Originally Posted by Donkey

The moderator for the political forum should be anonymous...Perhaps a bunch of mods using one anonymous account, this would keep things somewhat unbiased and attacks down, if not just on the surface.....


Side note, Funny how the military is in dire need of skilled people....I suppose they are just to damn professional.....

The problem with that is that it would only remain unbiased if the moderator(s) chosen were also unbiased (or at least capable of overlooking their own bias) and unfortunately in a few cases that is clearly not the case, the forum already has moderators that I think would be excellent for the job but it also has one or two that I think would be disastrous I guess we will just have to wait and see how it all turns out.

Originally Posted by BD

MontyB, I'm prior service and Philam I was saying people who have been in the military are better suited to the job and I would not frequent a website that was moderated by people who had not worn a uniform. That is all.

There is perhaps some truth in the fact there is a reason civilians run the military.

personally i think 13th redneck would be perfect, i've often seen him throw himself between the two sides of an argument, with some pretty sage comments

Originally Posted by Rabs

There is perhaps some truth in the fact there is a reason civilians run the military.

And they do such a knock up job of it too mate... Vietnam, DSI, DSII, Somalia, Haiti... civilians are the worst thing that ever happens to a warrior.

^^^ I'm with Bulldogg^^^

A few of them should be drafted and do a tour in a warzone. I'm sure that we'd see a marked improvement in the way things are run when they returned.

REDLEG

And to mr. Bulldogg: This is a military forum made by and mainly for military (related) members so I have no plan to change the way the forum is operated by using staff members that doesn't have any military experience, so you don't have to worry about that happening...

Here's the problem, not all of your Threads are military related. When it comes to getting military info (for perspective recruits), military history, Gear+weapons, even History I agree that having a person with a military background makes sense.

But on other threads, it doesn't, in fact haveing ONLY military background people in fact causes problems. Take for example the often problematic Politics Thread.

People with military backgrounds tend to be VERY one sided in politics, the military may teach a multitude of different skills, but the skill for tolerance isn't one of them. There are a certain group of people that think 'ONLY' theirs and like minded opinions count, and therefore entitled to threaten, insult or bully those they disagree with. Gator is right to say that this group has included, from time to time, a few of the mods. I have remarked this as well...

More troublesome is the feeling that mods occasionally turn a 'blind eye' toward some abusive members whose views they sympathize with.

Remember the ex-member "Senior Chief', whose 'charming' behavior on the board was simply beyond belief. Within his first few days he had violated just about every rule on the board, without rebuke. I remember one week were he had engaged in full flame wars (some of the worst on the board) with at least 7 different members with only a wrist slap response. The abuse continued. I don't know what he finally did to earn his ban, but it was at least 3 months overdue. Staff WAS on duty during those incidents, they saw what he wrote (because I reported him several times) and yet he was allowed to continue his attacks MULTIPLE PEOPLE.

At the same time a member was recently banned for calling Bush 'an idiot'. Now I don't put into cause the Mods decision to do so, but it does seem like a very minor infraction compared to the absolutely murder our ex-member was getting away with for so long.

So in short, having a few 'civvies' would help keep the balance of things especially in the tumultuous forums where tempers are short and where a military background isn't required.

One final point. This is supposed to be a INTERNATIONAL forum. Why is so many of the staff (almost all) from the USA. I am American too, but this forum could benefit from a few non-US staff members. (There are plenty, even those with military backgrounds).

Mmarsh, your argument is not without some merit, but after all is said and done, it must be remembered that the Military forces are not run as a democracy. However that does not mean that the members are all of the one view, politically or in most other ways. I must admit that generally they treat civvies somewhat warily but often this is as a result of the treatment they received from the civilian population over the years. Also having been in the services they get to see things that civilians never see and rarely hear about, some of these experiences shape their personalities in ways that give rise to the average civilians perceptions of who and what a Service member is. Civilians see the result but rarely if ever comprehend the underlying causes.

The one thing worth remembering, is that serving and ex-serving members have seen both sides of the coin, many people seem to forget that we have also been civilians.

I have been a civilian for 48 of my 60 years, if anyone feels that my service attitude shows through, that should tell people that obviously those 12 years were a unique learning experience that I value highly. No one forced these views upon me, it was a decision I made myself, and I should imagine that is the case for most ex-service persons.

I have noticed that even ex-service persons who disliked their time in the services, are almost without exception, proud of having served whether it be as a Staff Officer or Clod buster.

Yes, Service personnel are different, there's no argument there, but I feel that they are still highly individualistic, you only have to read some of the posts on this Forum to see that. Also like most people, the person you meet on the 'net often has little semblance to that person in real life.

^^^ Bloody well said Spike.

Originally Posted by bulldogg

^^^ Bloody well said Spike.

Ditto here as well!

The biggest problem with Politics and the Military is the Military is supposed to be non-political (at least in the United States of America) but, sadly, it is getting harder and harder to find people who are still in the U.S. Military and are at the same time non-political now days.