Papa Eicke

**Woske** · 10-27-2010, 06:21 PM

Friedrich-Berthold,
Unless I am mistaken, everyone in this thread has remained polite.
Woske.

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 10-27-2010 06:21 PM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 10-27-2010, 06:26 PM

Yes, you are correct and please read what I wrote above as concerns this thread. I do not mean you, Mr. Woske, and please do not misconstrue what I wrote carefully so as to make same clear. I know Robert and have been witness to some of his travail here and elsewhere, and I am generalizing about a tendency that now afflicts this site as it has afflicted others with which I have been associated. These sites are prone to misunderstanding, and there has been an upswing even here of bad behavior, which I am surely not insinuating that you are guilty of at all. Merely read many of the more recent posts, and I am sure you might understand my generalization.

In any case, I think all these sites are doomed in the long run, as the struggle to learn about the past is undone by many phenomena of the present that make learning and the subtleties of the truth impossible to know. Damit, basta.

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 10-27-2010, 06:28 PM

by friedrich-berthold

robert h is an important member of this site with many fine things to offer us. The differences of opinion here should be handled in a polite manner so as to accommodate the inevitable frictions. The tendency here is to escalate things in a needless and senseless manner, which would be less likely in a face to face exchange. In the end, we are all losers. This phenomenon has surely harmed my own interest in this site, which i have worked hard to built with little reward in return. On the other hand, i will mention that the proprietors have been swift to expel trouble makers more so than on the more popular sites, which have risen and fallen with great speed because of cyber bullying and the other stupid and destructive phenomena of the 21st century.
If you care about regalia and want to learn more, then the burden is on you to behave in such a way---despite all the discipline it might require--to make others express themselves, share material, and perhaps even learn. Such is perhaps a bridge too far for many, and ever more so it is a bridge too far for me, because the effort required is no longer compensated by the echo from out there.
Thus, i hope that robert will stay and also those of you who disagree can do so in a polite and productive manner, since such disagreements are a normal and necessary part of how we all learn about the past. If, in fact, that is what you want......
postscriptum: The foregoing is not meant as a criticism of anyone in particular in this thread, but as a general observation.

Please re - read highlighted sentence. My observations are of a general nature of a phenomenon that has spread here in the last nine months or so.

**Woske** · 10-27-2010, 06:44 PM

Thank you for your reply. I was aware of your postscriptum, but your statements, albeit meant as a generalisation, do give the impression of criticism of some of the submissions, even those latterly delivered. My interpretation of those is one of appreciation of an artistic rendition and another of a simple observation that it is a pity that a member departs the forum as a result of a difference of opinion. I am sure the contributors in questions had no other intention.
Woske.

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 10-27-2010, 06:54 PM

Thanks for yours. Good luck with your collecting.

**sitges1990** · 10-27-2010, 07:48 PM

F.B. please don't be disheartened. You are an esteemed and valued member of this forum. I look forward to reading your comments. Unfortunately, civility seems to be a cyclical force that is currently on the decline. I like to think that the glass is half full, and it shall return. Your years of knowledge along with many others on this forum are not unappreciated I can promise you that. Please Sir, keep the faith and help carry the torch!
P.S. I promise I have read more than five books with small print.

Take care,
Jay

**HPL2008** · 10-27-2010, 07:56 PM

by sitges1990

F.B. please don't be disheartened. You are an esteemed and valued member of this forum. I look forward to reading your comments. Unfortunately, civility seems to be a cyclical force that is currently on the decline. I like to think that the glass is half full, and it shall return. Your years of knowledge along with many others on this forum are not unappreciated I can promise you that. Please Sir, keep the faith and help carry the torch!
P.S. I promise I have read more than five books with small print.

Take care

Suffice it to say that I second all of the above quote.

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 10-27-2010, 08:42 PM

Thanks, colleagues. I did not want to prompt such a response in you all by any means and my criticism is more directed to the endless posts on "is this fake...?" as well as the cap badge pit of hell that I loathe. I think part of what I write above derives from my recent experience of being in Berlin just now with this exhibit that drew so much attention. The overall experience made me quite reflective and also underscored for me how difficult such knowledge really is. The brave new world of the internet is a real mixed blessing in my opinion. The key to knowledge is reflection, time, nuance, shades of meaning which are all lost in these sites, with these posts, and in the silly and stupid games that operate here. One should not wear one's heart on one's sleeve, it is true, but so often we are sucked into these needless exchanges that have absolutely no merit.

Thanks to you kind readers for the kind thoughts. I am a real task master when it comes to the discipline necessary to learn about the past and maybe my approach is out of place here. Maybe the gun show slap and tickles and merry nonsense that applies in many such places should be allowed to unfold here as freely as it does elsewhere. Perhaps there is no restraining the collapse of custom, and one has merely to endure the cyclical decline of civility, especially in certain parts of the globe. In any case, thanks to Messrs. sitges and hpl for their kind thoughts. I do appreciate it. I have jet lag and should constrain my outbursts to the shower or to a long walk on an empty beach.

**gerrit** · 10-27-2010, 10:00 PM

í'm new here at this forum but i'm well aware of the situation that this thread created.
I've seen it on other forums as well.
Often it's not the words or the message but the way things are said that offend people.
Often the reply is with a certain rudeness instead of bringing the "bad" message (or what you believe as your truth) on a polite way.
explain why you think that your right, instead of just saying: It's a fake.
I come here to learn, to grow in knowledge, not to be pissed of, lots of us have wifes for that.
So i guess it's not the "Is it a Fake question" that bothers , but the way the reply is made.
Lets be polite and share knowledge......

**Friedrich-Berthold** · 10-27-2010, 10:04 PM

Well said and my sincere thanks.
Let me also say that I am not a militaria dealer, and have no commercial interest other than the occasional sale of a sole object from my own collection.

My chief goal is to learn more, which happens rather more seldom than in the past.