I know Shoreham is a bit backward, what with its quaint buildings and stuff, but surely they had a computer in the clubhouse
Did I mention Shoreham, Rustle? My recollection of my training (the location is irrelevant) is that notams were not taught at all, internet was not available (except in one school which folded shortly afterwards and where any aircraft owner was banned from using the facilities), and the tower briefing terminal was a PC hacked to work only for MET and flight plan filing.
Talking of Shoreham, my (vague) recollection of the pilot briefing room there is that internet is not available and this is true for most UK GA airfields. That's why I nowadays never bother with what they call "pilot briefing facilities" at any airport - a laptop with GPRS is a far better way to do it.
Yes of course I am generalising. I am using plenty of words like "almost", "nearly", etc. You are just taking it literally/personally. But this is the problem: the general situation is that a lot of pilots out there don't know they should collect their preflight briefings in this way, but the "establishment" assumes that everybody knows about it. As indeed do all the righteous people on here (and flyer.co.uk, and elsewhere) who immediately have a go at somebody, automatically assuming he is an idiot.
My experience from training, and from meeting other pilots, is that while some are right clowns (and will probably end up in the side of a hill) most are completely normal and far from stupid. Their "fault" is that they were trained in another age, and their contact with these new fangled developments is very minimal.
As regards who has or has not posted on flyer.co.uk, this means nothing because most people use nicknames, and far more people read those forums than ever write anything.