Moderators on all websites and forums have a difficult job to do. It can take a lot of time, and it’s not as if you are getting
paid to do it. I was asked to help moderate a forum several years ago, but declined the offer as I didn’t have the time.
It was something I didn’t fancy doing anyway, as you are only going to get negative criticism, and people telling you
what you should be doing.

Thread closure should only be a last resort though. If unfounded defamatory remarks are being made, or posts are
becoming libellous. Not because they offend you or your beliefs personally.

I have never been offended by remarks made against me on any forums, no matter how inaccurate they may be.

This often quoted phrase comes to mind:
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”

I hear and accept everything you say.
BUT a particular moderator complaining about having to read the threads and not liking what he reads is going a bit too personal – you cannot like everything that is posted and there are bound to be threads/posts which are not your cup of tea. No, I am not complaining about this particular moderator since I can understand that some of these threads will be dull, tedious or inflamatory but as long as they don’t break the rules as set out (and there is nothing about not being boring, nothing about not contradicting the prevailing political view, nothing about not calling out poorly thought out points of view, etc) then all that is being done is an attempt at suppression of views on a forum which has been present and on going for 15-odd years (?): without wanting to push for or against that moderator then if he doesn’t want to do the job then give it up!

Yes, mods are voluntary, mods are doing a job that needs to be done because the webmaster cannot be present 24 hours a day 365/6 days a year, mods are (usually) posters on the forum too – BUT that doesn’t give them carte blanche to decide that a thread needs to be closed/deleted just because they decide it; surely if they don’t want to moderate a particular thread/forum then they can appeal to fellow mods (after all, this certain mod is not on his own when it comes to doing the job) to assist/make a ruling based on being a moderator unfamiliar to GD and therefore seen as being (hopefully) unbiased. Have there been complaints about said thread or was it just on that thread alone? Was there sufficient insult-flinging to warrant something happening or would a public calling out have (possibly) embarrassed the two sides into silence?

(I have not named the moderator simple because he is the moderator, not the poster under which name he also moderates. Like I said, nothing personal)

Oh, forgot to mention in my last post but it occurred to me that whilst these forum declare themselves to be The Aviation Forum they are hosted on keypublishing.com – not a particular site dedicated ONLY to aviation by name. Therefore a Britain At War forum should, surely, be possible even if not linked into the aviation specific area.
Of course, if the will is not there from the management…?

And, of course, we gave the Churchill away to the enemy fairly early by depositing dozens in mostly undamaged condition on the beaches of Dieppe (mostly undamaged apart from broken track pins and jammed suspension caused by the chert beach) – those that were hit by shell or mine showed how well the crew were protected since no one was killed inside a Churchill. FYI Dieppe was the first time the Sten gun was used in action too.

On reflection since Dieppe was just a raid, not an attempt at invasion, there appears to have been little thought gone into the return of any surviving armoured vehicles. Therefore it seems that, damaged or not, all these ’60-odd’ new Churchill tanks would have been gifted to the Germans…

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(I tried to find appropriate images of Churchills at Dieppe but many featured a beach strewn with dead Canadian troops, which makes you wonder – in awe at the bravery of the men on the scene, and the sanity of the planners whose schedule left little room for poor intelligence and simple c0ck-ups.)

If ever large numbers of contributors post on GD rather than the current handful then I’ll change my mind quite happily.

Ignore the moderator. If he wants to bring the iron fist to bare on the other forums as threads are posted that are not quite on topic, and hunt down queries within others threads then, as you can imagine, that is up to him. But compared to some of the other forum GD is alive and well.

Look at Commercial: at the moment the oldest thread on the front page dates back to 9/12 and there has only been one thread made this month (I know since I made it, just now) and six during last month.
Look at Commercial Trip Reports: last thread 6/9 and oldest thread on the front page was replied to 17/11/2010.
Look at Commercial Civil Aircraft Images: one thread made this year and one other replied to this year, with the oldest thread on the front page being dated 27/4.
Look at General Aviation: no threads, no posts this month, so far. Eight threads last month, and the oldest thread on the front page was answered on 16/11.
Look at Photographic Tutorial: last post answered on 2/1 – over a month ago!
Look at Photographic Airshow Photos: three threads posted on for just one made last month, and the oldest thread/post on the front page is dated 24/9. (Yes, I am conscious that this forum relies on airshows to take place and pictures from these to be taken)
Look at Flight Simulation: one thread made and one other, older, thread posted on this year with the oldest thread on the front page dating back to 13/1/2014.
Look at Flight Simulation Screenshots: it appears the last thread made was a Christmas greeting made in December 2014 that no one replied to until 27/1 this year, with the same reply-ee leaving his mark on a 2013 thread. The oldest thread on the front page went unreplied since 25/5/2008.
Look at RC and Models: one thread answered this year and the oldest thread on the front page is from 23/10/2014.
Look at Modern Military Aviation: three threads this month but lots of posts, although the oldest reply on the front page goes back to the end of last month.
Look at Modern Military Aviation Missiles and Munitions: one thread made and four replied to this year with the oldest on the front page being from 1/8/2015.
Look at Modern Military Aviation Naval Aviation: one thread made and nine replied to this year with the oldest on the front page dated 18/4/2015.
And Historic? Why bother – it is alive and well and usually the front page contains less than 24 hours worth of threads.

General Discussion, for comparison has four threads started this month with the front page going back as far as…25/1.

So. The moderator present wants to close this forum for an easy life and because so few contributors post on it? Maybe there are other forums that have not only fewer contributors but fewer threads and little interest to the membership.

A question which I was going to ask. My impression is that there are far fewer threads, far fewer contributors and far fewer observers than a year or so ago. Do the statistics support the impression?

Go and have a look at (at the moment) page 14. My guess is that it is roughly the same, but don’t take my word for it. If you go back to page 33 you can see two years ago with, again, little great difference I believe.

Here we go again…

My comments disappeared because I posted the same piece twice. In trying to get rid of the second one, they both disappeared ! If anyone knows how to get at least one back, I’d be grateful.

So that we can witness your bigotry first hand? Can’t wait…

John, before reposting I’d be grateful if you removed the bit about people who can’t afford private education for their kids being drug users. This includes my family for a start, and they are not. This is quite apart from the statement being bonkers nonsense.

Every cliché creates its own problems – obviously those children who attend private schools become money-fixated pretentious to$$ers with a predilection for deviant sexual practises who use their silver spoon to chase the dragon. I am sure there will be more who believe this stereotype than John and his rabid rantings about every state school parent being a druggie…

My friend, it is a question of priorities. If you want to give your children every possible advantage then you’ll scrimp and save to send your child to private education exactly as my parents did with me and my sister and as I did with my sprogs.

So were your grandparents drug users, or their parents before them, etc, for not sending your forefathers to private school?

As for ‘recreational drug users’ that was a general comment that arose out of my spending too much time watching reality TV and seeing just how the other half live. How would I know whether your parents were or, were not users ? If they could not put you thru’ private education, it was perhaps due to other priorities.

The ‘other half’ are a distinct minority who are always in the media, just like all those stories about deviants and embezzlers that just have to mention which ‘famous’ school the convicted miscreant attended.

The Banana Jet, I think…(!)

Mainly since it was originally designated BANA – Blackburn Advanced Naval Aircraft – in order to maintain secrecy in official documents and matelots would rather use anything but the real name.

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Nope, the lights are on but you are still no brighter.

MrBlueSky

Don’t you know they’re both ‘lefties’ ? It’s their default position !

Although, to be fair, his default position is to the right and when we say right we mean so far round the circle that he is in that section of the sphere where Hitler and Stalin were gathered together; anyone who even remotely disagrees with him is, therefore and by default, a ‘leftie’.

Had a Google myself…

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Can’t see where the wings were removed from, though.;o)

“FLYING FLOSSIE”; THE FLEET AIR ARM’S STRANGEST AIRCRAFT. APRIL 1944, AT SEA. ‘FLYING FLOSSIE’ IS A STEEL WATER TANK ON WHEELS USED TO TEST THE AIRCRAFT CATAPULTS IN HM WARSHIPS BEFORE THEY LAUNCH “LIVE” AIRCRAFT.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205155137

I don’t suppose Flossie (or any sisters) made it into preservation, which is a shame.