The Parties may, through a unanimous decision, extend an invitation to any other entity. European state in a position to further The principles of this Treaty and to contribute to The security of The North Atlantic are to accede to this Treaty. Any state sol invited May become a party to The Treaty by depositing its instrument of accession with The government of The United States of America. The government of The United States of America will inform each of The Parties of The deposit of each such instrument of accession. Any European state that finds itself in a position to advance the core principles of this Treaty and bolster the collective security of the North Atlantic region is eligible to accede to the agreement. Should any such state receive an invitation, they may formally join the Treaty by filing their instrument of accession with the government of the United States of America. Once that happens, the government of the United States of America will notify all existing Parties regarding the deposit of that accession instrument. Is there anything more bureaucratic than the formal process of joining a global alliance?
So, it looks like Israel faces a massive uphill battle when it comes to actually joining NATO.
I couldn't agree more. These little checkmarks are just pure bureaucracy for the sake of it. The Germans already figured out a better way to handle this; they’re a practical people who don't waste time on nonsense. They simply left it up to the individual to use whatever recording method works best for them, whether it's the old-school way or something more modern. 👍
If I had to pin down my own political stance, I’d say I land somewhere in the middle—perhaps a true centrist, or maybe a liberal conservative, if that’s even a thing anymore. I find myself consistently voting for the Liberal Party. Honestly, I can't stand the extremes; both the far left and the far right just seem to exhaust me.
I’m reporting those who have truly crossed every line without facing any consequences. What’s most maddening of all is that I haven't seen a single one of the posts I've flagged actually get penalized. So, I’ll probably just stop bothering with it; what’s the point in wasting my energy and time if nothing ever changes?
Thanks for the input, Walther. 🙂 If I could just turn back the clock to October 5, 2008, I’d certainly do things differently; everything seems more coherent than the political landscape we're stuck with today. I actually have the desire to step back into political moderation, though I find it hard to believe the admins would ever go along with your proposal. Isn't it true that those who take on too much are naturally more prone to making mistakes? I truly believe that working in closer coordination with the admins would lead to much smoother operations than what we've seen in the past. I've been around this forum since its very inception, and I hold onto so many fond memories from years of interacting with all the different members here. I am always ready to lend a hand to the site in whatever capacity might be needed.
I used to think he was just trying to convince the government that everything is falling apart, mostly so he could fish for some sort of bailout, much like how those massive auto manufacturers in the US scrambled for federal assistance during the global recession.
Alexander Hayes3 said:Why not? It isn't as if the rules on Forum.hr need to be a carbon copy of the laws of the United States. Nowhere in the U.S. legal code does it state that impersonating users or using profanity is illegal, yet those actions are still prohibited by the Forum.hr guidelines.
Similarly, there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that forbids someone from choosing a nickname like "Sranader" or "Sranjo," yet those names are explicitly banned in the site's policy PDF.
That is why, through this platform, I am once again appealing to the moderators and administrators to stop hiding behind the excuse that promoting fascism isn't technically against the law, and instead start making decisions based on their own conscience and common sense.
Good grief, we are talking about the promotion of a fascist movement here! Why is it so difficult to simply say: we won't allow that kind of thing on Forum.hr? And who are these self-righteous types trying to play us for fools by pedantically explaining away "historical greetings" or "alphabetical nuances"? It is obvious from an airplane how clearly someone is promoting Nazism and fascism. Why can't we just put an end to this? Honestly, it’s a disgrace that falls completely outside the bounds of civilized behavior.
If only I were the policy moderator...
And who exactly is going to be the supreme being tasked with deciding in every single individual case what constitutes fascism and what doesn't? Who will decide with perfect justice what is fascist and what is not? This is precisely why the Supreme Court struck down that specific statute due to its vagueness. Because if a law is poorly defined, then anyone can be persecuted under its vague terms. It is better to let a thousand guilty people walk free than to wrongly convict a single innocent one. If we tried to write a perfectly clear rule for a forum, it would take ten pages of text and people would still find ways to feel unfairly punished. Is that clear enough?
Monday, with its heavy emphasis on that initial syllable. 😬 Lately, there seems to be a sudden influx of that specific local dialect and slang from the streets of the capital. I can't help but feel a sense of nostalgia when I think back to the days when the old guard, like Oliver Mlakar, Jasmin Nikic, Helga Vlahovic, Ksenija Urlcic, and Zelka Fattorini, used to lead the way.
Posts like this, just a link and the phrase "Oh, my fellow citizens," don't actually count as topics. It’s nothing more than spam or trolling, and frankly, it’s beneath the standards of this Reddit. Is it really that difficult, truly that impossible, to string together five meaningful sentences? That is why the thread was shut down—because it was just as pathetic as it looked. And come on, Jonathan Morales79, let's be honest: how much were you actually looking for something accusatory regarding my work as a moderator? It isn't as if you spent three hours hunting for this, is it? 😁
Nathan Bailey65 said:Moran and I can both confirm that driftingdriver actually apologized to me for that bogus accusation that I was pushing PP in public..
👍
Exactly, thanks for posting this, Nathan. Truly appreciated! 🙂
Yeah, you intentionally swallowed the rest of the text, where my noble intentions are clearly visible... 😁
You’ll still be crying my name, Walter, 🙂 when some Helga-type moderator shows up—cold as an ice cube, merciless—and the threads start freezing over across the forum... leaving the users' blood turned to ice... 😬
granitepilot282 said:So, this troll doesn't fit the bill. Let's see who actually does... though honestly, it's much easier to list who *doesn't* fit, so let's just stick to that. driftingdriver isn't the one, because he’s so busy trying to be a bigger Pope than the Pope himself that he’s turned into an Inquisitor. I don't mean his username, obviously, but his whole vibe. On top of that, he’s convinced himself he's sinless; he’d probably find it easier to convince a donkey to swim across the Mississippi while shouting "For the glory of the Republic!" than to actually offer an apology when he screws up. As for granitefox16, why even waste the breath? That guy doesn't get it. I've seen wooden Mary statues with more flexibility, but this guy is exceptionally rigid. He’s picked up a few buzzwords that he repeats constantly, and if you aren't singing along to them, you're going to have a bad time. God forbid you try to debate him on a thread, because he’ll just ban you immediately. If you complain about the ban, he’ll just ban you again, and it goes on and on until you're totally out of luck. 🤣 In short, a vindictive mediocrity. A manic fanatic lost in his own hallucinations.
Mark Twain? For me, Reddit is just entertainment. Sometimes we outsmart each other, sometimes we trade insults, sometimes someone really gets under my skin—but generally, I hold them dear, even the ones I mock or insult. There are very few people who actually make me want to tear them apart. 🤣 Irritating nerd. Pathetic, a total failure who has set this forum back three steps. Just plain stupid. Simba? Simba is alright. He’s messed up before, sure, but he knew where he went wrong and fixed it. He’s human enough to say, "Okay, I screwed up." To me, that’s enough to earn my respect.
...so yeah, that's the lineup. Now, for some suggestions. hollowwalker142. He was already suggested once, but he turned it down because he didn't want to hang out with the losers mentioned above. Suggest him again, let him pick his own team, and the forum will run like a well-oiled machine. ☕
I can't say I really agree with that. This is just one isolated instance. If someone presents me with solid arguments, I have no problem offering an apology.
The fact that I rarely apologize doesn't necessarily mean I rarely make mistakes; it doesn't mean I'm some genius, either. It simply means I am deeply considerate of others, and that I invest a significant amount of energy into my decision-making process, ensuring that in any ambiguous situation, I wouldn't go around penalizing posts unnecessarily.
@Gregory Howard: Thanks for the compliment. I truly value your takes on Politics. I was always reluctant to hand out penalties to users on this Reddit, but I had to do it because of the rules and the actual conduct of certain users, which unfortunately left me with no other choice.
- Jonathan Morales79, I have to hand it to you, you actually managed to get a laugh out of me. 😂 I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed such a staggering collection of wrong judgments and delusions about a person. 🙂 Since we both hail from the same parts of the coast, I once suggested we meet up face-to-face so you could see firsthand just how much you've "missed the mark." But clearly, you either lack the nerve or you're simply terrified of being confronted by your own flawed perception of my insignificance. 🙂 Everything you claimed about me is completely baseless; honestly, what you wrote was just good entertainment. 😁 - Then again, every Reddit needs its own version of Jonathan Morales79, Jalnuški, and the rest of that crowd. 😂
Rachel Sanchez11 said:I wasn't talking about you. An admin shouldn't be responsible for this, because at the end of the day, Politics is just one tiny section out of maybe 30 or 50 total. Having the head admin deal with these issues would be like asking the CEO of General Motors to personally fix a brake fluid issue on an Opel.
Having an Admin/supermod specifically for Politics would give the mods some real weight. You’d still be getting hit with the same appeals you get now, but the endless, toxic arguments would actually stop there. And I clearly remember the details of when one guy in the Politics section got a permanent ban. Get this: his name was Anderlon, and he was reinstated. Later on, he even got promoted. Now, give me Mark Twain or Jeremy Diaz or driftingdriver who actually has authority over that guy. He's deserved a permanent ban a hundred times over by now
One Admin with direct backing from the head admin—someone who holds the line for the mods and can step in to permanently remove someone—would bring actual order to this place. The mods could still do their jobs, bicker with users, explain their decisions, and defend their moderation, but those marathon debates would end instantly the moment someone hits the "stop" button. No more endless chatter, no more chasing ghosts. Every subsequent post would just be a ban with a reason: "Clone of a permanently banned user..."
And now some guy is going to tell me that all the high-quality debaters will die off. Well, I'll say this: plenty of people from that generation want a normal internet experience, but when they see the state of the Politics section, they just don't feel like writing, and that's how both Politics and the forum lose. Who are we losing them to? We're losing them to the people who have been polluting Politics for years and make every single discussion look exactly the same. Go read some threads over there; they're all identical...
Edit: By the way, Phoenix was banned 500 times until one night a certain lady finally had enough and snapped. It wasn't until she made the call that the arguing actually stopped.
Also, it's easy to make a decision that makes everyone happy. But the decisions that nobody likes—not even you—are the ones made by the brave or those who have actually outgrown the nonsense. And the worst decision of all is no decision at all! Politics stays messy and is allowed to rot. Just read the sentence right above this one.
- I completely agree; the core issue is that once a moderator is chosen and trusted, they should simply be allowed to execute their vision. They need support, even when they stumble, because anyone can make a mistake—especially when they're working this hard. More often than not, it’s just a misunderstanding... Mistakes should be discussed calmly through private messages. There is always a way to fix an error. Otherwise, nothing gets done. - The Politics section is such a high-traffic, volatile part of the Reddit community that it’s impossible to truly know what’s happening there unless you’re monitoring it daily. An Admin can't possibly manage that unless they want to get flack from every direction. Their only real option is to trust the moderator. - A moderator doesn't need a RED nickname or a PURPLE one to do their job effectively, provided they have that support from above. If they don't, then I suppose you're left with nothing but apologies and excuses.
Let’s be honest, you’ve exhausted every single person on this Reddit who actually had the drive, the ability, or the clearance from the Admin to moderate the Politics section. They’re all gone now. Every last one of them has been burnt out. 😬
- I treated this just like any other job. - My sense is that I did the work well; I managed to settle the passions there, and many users who used to steer clear of the Reddit community actually started showing up and becoming part of it. That was my primary goal. - Unfortunately, within four months—especially considering one of those months was spent being inactive due to home renovations—it’s impossible to completely transform a community. It would have taken more time for others to catch on. - There is a fundamental rule here: A community is a mirror reflecting its moderator. And there are no exceptions to that. Because if a moderator is politically biased, they will unconsciously hunt down anyone with a different opinion, and eventually, those people will simply stop appearing. - So, if the mod is a spammer, you end up with a spammer's forum. If the mod is a troll, you get a trolling forum. If the mod is just some immature kid, then most of the users will be exactly like that too. - On the other hand, if the mod is a family man, someone who prioritizes his family and his career while possessing other solid qualities, then over time, the majority of the people on that forum will be exactly those kinds of people. - My only regret is that I didn't stick it out for at least six months or a full year; only then could people truly debate my performance and the quality of the Politics of the Republic of America as a platform.
PS: Even governments are given a hundred-day probationary period where they are left alone to form a strategy, find their footing, and actually grab the reins.
We definitely need someone who isn't one-sided. For instance, driftingdriver couldn't stand it when someone spoke out against the church (just a reminder to everyone that criticizing the church is totally normal everywhere else in the world), while Simba, for example, can't stand it when people talk about veterans. That’s what I’ve managed to notice so far. If a moderator does have a personal opinion, they really should know how to keep it in check and not voice it on the forum.
Why? Because it gets awkward—they end up siding with people who think just like them, making the same mistakes, but only punishing those with opposing views.
I don't think we can take into account how many warnings someone has received if they were handed them by a moderator like that in the first place.
Also, I’ve noticed that everything just feels like trolling (aimed at the moderators). You can't expect a real discussion if comments have to be this rigid.
There's a massive difference between a thread veering off into a completely different direction and just someone bringing up examples that are slightly off-topic.
A few stray comments doesn't mean the whole debate is pivoting elsewhere. Besides, moderators aren't just there to hand out bans and delete stuff (at least that's how it works on other foreign Reddits); they're also supposed to help steer the conversation back on track.
I've often seen that people participating in a debate will stick to the point if someone just reminds them they've drifted. There's no need to go around handing out warnings to everyone; people are human, not computers.
- That is simply not true. If there is anyone on this Reddit who actually identifies as a liberal or a defender of free speech—even when dealing with the most intense taboos—it’s me, which arguably makes any accusations leveled against my character all the more stinging.
Online forums aren't much different from actual society, really. There isn't any fundamental distinction, except perhaps that everyone seems to be on some kind of stimulant, making the atmosphere on these boards even more volatile than the real world. As a rule, the quality of the leadership determines the quality of the entire community. It’s perfectly normal to see people handed bans they didn't deserve, mostly because certain moderators spend their time playing "good cop, bad cop" just to feel important. They don't issue penalties out of genuine malice or disagreement; rather, they act like highway patrol officers just trying to hit a quota before heading down to the local pub—these are the mods who simply go through the motions to maintain their little status symbols... (there is plenty to be said about that, if one has the patience for a long discussion.) Then you have the sycophants, those moderators who exist solely to kiss the admins' feet and stroke their egos; they consider themselves "useful" because they execute every single command with mindless precision, often performing tasks that aren't even necessary. On the other hand, you have the visionaries, the ones who actually have a plan for how the forum should function. They work like tireless laborers for the good of the community to realize their ideals, but eventually, they reach a breaking point where they can no longer stomach admins who dictate every move while remaining completely oblivious to what is actually happening on the ground. These are the types who walk away once the pressure from all sides becomes too much to bear. Then there are the highly ambitious types—creative, hardworking, but also masters of social maneuvering who play every side to stay in favor. They build their own little networks and lobbies, functioning almost like political factions or secret societies. They are the ones who eventually swap out administrators and push their own agendas once they've successfully cooked up a scheme... Having served as an admin, a super-mod, and a moderator on numerous interest-based forums across the web, I can tell you these are just a few archetypes I've encountered. In short, moderators generally form an elite class that creates its own exclusive circles, operating within the community like a closed caste—just like in real life. Perhaps I'll pick this back up sometime...
To get back to the topic: chasing rules on forums usually results in getting banned quickly. My advice is to read the guidelines and stick to them strictly, including the global netiquette rules. Beyond that, read much, much more than you post. Only contribute if you actually have something meaningful to offer the community. PS: I’ll preemptively distance myself from any backlash here; this isn't a critique of this specific site, but rather a reflection of my years spent navigating online communities since 1994.