It seems to me that there are several interrelated issues being discussed here.
One. Notams are (practically) only available on the Internet and access to the Internet is at best sketchy. The non-internet savvy (a very high proportion of the population especially amongst the PPL demographic) have no idea what is going on and quite a few of the rest are unable or unwilling to log on for various reasons. Hard though it may be for people on here to accept, there is a huge population out there who have no computer, no access to a computer and no intention of getting access to a computer.
In so far as I am aware the vast majority of the strictly VFR, 'never more than 50 miles from home' guys I fly with NEVER look at the NOTAMS and when I ask them why, they usually just shrug and say its not relevant to them.
Two. The AIS site is not a complete victory of user-friendliness. Many of those who can and do (did) access it have given up as it is 'too hard' and too full of (in their eyes) irrelevant junk. True, the new site is much better than the previous one and there is now some marginal quality control but there is still a lot of meaningless junk in it for the VRF bimbler.
Three. The way the Notam system works is stuck in the age of the telex and teleprinter and with the best will in the world does not run smoothly on the modern graphics-based internet.
Four. There is little or no education or re-education on the workings of the system and there appears to be no requirement to show competency either at initial licence issue or at any subsequent competency check (what ever you want to call it).
The sooner an honest acknowledgement of all the issues is made by all parties, the sooner we can do something about fixing it. Progress will be slow but without the will to change, nothing will happen until a guy in a 152 runs into one of the Reds and we all end up on the ground for a month or two.
So what do I suggest?
How about a regional equivalent of Volmet for Notams, perhaps by phone with a daily run through of the really critical NOTAMs? The ones where someone is potentially going to die instantly if they don't know what is going on. Reds, RATs and displays. Not much more. No need for the endless changes to airfield hours, NDBs U/S or cranes barely above the level of the surrounding buildings four miles from the nearest airfield. Put the same information on a simple web page. Yes, I know it will cost, but much as with the LARs service, the cost of not doing it is ultimately going to be much higher.
At the same time put some kind of decent quality control onto the flow of Notams and make a big effort to get rid of the spurious stuff. For example, the aerodrome hours of my local commercial airport have been in the NOTAMs every day for the last ten years. They should be in the AIP. If you really don't know when they shut (and it matters) ring them up and ask. The same airport (which incidentally almost always has the most notams of any UK airport - often more than Heathrow and Gatwick combined) is obsessed with cranes. Most of those Notamed are barely higher than the surrounding buildings, almost always below the 200-foot limit at which they have to be lighted and so far below the safety surface its ridiculous.
As part of the quality control drive, add in the name of airfields and cities in plain text where the originator uses ICAO code identifiers. Who can honestly say that they remember where all the four-letter airfields in the UK are? And, for VFR Notams, do not allow the use of IFR reporting points (it has got much better lately.)
Work like crazy on XNotam and drag the system into the 21st Century. CAA, EASA and the AIS need to remember that most of the people who cause them trouble (the infringers) don’t all have flight planning departments and ops-room staff to go through all the data for them.
We have a rule where I work that if you have conveyed information to someone three times and they have not acted upon it, then you need to think about the message and the messenger, not just the recipient. The powers that be would do well to do likewise. If the message isn’t getting through, maybe it’s time to change the message.?
Once the system is a bit friendlier then it will be appropriate to check that people know how to use the system. Make a check of the NOTAMs an integral part of an flight test (new or repeat). If you can’t show the examiner/instructor that you have sought out the relevant information, you can’t fly.
No one solution alone is going to solve the problem. But everyone working together just might.
With thanks in advance to Mike C, IO540 and others who are already doing sterling work on this.