The recent spate of trolls and a few other things.

[Adrian]

Dear All,

As many of you are aware, of late there has been a seemingly never ending procession of trolls and trouble makers to our forum.

Unfortunately we can't seperate them out before they register and take part on the forum.

They make themselves quite obvious in their posts and as such are removed as quickly as possible by the Moderating team. Sometimes the Moderators can't be online at every moment one of these individuals turns up and very quickly, a thread can go rapidly down hill and a regular bun fight ensues.

It would help greatly if members could avoid becoming embroiled in such threads and attacking the person involved, this is exactly what they want to achieve and are getting exactly what they want.

The best course of action is to look at the bottom of the page, see which Mods are online and contact them with a link to any problem member or thread. The Mod can then deal with the issue right away instead of waiting for the Mod of a particular forum to come online and sort the problem out, by which time there is the potential for things to become heated and an embarrassment to the forum and it's members.
I know many of you are already doing this, your help is greatly appreciated so thank you to you all.

That said, I would also like to point out that on occasion, a new member might join who may not be the best at typing, who might speak a different language, who is completely new to the forum society, is a genuine newcomer to the hobby etc.
In this case, it would be extremely unfair to think of them as another troll and treat them in the same way as we've seen over the last few days.
The next person who fits the profile of a 'troll' may actually not be a troll but someone who wants to enjoy our great hobby and participate on the forum. I would like to think that the community here will welcome them and help them out and not automatically assume they're another trouble maker.
I urge you to use restraint and think before you type, please don't drag the forum down and make it an unwelcoming and 'cliquey' environment. No-one knows who might be behind a username or behind an innocent post spelt incorrectly or with poor command of English.
If you have doubts over a member, please let us know privately and don't degenerate the forum with witch hunts and/or virtual lynch mobs. This type of behaviour does not endear us to those members who want to indulge in serious and educated discussion over our hobby and may in fact turn them away from being here if they see the membership behaving in a way that is all too common on other forums.


This leads me onto another valid point.

As a collecting community we are all here to further our knowledge and understanding of our chosen hobby and discuss it with like minded people. There are many forums dealing with militaria collecting and everyone here is free to chose where they participate. I'm a member of several such forums, some I use to read, some I participate in to greater or lesser extent but this forum is where my time is spent because of the nature and atmosphere we have built. It is fun after all and how we spend our leisure (and sometimes work) time.
We would like to encourage more collectors here, to gain more knowledge and experience across the board, not turn our existing membership away.

Because of the open nature of this forum we have absolutely no objection in linking to other sites and sharing our knowledge around. Other sites don't share this philosophy and ban links to this and 'competitors' forums. For what reason, I can't say.
As I mentioned, we would like to attract more people here so while there is no problem posting links, there is a problem when members here are actively encouraged to post their pieces elsewhere because they'll get a 'better' or 'more credible' answer to their query because 'big name' collectors or 'self named experts' don't hang out here. We don't have the egos and attitudes of other forums, we are a generally friendly and good natured group of people and we want to extend that way of forum life to others. Pushing members to seek the opinions of other forums is not within the spirit of our forum and any such text seeming to promote this will be removed.
We're a small forum wanting to increase our membership with the right people. This won't happen if we're losing our valued contributors.

Some points to consider (and you can add your own to this small list):

Bigger isn't always better.
Our thoughts and opinions are just as valid as those on other forums.
You don't have to be in an 'in crowd' to get an answer.
Your opinion is valid whether it be right or wrong.
You will not be made to feel humiliated if you make a mistake.
Your posts and your time here is valued.
High post counts do not make you superior to others.
Everyone is equal.
It is not beneath a long standing member to respond to a new member.
No area of the forum is hidden to non donating members.

[Jerry B]

I noticed today in particular that some members seemed to be a bit over the top in attacking a new member and even though it appears they were correct in identifying the person as a troll, it still seemed as if they were enjoying the baiting too much and it was not pleasant to watch IMHO.

Contacting a mod would have been a better course of action and ignoring the suspect would have also probably been a better course of action as Adrian has suggested.

The pleasant and relaxed atmosphere here is one of the reasons that this is the forum I most frequently visit.

The problem with this sort of thread is that the only people who will read and respect it are in the main, not the people it is aimed at, IMHO.

[Paul D]

I might add that we do have members here who are well renowned and respected in their particular field or fields and most have come here because of the friendly atmosphere and attitude which prevails here so as Adrian says lets keep working to keep the enviroment here the sort that will attract many more members of all abilities and interests !!

[Grimebox]

Once it turns into a bun fight I tend to switch off to be honest. I'm sure there must be other places on the internet to go and have an argument! Politeness costs nothing and as Adrian said not everybody on here has English as their first language and a number use translators. I think it does everybody good to remember a bit of consideration every now and then and to stop and think before posting, nobody likes being told that their item is a fake in the same way that nobody likes being told they're wrong. Just use a little bit of restraint (I remember nearly biting my tounge off during the whole 'Tall Tom' fiasco - I managed not to post once!).
The ironic thing is if people were more like Adrian there'd be no wars and we would have nothing to collect!!!!!!

[Adrian]

That is of course very true Paul, thank you for pointing this fact out.

Some of the most respected, experienced and wise luminaries in the hobby choose to participate here. They do not make a song and dance about how knowledgeable they are, nor will you recognise them by their egos. They don't have them or need them. They do not feel the need to tell you they're right, you know they are and they impart their respective knowledge in an educational fashion.

[Datrus]

Well said Adrian.

I will admit to calling out the scammer last night and it sort of created a virtual lunch mob. It was not my intent and i am sure the "mob" did not wanted that either. I did it because he was trying to sell items and some seemed interested. I knew it was "him" and called him out. His intentions could be worse than just trying to sell fakes or rip people off.

As for the forum goes, i will say that the people here IMO are as competent as you get them. And friendly too. I still remember some of my first posts seeking opinions on my 2nd pattern LW dagger. Big Ned was very helpful and i still remember this as a very positive experience. Let's keep it like that.

Regards, Lars

[CARL]

This place is a pleasure. Lets keep it that way. Hats off to all the moderators, administartors and the like who work tirelessly to maintain and improve what is a wonderful forum, and, whenever possible, lets do our bit to help.

Regards,

Carl

[Cobra den Bien Phieu]

I am once again reminded as to why I love this forum so much.

[Larry C]

Cheers Well said Adrian!!

[sandgroper]

You are of course quite right Adrian and I apologize to everyone here as I actively encouraged the recently banned "Lary c" last night for my own amusement. he was clearly the same fella that has popped up a couple of times recently and was his own worst enemy. This forum is great, the members are very helpful and knowledgeable, this is why we are here. Sorry to any I offended, I would never insult anyone over their grammar or spelling as I am aware that we have members from all over the world. This particular fella said he was from Norwich, I was simply surprised that the schooling level in Norwich would have allowed a man to graduate with that kind of grasp of the language. Anyway, that said, it won't happen again. Sorry gents.