As far as the silent traders go - a demand to know if they are listening is good - if they don't respond then shoot them. There is many a time where I have tried to get a response to have them answer "just blow up my ship already" or not to even respond. On my trader it annoys me when they don't answer my hails. As both a trader and a pirate I have found the best way to do things is to issue a reasonable demand - such as talking then if they respond I might even let them go without any other demand. But no response is the one thing I am most likely to end up destroying the ship for. This is a rp server so rp.
When I fly my trader if I have to go answer the phone and someone shoots and destroys me for being afk I would consider that fair - I chose to answer the phone so my fault - if I'm not going to be about I log off.
