Forums are doom and gloom in general. Been a member of many different ones and it's full of negativity. Mainly because people aren't interested in good news. There was some report somewhere that said humans that aren't involved in the situation (everyone on here are involved so let's take Joe Public) like to hear bad news. If they hear bad news, depending on the situation, sometimes they want the situation to get worse. They don't realise this, but it's true. Why do you think the news paper and news channels are full of depressing stuff. Nobody cares about good news. If SkyNews was full of "A380s are doing well" well nobody cares. But if it was "Major faults found in A380s" everyone would be on their toes. And then if SkyNews said "faults fixed" then it's like oh. But if situation gets worse, keeps more people hooked. I think it all stems back to times before cave men when humans only first started working in teams rather than individuals. They lived in tribes and hearing bad news about another tribe was good news as it meant they were being more successful.
The industry isn't as gloomy as others would like to have you think. I'm not even a pilot, I know a lot of them (ranging from early 20s to 50 years old) and none of them have said they dislike their job. But they do say only do the job if you love flying. Not if you want to fly a jet and wear the uniform to show your friends, but genuinely love being in the sky regardless of what you're doing.
It roots from some experience pilots who are used to having good conditions, paid and treated well. The younger generation are used to the opposite because most career industries have gone through the exact same thing when the younger generation grew up. Have you ever looked at pictures of your parents and thought WTF are you wearing? Same concept. They're used to that, you're not so you think it's crazy and ugly but your parents like it because that's what they grew up with.
Younger ones are used to it, experienced ones are fighting for it (and rightly so). P2F? Aviation is far from the only industry where you have to pay for experience and then are told to f off! Pay cuts? Where have you been the past 5 years if you think aviation are the only ones to have pay cuts? More working hours? Guess what, aviation isn't the only one!
Spoke to my hairdresser about this, everyone who worked there thought hairdressing/barber(ing) has been a dying trade for years. Speak to a well experienced pilot, he will probably say being a pilot is a dying trade. Speak to an 18 year old girl, thinks being a hair stylist is the best thing ever - ignore the stereotype if you will. Speak to a newly qualified pilot who just got his first job - best thing in the world!
A blacksmith from the 1700s that came to 2012 would think everybody has lost the art of being a blacksmith. My Dad is friends with a famous British actor who is active. This topic came up and conversation and he said actors have had to take and do jobs that they never dreamed of doing before the recession. He said he is always in the public eye but has had to do crapper jobs for less money if he wants to survive as an actor. Eventually, when the economy is back to normal again, he won't have to do rubbish acting work that typically relatively new actors do.
It's just the way the world works. And when the OP is 70 years old just a few years into retirement, he'll think how downhill being a pilot has gone.