VATUSA on Twitter

[Alex Bailey 969331]

Everyone is welcome to sign up and follow VATUSA on Twitter. Upcoming events will be posted from the calendar.

 

http://twitter.com/flyvatusa

 

Cheers!

[Bo Gercke 845743]

Really? Two forums that are more monitored and censored than an Al Quaeda information website and we're going to implement yet another communication tool?

 

How about we find ONE medium, generate some sound discussion about the direction of VATUSA and actually use it to right this sinking ship?

[Graeme Florance 906409]

Really? Two forums that are more monitored and censored than an Al Quaeda information website and we're going to implement yet another communication tool?

 

How about we find ONE medium, generate some sound discussion about the direction of VATUSA and actually use it to right this sinking ship?

 

 

couldn't of said it any better

[Brad Littlejohn]

Really? Two forums that are more monitored and censored than an Al Quaeda information website and we're going to implement yet another communication tool?

 

How about we find ONE medium, generate some sound discussion about the direction of VATUSA and actually use it to right this sinking ship?

 

 

couldn't of said it any better

 

In all sincerity and with all due respect...

 

I don't see either of you two offering anything better, let alone contributing to 'righting this sinking ship' at all.

 

If you were, then you'd have the right to complain.. but until then, you don't. So how about contributing to VATUSA instead of tearing the place down without any contributions whatsoever.

 

BL.

[Graeme Florance 906409]

Brad

 

With all due respect you are wrong. I have offered my [Mod - Happy Thoughts]istance to our previous and current training administrator. So please dont make [Mod - Happy Thoughts]umptions without knowing what you are talking about !!!!

 

I also participate as an instructor on the network and am doing what I can to p[Mod - Happy Thoughts] on my skills to new controllers. What else would you like me to do? I am more than happy to help in any way I can.

 

Cheers

 

Graeme

[Mark Richards]

Hey guys, lighten up on one another, or at least take it offline.

 

Seriously, the more ways of getting the word of VATSIM out there the better, surely! If someone finds out about VATSIM via Twitter then that's another member we have found. This has to be beneficial to the network as a whole.

 

VATNZ has been on Twitter for some months now and we've got a number of new members through it, which increases VATSIM membership.

 

The more the merrier!

[Alex Bailey 969331]

Gentlemen,

 

The decision to put VATUSA on Twitter was a simple, yet effective, effort for individuals to stay in the loop regarding our events. Its only purpose is to house the posting of events. We figured that the word will get out more if people sign up to follow the account, especially Virtual Airlines. We're still attempting to increase the traffic to our division forums, but I'm finding that most of the traffic comes from ARTCC staff members participating in the staff forum. This is fine, but it means that a good portion of our members don't see the events calendar, with the exception of the recent postings on our website. If we find that Twitter isn't effective and meeting our desires, then we'll address the issue when the time comes. For now, we like the idea and welcome everyone to view the page.

 

The VATUSA forum is an excellent resource for discussing the direction of VATUSA. We currently have staff forums operating where we are discussing our division policies, GRP v2.0 implementation, and other operations. You will also find public boards where everyone is welcome to discuss matters related to the division or just VATSIM in general. We do ask that the discussions remain constructive in nature, and do not turn into personal battles or conflicts. The discussion of confidential matters relating to a conflict resolution process will not be discussed in any open setting. This information will be discussed with the appropriate individuals through other avenues.

 

As far as VATUSA being a sinking ship, I couldn't disagree more. A new website has been promised for quite a long time, and with my administration and the help of others we have been able to achieve this goal in a very timely fashion. It should be released at week's end. The new website includes many back-end features to provide more ease of use by the ARTCC staff. It also provides an excellent foundation for future advancement. Our Training Services Administrator is filling our new training site with excellent information and educational resources, including videos which will [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ist the training departments with the instruction of students. It's also going to be a tool to provide more interest in our training literature, rather than simply reading boring text. In addition to this, we're in the final stages of revising all of our division policies to better meet the intent of the VATSIM Founders, as outlined in their letter to the community. Members of the Board of Governors and our Regional Director have been providing excellent guidance regarding the correction of our policies.

 

VATUSA staff members will always respond to constructive remarks/criticism and other discussion presented in a professional manner. We don't see any need nor benefit from jumping into the weeds to satisfy the requests of individuals who are more interested in tarnishing this division's name than working with us to improve our service to the membership.

 

Cheers!

[Wade Williams 877539]

I'm following the Twitter - I think it's a great. However, a very brief description of the event would be useful, rather than just the name or date. For example, I have no idea what's happening on VATUSA Anniversary and Appreciation Night.

[Matthew Bartels]

Well said Alex,

 

I'm looking forward to the great things that will come out of VATUSA.

 

As far as twitter goes, I've not once bee to the site, but as a previous poster said, any word VATSIM gets, is beneficial to the membership. Since most people start as pilots, this is a good thing. More pilots means more chances for us ATC people to have a hobby other than looking at a blank scope!

 

Regards,

 

Matt

[Alexander Cohrs]

I would also encourage the US guys to post their events at vRoute - it's definitely a great place for that and might bring you a lot of additional traffic. Right now I got the impression it's mainly used by the Europeans and us in Africa.

 

Alex

[Andrew Podner 994055]

I'm following the Twitter - I think it's a great. However, a very brief description of the event would be useful, rather than just the name or date. For example, I have no idea what's happening on VATUSA Anniversary and Appreciation Night.

 

 

I looked at that, and am still working on a script that will clean up the different formats of descriptions, for instance if someone leads off in the calendar with an image or url, it is a little goofy. This is something I will continue to improve upon over time

[Bo Gercke 845743]

In all sincerity and with all due respect...

 

I don't see either of you two offering anything better, let alone contributing to 'righting this sinking ship' at all.

 

If you were, then you'd have the right to complain.. but until then, you don't. So how about contributing to VATUSA instead of tearing the place down without any contributions whatsoever.

 

BL.

 

Come now, Brad. I'd expect a little more due diligence on your part prior to making such a baseless statement. Of course, I'd expect little else of most of the folks in this incredible volunteer organization. I can go on for days about my efforts to offer better things to this network, I've spent literally HUNDREDS, if not thousands, of hours in various capacities here at VATUSA in various ARTCC's giving my time, effort, and energy. Yet, in this environment of "what have you done for me lately", things tend to get overlooked. I've served as an ATM, DATM, TA, etc... and have neither asked for, nor received as much as a "Thank You" from anyone in this organization, yet I believe that I have the more than most vested into this organization as it was where I met the people who helped me both realize, and achieve the dreams of my life. My dreams of becoming an ATC began here, and were fulfilled with the help of the people on this network.

 

Until you do some homework, use caution in making baseless, fact less statements. All it takes is a stats check with my member number.

 

Alex...

 

You have magnified the problem with VATUSA in your first statement. Excited about a WEBSITE? Excited about GRP? The website has been in place, functioning, and operational long before I was a member. A website is not the motor that drives this network. People are. People are chewed up, and spit out with impunity on this network. If you can find me 50 C3's who have been members for more than 2 years who are active controllers meeting any of the ARTCC's minimum controller requirements I will stand corrected/take back EVERYTHING that I am saying here. Find me 25 of those same C3's who are active in the network in a staff, or training capacity and again, I'll eat my words. The power of this network lies in the people. Sure, we can have 2000 new members a year, a month, or a day, but the glue in this network are the people who have been here 2,3,5 years. Look at any truly powerful organization, and you will see an organization that puts people first and goes through any reasonable measure to keep those people happy. This is especially true in a volunteer organization.

 

And again, this very simple, very basic leadership rule is missed.... Hence the "sinking ship" analogy.

 

I sent you an email June 16 offering my [Mod - Happy Thoughts]istance in any capacity that you may need [Mod - Happy Thoughts]istance. I'm still awaiting a response. Please don't tell me that you did not receive it, because my read receipt says that you did. My offer still stands.

[Alex Bailey 969331]

In all sincerity and with all due respect...

 

I don't see either of you two offering anything better, let alone contributing to 'righting this sinking ship' at all.

 

If you were, then you'd have the right to complain.. but until then, you don't. So how about contributing to VATUSA instead of tearing the place down without any contributions whatsoever.

 

BL.

 

Come now, Brad. I'd expect a little more due diligence on your part prior to making such a baseless statement. Of course, I'd expect little else of most of the folks in this incredible volunteer organization. I can go on for days about my efforts to offer better things to this network, I've spent literally HUNDREDS, if not thousands, of hours in various capacities here at VATUSA in various ARTCC's giving my time, effort, and energy. Yet, in this environment of "what have you done for me lately", things tend to get overlooked. I've served as an ATM, DATM, TA, etc... and have neither asked for, nor received as much as a "Thank You" from anyone in this organization, yet I believe that I have the more than most vested into this organization as it was where I met the people who helped me both realize, and achieve the dreams of my life. My dreams of becoming an ATC began here, and were fulfilled with the help of the people on this network.

 

Until you do some homework, use caution in making baseless, fact less statements. All it takes is a stats check with my member number.

 

Alex...

 

You have magnified the problem with VATUSA in your first statement. Excited about a WEBSITE? Excited about GRP? The website has been in place, functioning, and operational long before I was a member. A website is not the motor that drives this network. People are. People are chewed up, and spit out with impunity on this network. If you can find me 50 C3's who have been members for more than 2 years who are active controllers meeting any of the ARTCC's minimum controller requirements I will stand corrected/take back EVERYTHING that I am saying here. Find me 25 of those same C3's who are active in the network in a staff, or training capacity and again, I'll eat my words. The power of this network lies in the people. Sure, we can have 2000 new members a year, a month, or a day, but the glue in this network are the people who have been here 2,3,5 years. Look at any truly powerful organization, and you will see an organization that puts people first and goes through any reasonable measure to keep those people happy. This is especially true in a volunteer organization.

 

And again, this very simple, very basic leadership rule is missed.... Hence the "sinking ship" analogy.

 

I sent you an email June 16 offering my [Mod - Happy Thoughts]istance in any capacity that you may need [Mod - Happy Thoughts]istance. I'm still awaiting a response. Please don't tell me that you did not receive it, because my read receipt says that you did. My offer still stands.

 

Does this ring a bell?

 

Bo,

 

Thanks for your offer of [Mod - Happy Thoughts]istance. Currently we're in a rebuilding stage following the collapse of the website. Since I'm still in a transition period, please accept this as an acknowledgement of your offer. I will certainly p[Mod - Happy Thoughts] this around to my staff and get back with you if we need anything.

 

Thanks,

 

Alex Bailey

Division Director

VATUSA

 

---------------------

 

It was sent immediately following your email. In all fairness, this was at the tail end of the website issues and my email was frequently in and out of service. Maybe you didn't receive it for whatever reason.

[Bo Gercke 845743]

.....

 

Why am I not surprised that a "Gee, I'm sorry, my email......" response would be the reply to my post? And no, the email DOES NOT ring a bell, thanks for asking. I never received it! I don't mean to be rude, but you are running an organization with thousands of members, yet, your primary, and most essential method of communication is at best buggy, and at worst, ineffective and non-existent. And here we are talking about working kinks out of Twitter. You are not the first Director of VATUSA, or member of the VATSIM staff to tell me that there is either an issue on mine, or your part in the email chain. I use GMail. It works. Always. All the time. All over the world. Even on a Blackberry. If you have email issues in your VATUSA domain, try using something that you know will work, when it needs to work, how it was designed to work. Members don't give a rip if it's the coolest, most high tech, newest thing out there if it does not work, and interferes in effectively communicating. Especially when it is the most essential and primary method. This high tech, high speed website doesn't mean jack if the glue that holds it all together; people, are so disenfranchised that they move on and grow ambivalent about this hobby.

 

The most interesting thing to me is that it is made almost sacrilegious to post things like this in the forum, yet writing an email to someone, and having that person receive it and reply to it is almost a [Mod - lovely stuff]shoot. How does that work? This question needs to be addressed before working kinks out of Twitter does. This is just my opinion; I could be wrong.

 

Let me know about those 50 C3's. Interesting juxtaposition that VATSIM/VATUSA continually boast online numbers, and number of new memberships, yet are unable to identify 50 C3's within the division who are active and are meeting minimum online control criteria. Even more telling is the severe lack of these experienced people contributing to the ARTCC, or VATUSA staff.

 

Aren't there bigger issues to deal with than Twitter?

[Dan Everette]

This high tech, high speed website doesn't mean jack if the glue that holds it all together; people, are so disenfranchised that they move on and grow ambivalent about this hobby.

 

Bo,

 

You're an intelligent guy and should realize it's all window dressing. It's the reason that I've lost all confidence in the leadership of VATUSA (and VATSIM for the most part, but for different reasons). You change things often, throw some shiny new toys out there to keep people's attention shifting and mission complete. People don't have time to realize that the fundamental system is broken. There are a lot of folks out there that are rating and title chasers, with no care or concept of the responsibilities involved. "Leadership" has become just another buzzword for those that want to run this aviation hobby a business to meet their own personal agendas.

 

Yeah, we have an influx of new members and that's great, but as you point out, what about the other end of the spectrum. One only needs to look at the ATM (and staff) turnover. I don't buy the "don't have the time for this" as a reason for the turnover. I know the "unofficial" reason for quite a few ATM changes are because of the person becoming fed up with playing division and region games.

 

Oh well, c'est la vie.

[Bo Gercke 845743]

Bo,

 

You're an intelligent guy and should realize it's all window dressing.

 

I think you greatly over-estimate me.

It's the reason that I've lost all confidence in the leadership of VATUSA (and VATSIM for the most part, but for different reasons). You change things often, throw some shiny new toys out there to keep people's attention shifting and mission complete. People don't have time to realize that the fundamental system is broken. There are a lot of folks out there that are rating and title chasers, with no care or concept of the responsibilities involved. "Leadership" has become just another buzzword for those that want to run this aviation hobby a business to meet their own personal agendas.

 

This is one of the points I was trying to fit in to my post, yet wanted to stay somewhat brief and relevant to the topic. One can only address so many issues in one post! The system IS broken. Who's going to listen? Who cares enough to actually DO something to fix it?

The number of people who have the experience, desire, and ability to make this organization better for EVERYONE are sitting in the wings, and watching to see where the scene of the trainwreck will be. That is sad. I know I'm not the only person who lurks these websites, peruses various ARTCC websites, yet keeps VATSIM at arms length.

 

It's so funny, and sad at the time that, as this thread illustrates, when you slow down, look at a thread, and one of the shiny new toys gets put in front of us and post a countering viewpoint that the immediate response is, "Well, if you're not doing something to fix it...", or "if you're here to just complain, go somewhere else". The problem is, people ARE leaving. And people, with no agenda other than serving others in this organization and giving back to it, are being told "thanks, but no thanks" when offering [Mod - Happy Thoughts]istance. IN A VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATION! Since when are volunteers told, "Um, yeah, thanks for offering your ideas, experience and time to make this better, but, um... no."??? The day of stuffing people into the pipe to manufacture numbers is winding down as rapidly as MS stops development of FS. I don't care about a title. I've already had most of them. Ratings? Have/had all of them. Solid resume and network experience? Yep, that too. Member in good standing? Uh yep. I am CERTAIN that I am not the only person, with the same, or better credentials that has had the same response. Yet, when these issues are posted in a forum, or email, they are casually overlooked, and p[Mod - Happy Thoughts]ed on without comment if they are even replied to.

 

As a thought... As far as position openings go.... Wouldn't it make sense to reach out and seek out people that are qualified to fill these positions, who would work well in these positions, and work well with the team to create a more unified and dynamic leadership team? If you know someone would be a good fit, why not reach out to them and ask if they're interested? So many issues, and ideas.....

 

Alex...

 

If things in this forum have come to a point where taking it offline is necessary in your opinion, you have all of my contact info in my Facebook profile, and you have my email address. If you can get yours to work well enough to send me an email, I'll make sure you get my response. The phone works well for me also.

 

Yeah, we have an influx of new members and that's great, but as you point out, what about the other end of the spectrum. One only needs to look at the ATM (and staff) turnover. I don't buy the "don't have the time for this" as a reason for the turnover. I know the "unofficial" reason for quite a few ATM changes are because of the person becoming fed up with playing division and region games.

 

Oh well, c'est la vie.

 

Absolutely dead on. This is the result of power-hungry, ego driven people running the network & division. I can't even say leadership because I chafe when I think about the number of times I was approached with heavy handed tactics, and backhanded threats to be removed or fired for speaking out, or running my ARTCC the way that best worked for my ARTCC. Don't have the time" has become the "irreconcilable differences" of VATSIM!

 

Alex...

As far as the shiny new toys that VATUSA has, have we really been reduced to TWITTER?

 

Explain to us how Twitter will generate more online time. How will Twitter generate more traffic and more controllers online? What will Twitter do to make those who don't want to get on and control want to do so without having to muddle through the blood colored stream of bureaucracy? Will Twitter help get those staff members of various ARTCC's who don't meet even their own minimum online criteria back online and available to their members? How will Twitter make VATUSA, and VATSIM, as a whole better? If Twitter doesn't answer even one of these questions, it seems to be a pointless measure. We have a VATSIM website AND forum (with an RSS feed [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ociated?), we have the VATUSA website AND forum (with an RSS feed [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ociated?), and we have the ARTCC website AND forum (with an RSS feed [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ociated?) where people can go to get this information, and even sent to them. Are these not enough information sources?

 

And yet we can't send an email out of the system.......

 

Someone please get committed to making this wheel round again. Putting more spokes into it isn't cutting it anymore.

[Alex Bailey 969331]

Bo,

 

I don't know where these comments are coming from. In case you weren't aware, an entire VATSIM server was wiped out in a hacking attempt. This destroyed our website. My email happened to work on and off during that time.

 

Everything since then is functioning perfectly. You'll get a call from me within a few days.

[Andrew Podner 994055]

Bo,

 

I can appreciate your concerns and comments, and thank you for posting them; we strive to make our systems as reliable as possible and downtime is a frustration for any IT administrator, but the bottom line is, that there are days when we are simply at the mercy of an ISP, and quite frankly, I am not real happy with the one that our email is sitting on here lately. If money were not an object, I would have failovers, db replication and backups of everything sitting in 3 or 4 data centers around the USA, but that is not realistic for this situation, and for us to have 2 servers is much better than where we were.

 

The simple fact is that my first move when we got hacked was to keep the site on the existing server. The ISP audited our code and said that they would not turn the system back on without a laundry list of settings getting changed, which broke every single system that we had which were all 5-7 year old PHP4 era code. I am talking about a flat gigabyte of obsolete code, hundreds upon hundreds, maybe even thousands of files. No ISP would allow the old VATUSA site to operate with the code in the shape that it was in on a new server; it was too much of a security risk, and quite frankly I also did not feel that the security on the site was robust enough to protect our member's information.

 

An effort was undertaken to patch the site up in a matter of about 2-3 days and then went on the rampage developing the new site to the exclusion of anything else any of us were doing. I can [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ure you it was not about a power trip, it just needed to be done and that is that. That's about 2 million records of data going back six years on 25,000 members and 1,500 active controllers which had to be done in such a way that the existing data structure would remain intact and minimize loss of data while at the same time increasing security around our systems and building in some much needed redundancy. For the first time ever, we do not have a single point of failure that gives us a 100% blackout; if our website is down, chances are that email is up and vice versa.

 

What power does VATUSA gain by launching a new website? The VATUSA staff collectively is a minimal user of the site. The overwhelming majority of use comes from ATCs and ARTCC staff in the form of roster management, forums, local exams, etc. Every single improvement that has been made to our infrastructure has been done in the spirit of speeding up the processes we have and lowering the amount of administrative overhead for everyone, especially the ARTCC staff. What power do we gain by launching a live help desk, or a support ticket system manned by multiple persons to ensure no need for help gets lost in the cracks? What advantage do we gain by developing the ability for ARTCCs to integrate and automate their systems to reduce the workload that comes with managing an ARTCC roster?

 

What does Twitter do for the VATUSA Staff? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And the reason for that is because there are no VATUSA ATC positions to benefit from the traffic that is potentially generated from ARTCCs posting their internal events on the VATUSA Calendar and then having that information automatically put out on Twitter via an API that requires no human intervention to remind the people following it that there are events going on in the ARTCCs. The Twitter feed, if you must know, took less than 1 hour to program so that it would automatically send out reminders of ARTCC events. I developed the it because I thought it would be a unique way to communicate where events were being held in an effort to bring more traffic to the event, and quite honestly it was a very simple script to put together.

 

If you have any recommendations as to what can be done to improve our data services reliability, please feel free to share them, I am all ears. I am already considering changing ISPs for one server and am negotiating with another to up our email throttle so that our NOTAMs system will be more reliable, because it was designed at one rate that the ISP said we had, but it was actually lower than that which has cause some problems as well. The bottom line, we still have a little ground to cover, and what is left to be done is difficult without being on a dedicated server or a VPS, because most hosting accounts don't grant the flexibility we need to achieve true redundancy.

 

Thanks again for your insight.

[Alan Hensley 950569]

Bo, When we took over the leadership of the United States Division of VATSIM a little over two months ago, our goals were basically two fold. Get rid of the elitist attitudes of the VATUSA Staff and keep the lines of communications open with each ARTCC and it's Staff and Members. I feel this has been totally successful. The openness and discussion with ARTCC Staff Members on the VATUSA Forum, emails and Teamspeak are absolutely without precedent. The open, mature discussion and input on the policy changes on everything from the C3 rating to Training to GRP policies that Alex and Mike has requested by all has been unheard. These are sincere and honest requests that they have made. Alex is not setting in an Ivory Tower. He and the rest of us have and will continue to keep the ARTCC's as involved as VATSIM will allow. I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you may not have been aware of all the behind the scene activities that are taking place mainly in the VATUSA Staff forums but now I have made you aware of what is going. It is now up to you. If you still honestly feel VATUSA is a sinking ship, then now is your chance to give us a list of the things you would like to see done and what YOU would do to change them. It is up to you.

 

Alan Hensley

Deputy Director VATUSA

[Gary Millsaps 830104]

Alan,

 

Considering approximately 70% of the current VATUSA staff were upstanding members of the previous staff, I would think you'd be a little more careful throwing that "elitist attitude" tag around - especially as it is unfounded and most definitely unnecessary.

[Alan Hensley 950569]

I am truly sorry for that Gary. That sentence should have been "perceived elitist attitudes". I apologize for the error.

 

Alan

[Andrew Podner 994055]

I reread mine as well, and would like to clarify that none of my comments should be taken or construed to be an indictment of those who came before me as USA6. At the time those systems were written, they were done to standard. The fact is just that technology moved forward and malicious users got smarter, better, and faster, necessitating the changes that have been made in the IT overhaul.

[Harold Rutila 974112]

Honestly, guys...

 

Let me address a few things as an ARTCC training administrator to back up some of the statements the VATUSA administration has been saying.

 

First, I couldn't agree more with the decision to add a Twitter feed for VATUSA. Twitter has become a very conventional tool in communication throughout the entire world. It's revolutionized the way we communicate with people. Search CNN, and you'll find 10 pages of news articles related to the site. What in the world is the problem with having a VATUSA feed that sends event names and dates out every few days to remind our members of the happenings throughout the region? Right off the bat, I can name three benefits: There is a potential for more of the VATUSA membership to be active; with that ARTCCs have more pilots coming to their events; and better event attendance increases the popularity of ARTCCs in the long run with more pilots coming in and out on a regular basis, hence better student experience opportunities. And what's this "being reduced to Twitter?" We haven't been reduced to anything; we've been induced to maintaining technology within the division. People are too lazy to click buttons on forums and subscribe to forums. Sorry, that's just humans. If Twitter can do the work for us (all we have to do is subscribe), then why not?

 

Next, let me just say that the new website is absolutely fantastic. Andrew has done an amazing job given the time frame during which he's taken the position. As a staff member at ZDV, I have seen such an improvement in technical [Mod - Happy Thoughts]istance with members, including everything from membership to the testing center. It's inappropriate to say that VATUSA has lost the human element when it comes to division leadership. Members can e-mail VATUSA members for [Mod - Happy Thoughts]istance, they can open up a support ticket (and track the ticket in the process), and they can request a live chat during a good portion of the day (and yes, it's actually run by knowledgeable humans). We also need to take into account that the website administration does not have any power when it comes to actually administering the division; that's Alex and Alan's job. Coding a Twitter page is not going to reduce Alex nor Alan's ability to do their respective jobs. I have been absolutely impressed with the attitude Andrew has continued to maintain throughout all of the criticism he's been taking, and I am thankful that we have a webmaster who truly works to better the division through technology.

 

Many ARTCCs have seen the benefits of the new roster system which has been put into place. As an ARTCC staff member, like many in VATUSA, who has gone through the trials and tribulations of website development, the VATUSA site helps me out a lot. When someone joins my ARTCC, their joined date is put right next to their name in the new roster. In the past, I would have to go to my GMail account and search each member's e-mail address to find out which date I sent them their welcome e-mail (which was the same day at which the ARTCC transfer would have taken place). With this system, I can check their VATSIM statistics with the click of a button, send them an e-mail by clicking their name, and verify that my roster is actively learning or controlling to help me better manage my training department.

 

As a staff member myself, who actively participates in open discussions in the VATUSA staff forum ranging from implementation of the S2 rating to invitations to opening opportunities to meet each other on 22 Teamspeak servers throughout the division, and who simply kicks back and enjoys talking with my fellow VATUSA- and ARTCC-level staff members, it's very easy to see which people do not have any intention of [Mod - Happy Thoughts]isting the division progress whatsoever.

 

As a thought... As far as position openings go.... Wouldn't it make sense to reach out and seek out people that are qualified to fill these positions, who would work well in these positions, and work well with the team to create a more unified and dynamic leadership team? If you know someone would be a good fit, why not reach out to them and ask if they're interested? So many issues, and ideas.....

They certainly do. We haven't seen a whole lot of this, though, because there have not been that many openings since the current administration was established.

 

When it comes to running anything, it's all about communication. Twitter is just one of the applications VATUSA can use to more actively communicate with it's members. The establishment of a Twitter feed, a technical support desk, and a live support chat system further show the administration's commitment to better serving it's member base.

[Bo Gercke 845743]

Alex...

 

Thanks for the discussion last night. I felt that it was extremely productive and allowed us to better understand each other's position in reference to the many issues affecting our division. I look forward to continuing our dialogue and moving through these issues as a unified team.

 

Andrew... Thanks for the post, there are several items that I noticed some of which I'll respond to here, and some I'll address with you directly.

 

Alan.. Duly noted, and I'll publish that list here for all to see. I'll try to let the guilty remain nameless, but no promises there. Understand my goal is not to lambaste this group of administrators because this mess was not all of your doing. I think we (VATUSA) knows and understands this. But you guys are responsible for fixing it. And I hope that this is done with the spirit of teamwork, unity, and the preservation of the network. And yes, you read that correctly. The preservation of the network. I honestly believe that we are that close to seeing things put into motion to entirely pull the plug on VATSIM. It was done with SATCO, and there's no reason that it can't happen again. The Founders will pull the plug long before they watch us kill the network from the inside out.

 

Harold... I'll play, but give me a chance to hit these other items 1st.

[Alex Bailey 969331]

Alex...

 

Thanks for the discussion last night. I felt that it was extremely productive and allowed us to better understand each other's position in reference to the many issues affecting our division. I look forward to continuing our dialogue and moving through these issues as a unified team.

 

It was my pleasure, Bo. I prefer voice communication since text simply doesn't convey the appropriate emotion, seriousness, and even humor. It's always nice to hear someone's take on an issue without this barrier. I now see that your comments are constructive and are intended to be for the benefit of the division. Discussions in this manner are beneficial for all of us, as long as the point remains clear that we're here to have fun and better this hobby, not lose any sleep over it. You are now aware of my plans and my outlook on the situation that we currently face, as well as the fact that changes to infrastructure may be needed and are fairly painless, yet changes to ideals and principles behind the operation of the division will certainly take longer.

 

With that said, I would love to continue this conversation in another forum topic. Perhaps we should create a new one so that we can keep the various forum posts on topic? At any rate, our Twitter implementation has received much more publicity and advertisement than expected.

 

Thanks,