Dear Radar,
You may also be interested to know that Non NATS people are also entitled to start their own Forum.
I think you may actaully be missing the point of having a forum. I was always under the impression that it was for professionals to get together and share their experiences and share their methods at solving what are more than likely common problems. I have seen on more than one occasion people come up with responses like "...oh we fixed it by negotiating a new roster..." or similar, I am sure Mr Voigt has given numerous examples of how our slow talking tall walking star spangled friends have tackled their problems over the years.
It also amazes me that NATS staff need a forum to discuss their work, dont you talk to each other at work? Yes I know you work shift work but so does every other ATC in the world and they manage to communicate with blind teams without much problem.
It seems a typical solution to the problems that exist in NATS (I say as an outsider) that you are more than happy to
hang out your dirty laundry but are less keen to have somebody either help or criticize it(whether construcively or in a TrafficTraffic way!
).
I personally will not miss the level of the posts that were originated from NATS, such world shattering topics as,worrying about being paid on the 27th or Dec or the 2 of Jan when 10s of thousands in the industry will receive no pay at all as aviation suffers one of its biggest slumps, or my personal favorite Car Parking Spaces at LATCC.... which has obviously been overshadowed now by the successful return of the Greek Planespotters....
Forum /n., an assembly for the discussion of questions of public interest
At least now ATC issues will be just that...not NATS issues...