I agree with Batdog here. With the death of AW in december, AH has seen a major influx of new players, many of them wishing that they were still playing Air Warrior. You acknowlege as much in your "replies" post. I would be interested in knowing what the % of new players (Since the middle of December) to Veteran players is.
I know several players who left AW to join AH because they were weary of empty FR arenas, or the style of gameplay in the RR arenas. Some folks see this new influx of players has wanting to draw the game in the direction of the RR arenas in AW. (personally I don't have an opinion here, I left AW over a year before it died and while I much prefer AH, I have no grudge against AW folks). Anyhow, it appears that there has been a backlash against many of the new players. There have even been suggestions of starting an RR arena to seperate them out. (Bad idea IMHO, let them play FA3 and keep AH targeted towards this core audience.) So, yes, there is a bit of a crisis going on in the AH community. It's going to take some time to figure out who's going to stay and who's going to go play FA3 RR Insto Lazer physics free Gee-O-Ramma.
Also though... It's very hard to compare your second experience in a MMOFS to your first. It's like losing your virginity. Comparing the commeraderie you have in WBs after 4 years of playing to AH where you are fairly new is not very fair. I know that you refer to when you first started playing WB's and everyone bent over backwards to help you out, and how that didn't happen in AH. I'm not too sure why this isn't the case. For one thing, there is a debate over the utility of the "6 Call" function. Personally I hate them. Nothing like getting the advantage in an E fight, and having someone send you a 6 call right in the middle. Now I know EXACTLY where that guy is, so my brain tells me "There must be someone else about to kills you!" so I instinctively do some evasive and blow my E, and have to run away to reset. That's just me. But you can see how 6 calls aren't a very important part of my life. So I can't really relate to you on how bad the community is about using the six-call function. But I will say that even outside of my squadron I've felt a good sense of community with AH players. For example, On friday night I flew TOD as a guest of the LuftJagerkorps and despite the fact that I'd only ever flown with any of them once before, they were helpful and happy to have me.
Sorry, I don't really want to start the workday, so I'm just rambling.
-Sikboy