Over the last few months I have noticed a very steep decline in the quality of the members here on this forum and the posts and threads themselves. I know this has been brought up before but it is getting out of control.

When I joined this forum I joined it because I saw something here in this one that was not on others and that was a kind of professionalism and control about it.

Lately however there has been quite a few members who continue to contribute nothing but dribble and spam the forums with it. I for one have no problem with anyone's opinions but people continue to put forward an opinion or a 'fact' and when a request is made for a reference to the said fact, it can not be supplied. Now I am aware of the of the ignore button and such but why should we continue to ignore people who clearly give nothing to this forum except nothing but contempt for history, the moderators of this forum and all its members.

Why should we continue to waste or time arguing with someone who clearly is not listening, I know it is as simple as not replying, but sometimes it is a simple correction to there posts and it quickly ignites into a mud slinging contest which usually doesn't end well for the thread.

Now we talked once about some kind of qualification type of thing needed for members to pass before becoming members, and i am aware that the time constrants to limit the amount of time that would be needed to achieve this, but I think something has to be done before it turns into just another forum on the web. I always had hoped that this would be the kind of place a child could come on to and get the right answers or at least the right directions to there answers but now it seems to be filled with more and more useless posts which just achieve in making the younger generation that little bit dumber about ww2.

We have already lost some good members to this issue, members that contriube highly valued posts and comments all supported by references, and some others simply limiting there usage on the forum all who will be missed.

I enjoy this forum and have no desire to leave and not return but I don't want to continue to see dribble either.

Thankyou.

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For want of a nail the shoe was lost, for the want of a shoe the horse was lost, for the want of a horse the rider was lost, for the want of a rider the battle was lost, For want of a battle the kingdom was lost, and all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Robert,

Well said Tomcat, and as I have noticed a few new younger members on the forum lately your point is even more valid.The problem in some areas is if you want to dribble go on the free fire zone I know some members have a problem with this thread as this is a ww2 forum but the zone serves a seperate purpose and mostly serves it well.On the other hand we have many fine informative ww2 threads where members can ask and answer questions make suggestions and generally explore the many many aspects of ww2, and should some one ask a misinformed question they will soon be put right to the facts and this can be where a flame can start be this through ignorance or plain old im right your wrong.This is where the mods and admins do their job and in most cases it solves the problem where it does not the cooler or dd comes in.I quite often find myself not posting within the ww2 threads as i can not always find a thread where 1 I feel I can contribute, or 2 it is not within my area of intrest, then we have 3 I post in the free fire zone which can on most days put a smile on my face.So perhaps we need some guide in place where new members need to show a valid intrest in ww2 possibly as you say time consuming,or in some cases they really should stick to their pc and computer games because they often find it difficult to seperate thr real from the fantasy

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WHEN YOU GO HOME, TELL THEM OF US AND SAY, FOR YOUR TOMORROW,WE GAVE OUR TODAY. Epitaph on the Kohima memorial .

As the Forum grows, it attracts more people. Clearly, not every person who joins up stays for very long, or even posts something worthwhile. A lot of them come here to get a question answered for 'homework' and then are never heard from again. Others come here to Troll, to get a rise out of other members for who knows why reasons. Then there are others who are genuinely interested in World War II and come here to learn and share information with others.

As a member of the OKF - and I speak for every member of the OKF - we have our hands full moderating the posts, cleaning up the forums, banning Trolls and neo-Nazis before they can spread their filth, and keeping you Rogues from each others throats. There is a lot of work and discussion that goes on behind the scenes amongst the OKF and every decision we make is typically well thought out (banning Trolls does not require a thought, just a simple *click*) and there are just some things we can not do.

For instance, we can't simply just ban a Rogue for being an idiot (to put it simply). We have a set of Laws and Rules that have been created so that an abuse of power doesn't become a problem. You won't be banned because I have a personal vendetta against you for some injustice in the past. You will be banned when you cross the lines and cause infractions against the established forum rules. Some people get banned after three infactions, some people get banned after one infraction - it all depends on the 'crime' they are commiting and their previous posting history.

I can see how creating an 'application process' would better these forums, but while it would weed out the bad seeds from the good, wouldn't it also make potential members shy away due to the process? Some people can't be arsed to fill out a form, answer questions, and prove themselves before they can gain membership to a forum, especially given the fact that even after they do all that membership is not ensured.

Saying we do implement such a process, do we make all active members reapply to the forums and go through the same process? Like these members you mention who dont appear to contribute much of anything to the Forum - perhaps they wouldn't pass the 'new' application system, but do we force them (and every member) to take such a 'test' or do we give a free pass to all current members?

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Fully understand what you are say Tomcat. One of the things that attracted me to the forum was the ease of assimilating into the group. I recall many of my early posts and now see how naive and immature most of them were. But in time I learned and morphed into what you see today.

We have to take the bad with the good which is why the moderators exist. Unfortunately we cannot be everywhere and catch everthing which is why we have y'all. Before my moderator status, I constantly used the 'Report' function. Mostly for reporting the bad apples but also for bringing up issues a new member may have such as technical or requests. Nevertheless, it is your integrity which we need to help make this forum great. Consider it a battle against the trolls. Do you want to surrender the forum over to them?

Cheers,
Ike

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"Ask not what your forum can do for you - ask what you can do for your forum."
- attr. Some Bloke, somewhere.

If you think the tone is low.
Raise the tone.

Cheers,
Adam.

I'll get my coat .

I believe Von Poop has nailed it!

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“The first lesson is that you can't lose a war if you have command of the air, and you can't win a war if you haven't.” - General Jimmy Doolittle

As a newcomer to the forum (you can see I only came aboard in January), I kind of understand the problem, but I am also quite astounded at the general level of discourse I have discovered. I originally joined seeking information on my father's experience, but have discovered a wide range of other topics I had not considered. As I explained in another post, my background is in history, but I lack grounding in the military aspect, both strategic and technical. My knowledge base has expanded considerably by reading the posts and then doing further research. For those who are looking for "homework" help, it seems that most posters point out avenues of research and suggestions that a poster might investigate. I think, as a former teacher, that this is helpful. On the issue of posters who just want to inflame comment, it seems to me that most times those posts are ignored by the knowledgeable. Had there been some kind of entry requirements, I'm not sure I would have come aboard. I generally search the new posts to find what people are thinking, and if I think I can contribute something, I do. Otherwise, I read them and either ignore them or look into them further on my own to see if I an interested. Since I am not a gamer, I tend to ignore that area, but I agree that many others enjoy that. The Free Fire Zone has generated some interesting commentary in areas beyond WW2, but some of it can be traced to the effects of the war.

In short, I want to thank the Rogues and the moderators for maintaining a first-rate site that keeps me coming back for more.

Well said lrusso by pointing out the ratio of value content vs little value posts and I agree with your assessment.

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"Irusso" and I approach this in much the same fashion. I read a post or a whole thread (if I have the time), and then contribute if I have something pertinent to add. If not, and I am interested it might make me investigate some more on my own. The idea of an "entrance exam" might be off putting to many new posters, and I congratulate the mods and administrators for keeping the forum as civil and informative as it is. That must be an under-appreciated task, so kudos to you guys from myself (for what that is worth)!

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Happy Trails,
Clint.

I think some of you would be surprised by the number of posts you never see.

A new user slides in, says something overly dumb or innapropriate and is gone before the dust settles, with the post and/or whole thread dumped in the Latrine, so as to not sully the forum any worse.

You should see the Latrine forum*. It is huge and that doesn't count the short threads that are just deleted.

I try to give young visitors a chance, especially if they are naive and unknowledgeable-we didn't come into this world knowing what know now, we learned it slowly over time. Asking what to us is a "simple" question is not a bad thing. However, there is a fine line between youthful niavete and obnoxious stupidity.

Membership goes in cycles, and I think we have very knowlegeable members who provide good insight and often times it takes the "dumb" or rediculous question to pull the pearls of wisdom from these knowlegeable members, who often have already posted similar information months or years previously and don't want to be repetitive.

*visible only to mods

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Best Regards,
JW

Its a good thing we have a good, reliable Plumber...you guys wouldn't want to see what happens when the Latrine gets backed up!

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Que: Loud moaning wind with tumbleweeds rolling through with lotsa dust and miles of flat desert land!

Voice off camera: "I think we're done here!"

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“The first lesson is that you can't lose a war if you have command of the air, and you can't win a war if you haven't.” - General Jimmy Doolittle