As a child I had a whole lot of people who warmly supported my passion, put up with my incessant airplane talk, and indulged my stupid questions. I had the same welcome the first time I walked in to a Flying School. I suspect I may have walked away if I got the sort of responses I see here regularly.
Hear bloody hear!!!
Especially the second paragraph!
It depresses me no end to see some beginner/prospective/new-be put up a post asking questions, even though they may be possibly easily having obvious answers (but only to those who already know) to get nothing but sarcastic or patronising replies.
But the amount of acidic bile and negativity, particularly in the Australia - New Zealand forum and mainly from one or two individuals there is just a waste of time.
All they do is whine and complain - and offer no positive solutions.
Others elsewhere have noted likewise.
I must say I think we need a dedicated Regulatory / Regulator thread, maybe combined with a What Cheeses Me Off thread. Perhaps that might let us have some proper hangar talk and flying stories - the stuff that bores my better half. Every thread doesn't have to come back to how it's all CASA's fault (even if that is the case).
Over to you, Mods.