Moderating the "Military History and Technology" subforum
in Feedback & Suggestions ·
I’m moving this thread over from that long-winded discussion elsewhere, assuming that’s where the debate regarding moderation for "Military History and Technology" and "History and historical themes" is destined to continue.
With all due respect to AirBag and his staggering depth of knowledge, experience, and sheer analytical thoroughness—if that’s even a word you can use—I have to say... 🕺I honestly don't think he’d make a very good moderator. Even though he makes these grand "efforts" to prove otherwise, he still comes across as incredibly biased at times. On top of that, he has this habit of talking down to people quite frequently without any real reason—which, granted, doesn't necessarily mean he'd act that way if he actually held a position of authority, but one can only assume.
To be perfectly honest, I suspect he lacks that necessary touch of democratic spirit required to be a truly effective moderator—not that we could prevent any particular lack of transparency from occurring, given that several of our current moderators suffer from the exact same issue, but there isn't much we can do about it at this stage.
I would much rather see "forumaris vulgaris" remain an active and highly valued member of this community, just as they have been up until now.
With all due respect to you, northernsailor8, and the genuine value you’ve brought to this community, I can't help but feel it’s somewhat unfair—if not outright unjust—to disregard the collective perspective of our members when it comes to selecting new moderators. It seems a bit shortsighted to ignore the input of the broader group, both those who post daily and those who simply observe, when deciding who should lead us.
I’m honestly not entirely sure what kind of backroom maneuvering led to your appointment as a moderator, but I have to say it again: ignoring the collective sentiment and the actual will of this forum's community is simply unfair.
In that regard, I find myself once again throwing my support behind an_02 and pp5d6. Honestly, if they were looking to appoint a moderator, they really ought to consider picking one of those two.
Personally, though perhaps more by gut instinct than by any rigorous logical deduction, I think I would actually prefer an_02 to be the choice, if only to grant pp5d6 a little more breathing room to go out and secure some more "insider info." 🤷
I honestly think the most decent way to handle this would be to launch a poll—maybe run it for about seven days?—to elegantly clear up the confusion. That way, we could officially bring northernsailor8 on board as another moderator, allowing them to pair up and complement each other perfectly. 😁
Up until about a week or two ago, things were actually going relatively smoothly around here. Then "dangerz0ne" showed up—along with a few of his cohorts—and everything went sideways. Whether he was assigned this role or just decided to take it upon himself to ruin things (I honestly can't decide which is worse), I’m holding him personally responsible for the current state of this forum. Ever since he started spamming and trolling every single thread in sight, the quality of discussion has plummeted by at least two notches.
Of course, we have to admit that a certain degree of shared responsibility lies with the moderators—or rather, their lack of action—regarding these specific threads.
I don't have anything against the man personally, but I have to admit, this is the first time someone has actually managed to strip away my enthusiasm for visiting this forum. It’s become quite a chore.
I’ll say this once more to everyone on the board: if you encounter one of those self-important types—the kind who clearly believes they are the smartest person in the room, yet proceeds to spout nothing but mindless nonsense and endless, empty rants—the best course of action is simply to ignore them. Until a moderator steps in to handle things according to protocol, just let them shout into the void. Honestly, there is no harsher punishment for a forum troll than being met with absolute silence.
@northernsailor8
So, to wrap this all up—is there any chance we could actually get organized, put together a proper poll, and somehow convince you to let us bring another high-quality moderator on board?
If I were to put together a list, just off the top of my head, it would look something like this:
an_02
2. pp5d6
3. Grga-OS
4. AirBag
5. 9aplus
I’m almost certainly certain I've overlooked something important and skipped right over it, so I'll just leave this space open for Miscellaneous.
Edit:
It appears that the administrator—or whoever it is that Michelle Evans happens to be—has already weighed in on the other thread in the meantime.
Regardless, I’m sticking to my guns on this one, and I’d kindly ask the moderators, supermoderators, administrators, and the rest of the staff to please... Of course, the forum owner. They should probably take the consensus of this subforum into account before making any moves—maybe run a poll to decide on additional moderators. We could look at bringing on An_02, pp5d6 (though I see he’s already offered his thanks), Grga-OS, AirBag, 9aplus, or whoever else we might collectively agree upon.
We all share a common interest in elevating the quality of this forum, and while I certainly respect private property rights and the owner's prerogative, I would humbly ask that you reconsider the request above. It feels like a small step toward preserving the very spirit of what we’re trying to build here.
And a special little addendum, specifically intended for the executive branch of this forum: Set a precedent for once—act like adults, find some backbone, admit you were wrong, reach out to Marasovac, and invite him back to the forum.
I’m fully aware that doing this would be considered against the rules, and frankly, most would say it’s beneath the dignity of this community. However, users like him are such a rare breed that losing someone of his caliber would be a genuine blow to the soul of this forum.
It seems to me that regardless of how much the vast majority of you—including the moderators, super-moderators, administrators, and whatever other titles exist in this hierarchy—might have bristled at Marasovac's particular views, one cannot deny the man was easily one of the most high-quality contributors I’ve had the pleasure of reading on this forum; every single assertion or opinion he voiced was meticulously argued and, more often than not, backed up by a reliable link.
I feel somewhat ridiculous playing the role of his defense attorney here, yet I find it equally absurd that we might lose one of the top three most insightful contributors this forum has ever seen, all because someone couldn't swallow their pride or handle a bruised ego.
Hawk75 As said:Not exactly a shocker, is it? 😵
I'm all for it. AirBag
With all due respect to AirBag and his staggering depth of knowledge, experience, and sheer analytical thoroughness—if that’s even a word you can use—I have to say... 🕺I honestly don't think he’d make a very good moderator. Even though he makes these grand "efforts" to prove otherwise, he still comes across as incredibly biased at times. On top of that, he has this habit of talking down to people quite frequently without any real reason—which, granted, doesn't necessarily mean he'd act that way if he actually held a position of authority, but one can only assume.
To be perfectly honest, I suspect he lacks that necessary touch of democratic spirit required to be a truly effective moderator—not that we could prevent any particular lack of transparency from occurring, given that several of our current moderators suffer from the exact same issue, but there isn't much we can do about it at this stage.
I would much rather see "forumaris vulgaris" remain an active and highly valued member of this community, just as they have been up until now.
northernsailor8 said:Good day, everyone. I’m northernsailor8, and I'll be stepping in as your new moderator. 🎉
Moving forward, I’d like to ask everyone—and I am looking particularly at our more seasoned veterans here—to please exercise a bit of restraint when faced with provocations. Let’s try not to let things spiral into petty personal attacks. While I certainly respect different communication styles and the kind of unfiltered, wide-open debate this Military PDF has become notorious for—we all know the reputation of this particular document, don't we?—I still believe these should be my baseline expectations for our discussions.
I can't exactly promise that I'll be able to keep every thread perfectly categorized by topic. As many of you have likely noticed, we’ve been dealing with some rather persistent server issues lately, and there's always that nagging risk of losing entire discussions to the digital void. That being said, I'll make sure to give you a heads-up whenever things start veering too far into off-topic territory.
I sincerely hope we can steer clear of any unnecessary bickering and make a genuine effort to return to the level of discourse we enjoyed just a week or two ago, before certain topics triggered these rather tiresome personal vendettas. It actually reminded me that I should probably head off and perform some light preliminary housekeeping. ☕
With all due respect to you, northernsailor8, and the genuine value you’ve brought to this community, I can't help but feel it’s somewhat unfair—if not outright unjust—to disregard the collective perspective of our members when it comes to selecting new moderators. It seems a bit shortsighted to ignore the input of the broader group, both those who post daily and those who simply observe, when deciding who should lead us.
I’m honestly not entirely sure what kind of backroom maneuvering led to your appointment as a moderator, but I have to say it again: ignoring the collective sentiment and the actual will of this forum's community is simply unfair.
In that regard, I find myself once again throwing my support behind an_02 and pp5d6. Honestly, if they were looking to appoint a moderator, they really ought to consider picking one of those two.
Personally, though perhaps more by gut instinct than by any rigorous logical deduction, I think I would actually prefer an_02 to be the choice, if only to grant pp5d6 a little more breathing room to go out and secure some more "insider info." 🤷
I honestly think the most decent way to handle this would be to launch a poll—maybe run it for about seven days?—to elegantly clear up the confusion. That way, we could officially bring northernsailor8 on board as another moderator, allowing them to pair up and complement each other perfectly. 😁
Up until about a week or two ago, things were actually going relatively smoothly around here. Then "dangerz0ne" showed up—along with a few of his cohorts—and everything went sideways. Whether he was assigned this role or just decided to take it upon himself to ruin things (I honestly can't decide which is worse), I’m holding him personally responsible for the current state of this forum. Ever since he started spamming and trolling every single thread in sight, the quality of discussion has plummeted by at least two notches.
Of course, we have to admit that a certain degree of shared responsibility lies with the moderators—or rather, their lack of action—regarding these specific threads.
I don't have anything against the man personally, but I have to admit, this is the first time someone has actually managed to strip away my enthusiasm for visiting this forum. It’s become quite a chore.
I’ll say this once more to everyone on the board: if you encounter one of those self-important types—the kind who clearly believes they are the smartest person in the room, yet proceeds to spout nothing but mindless nonsense and endless, empty rants—the best course of action is simply to ignore them. Until a moderator steps in to handle things according to protocol, just let them shout into the void. Honestly, there is no harsher punishment for a forum troll than being met with absolute silence.
@northernsailor8
So, to wrap this all up—is there any chance we could actually get organized, put together a proper poll, and somehow convince you to let us bring another high-quality moderator on board?
If I were to put together a list, just off the top of my head, it would look something like this:
an_02
2. pp5d6
3. Grga-OS
4. AirBag
5. 9aplus
I’m almost certainly certain I've overlooked something important and skipped right over it, so I'll just leave this space open for Miscellaneous.
Edit:
It appears that the administrator—or whoever it is that Michelle Evans happens to be—has already weighed in on the other thread in the meantime.
Regardless, I’m sticking to my guns on this one, and I’d kindly ask the moderators, supermoderators, administrators, and the rest of the staff to please... Of course, the forum owner. They should probably take the consensus of this subforum into account before making any moves—maybe run a poll to decide on additional moderators. We could look at bringing on An_02, pp5d6 (though I see he’s already offered his thanks), Grga-OS, AirBag, 9aplus, or whoever else we might collectively agree upon.
We all share a common interest in elevating the quality of this forum, and while I certainly respect private property rights and the owner's prerogative, I would humbly ask that you reconsider the request above. It feels like a small step toward preserving the very spirit of what we’re trying to build here.
And a special little addendum, specifically intended for the executive branch of this forum: Set a precedent for once—act like adults, find some backbone, admit you were wrong, reach out to Marasovac, and invite him back to the forum.
I’m fully aware that doing this would be considered against the rules, and frankly, most would say it’s beneath the dignity of this community. However, users like him are such a rare breed that losing someone of his caliber would be a genuine blow to the soul of this forum.
It seems to me that regardless of how much the vast majority of you—including the moderators, super-moderators, administrators, and whatever other titles exist in this hierarchy—might have bristled at Marasovac's particular views, one cannot deny the man was easily one of the most high-quality contributors I’ve had the pleasure of reading on this forum; every single assertion or opinion he voiced was meticulously argued and, more often than not, backed up by a reliable link.
I feel somewhat ridiculous playing the role of his defense attorney here, yet I find it equally absurd that we might lose one of the top three most insightful contributors this forum has ever seen, all because someone couldn't swallow their pride or handle a bruised ego.