactivity (for which you wont get much sympathy from controllers), if you dont like the way someone operates or communicates, I've found that if you provide "constructive criticism" to the right people, eventually they will take notice.

Edited January 10, 201214 yr by deeknow

Heh, sounds like you've fallen foul of "the system" a few times cmdrnmartin?

Oh lordy. My real world license is probably the only thing that has kept me from being banned. It's very hard to put up with some 14 year old telling you that you're doing your job wrong.

It's very hard to put up with some 14 year old telling you that you're doing your job wrong.

LOL ... be great to hear recordings of some of those conversations :)

This is troubling to read. As a busy father I'm expecting to be interrupted now and then and could easily go AFK once a month. I've read other posts like this recently. I had *just* signed up to VATSIM today and I want to join a VA and try to contribute to the ATC player's experience as best I can by becoming a pawn they can push, but now I'm not so sure I want to jump in with people that don't understand this is a hobby, not real life, and there are sometimes unforeseen circumstances (often if you are a parent).If it were me as an ATC, I'd treat a non-responsive aircraft as a challenge, something interesting rather than the norm. I'd call online pilots and challenge them to attempt an intercept or something. :) Does it really kill your experience that much that you have to come down on people that are otherwise trying to contribute? Why not just mark the blip "unresponsive" and move on?Like the other night, I was practicing my first landing in my new PMDG MD11 and FSX ATC cleared me to land on a runway that still had a jumbo sitting there. I reacted a bit slowly but did manage to switch to GA and went around again. At first I was like, geez FSX ATC, way to screw up! Then I thought, actually that was a lot more fun than a perfect automated landing. I look forward to more screw ups by FSX ATC. :)Clark

If it were me as an ATC, I'd treat a non-responsive aircraft as a challenge, something interesting rather than the norm. I'd call online pilots and challenge them to attempt an intercept or something. :) Does it really kill your experience that much that you have to come down on people that are otherwise trying to contribute? Why not just mark the blip "unresponsive" and move on?

99% of the time that's exactly what I do. If they are on a runway or circling the airport at a low altitude it causes a huge distraction for the other pilots. Imagine being on a long flight that you've flown flawlessly only to have some dude who went AFK (for whatever reason) cause you to crash/go around etc. It's rare but it does happen. I have never reported a pilot who was AFK in cruise.Once I even vectored a USAF guy in a fighter who happened to log in for patterns to intercept an unknown target. I'm sure he got a kick of it.There are PLENTY of controllers who have the god complex though. I know quite a few of them by name and absolutely avoid their airspace, to the point I will log off of the network prior to entering their airspace and log on when I have passed through. They are also the ones who call a supervisor the second someone doesn't respond.However, the thing is, it is very frustrating when pilots aren't paying attention in a critical phase of flight. There have been plenty of times I tried to call a guy up to give a speed restriction, or vector and they don't respond. When it starts to get busy, controllers come up with a plan for how they are going to get planes sequenced. Sometimes that plan is literally dependent on giving a single plane a specific speed or vector at a specific moment (even a 10 second lag can screw it up). If that plane doesn't respond, or responds slowly (like setting a heading bug, then forgetting to engage the HDG mode) it really can completely screw up the experience for the 5 pilots behind him.Take a look at this video and imagine how things can get screwed up if a guy fails do do something. It's kind of like a traffic jam in rush hour. Everything goes fine until that ONE guy does something stupid and then there's a traffic jam for 90 minutes, lol.http://denartcc.org/...1_2_TRACON.htmlSo the bottom line, if you need to step away for a minute, ask/tell the controller. Sometimes, if there's no other planes around, i will even let a pilot pause in flight. If you have an emergency, just disconnect. I'd rather have a plane just disappear than have them go AFK with no warning.And what I always say to pilots: PLEASE don't say you'll do something you don't understand. If you didn't understand an instruction, ask us to repeat it. If you don't know how to do something, tell us :)

Problem is most ATC act as if hundreds of planes are in their airspace, talkinge faster than light, eating up the mic, so noone can understand them, while I was the only one in the air for their whole country.After SATCO went VATSIM, I left, and dont fly off line anymore. Its suppose to be fun, not anymore.

James,I had the same thing happen to me many times and they kicked my for 30 days, after I had to take my dad to the ER, so they find stupid things so they can have fun, now I just sit there and laugh as IVAO is starting to blow them out of the water in traffic and I have not had ONE! problem with IVAO, Also the email I recived was so "me and my dad could recover" my dad could of been dead that night.Regards,Mitch

personally sometimes vatsim can take a hobby to seriously

It is not a question of VATSIM taking the hobby to seriously. You have to keep in mind that all servers and bandwidth are donated, so why would you someone connect to a free server, only to walk away from their PC.If you have to step away for more than a couple minutes, disconnect leave FS running and then reconnect when you get back.

LOl I guess I'm not the only one!!!!! After Posting on the forums that I was not impressed with an event ended with the airspace full of trafficc, I got the world of hurting.God forbide for you to even think about expressing how you feel angainst anything on Vatsim.

Yup, took me about only 2 months of wasted time to see the light. I got the little 'time out' email from their 'Board of Governors' (they think they're a special division of the FAA) for just intelligently speaking my mind on the forums. A post like this would surely get deleted by their highly judgemental 'mods'. I just cancelled. Their idea of FUN is about as fun as a dental visit.Bottom line: Vatsim is FUN only if you stay off the forums, be quiet, don't speak up for yourself when you see a legitimate issue, and you like being told you don't know what you're doing or your system isn't good enough. Hearing the ole FSX ATC again seemed like a welcome homecoming.

It is not a question of VATSIM taking the hobby to seriously. You have to keep in mind that all servers and bandwidth are donated, so why would you someone connect to a free server, only to walk away from their PC.If you have to step away for more than a couple minutes, disconnect leave FS running and then reconnect when you get back.

Ahhh...all well and good...but re-read the vatsim policy....cannot connect whilst in the air in controlled airspace unless by prior approval...how can you get prior approval with out connecting.Vatsim Staff think they are gods gift to aviation.I stopped controlling for VATSIm because I got tired of being pineappled by SUP's for VOLUNTEERING my time to be a controller....so told the SUP to jam itAhh this also happened to me last nightMade me laugh because I was just starting my engines at the timeCL_SUP : Andrew I am a vatsim supervisor attempting to contact you at 0356Z please respond LOCAL : hiCL_SUP : Real quick i noticed you are squawking standby while you are in the air, can you please squawk normal while airborne ? LOCAL : ....im on the groundCL_SUP : I show you at 4300 feet LOCAL : on the ground at kslcCL_SUP : rgrCL_SUP : disregard

Edited February 26, 201214 yr by Zebra

Ahhh...all well and good...but re-read the vatsim policy....cannot connect whilst in the air in controlled airspace unless by prior approval...how can you get prior approval with out connecting.

Where in the ROC did you find that?

Cant remember exactly but that is how I read it. and not going to read the11ty different documents again haha