Boy it sure is quite in here. I pop in almost weekly and nobody ever says anything anymore. I noticed that over in the Army Discussions group, that traffic down alot too. Where is everybody?
Yes things have been slow on this discussion board for sometime. I don't really know why. You can see some of the old regulars elsewhere on the web but this is a perfectly good forum and should be utilized. Maybe the mods could do something to enliven the board.
Well it bothers me that it gets no action any more. Perhaps as 9/11 gets further and further behind us, interest wains. I wonder if the same thing is happening in the ranks. I know that numbers and interest in SDFs grew in the time after September 11th and after the start of the war and at the time this board and other boards I read on a regular basis got lots of traffic, but not so much now.
I also noticed that you can't go back and read anything that was posted prior to 2007, what's up with that?
I do not know how active the moderators are these days. It would help if they would contribute with new topics or surveys. I know Michael Gates is busy getting ready for AT but he really has not been involved in a discussion on this board for quite some time.
I can remember some really hot threads a couple years ago. These were engaged in by some people with strongly held views but who were generally respectful. I couldn't believe when some of them were banned. Bring back to threads calling out rumps and those looking into pretenders. ALso we need more practical information shared among the SDFs.
Originally posted by lanzlaw: I can remember some really hot threads a couple years ago. These were engaged in by some people with strongly held views but who were generally respectful. I couldn't believe when some of them were banned. Bring back to threads calling out rumps and those looking into pretenders. ALso we need more practical information shared among the SDFs.
There was a lot of disrespect going on with that thread. Abusing posts were usually removed. We had one guy banned who was posting links to fake DD-214s in order to "get" someone he wanted to call a pretender. When told not to post links to claimed evidence on pretenders, without the moderators seeing it first, he kept posting. Even if someone is a pretender, you cannot get them with fake evidence, without creating a legal liability for this forum. When asked to tone something down, most decided to send email with four letter words back. Two even started posting false things about the career of the moderator, which was removed. One was using multiple accounts and possing as different people and was found on a different forum to be possing as a high government offical. Abusers often try to get groups to support them, and keep the distrubances going while trying to act innocent. Those removed have the offenses they did written down in their accounts and the moderators usually do not gloat and show all that the abusers have done to the forum, when they are banned. We try and get the forums back to normal as soon as possible.
Nice to hear from you Michael. Certainly there were some abuses, many of which the board members were not privy to, but certainly there is some way to encourage positive and informative discourse, without the abuses of the past. Anyway, good to hear from you and see you at AT.
Originally posted by shuman14: No more "hot" links to back up facts.
Given a recent incident I was involved in, you would think that I would believe this too. But, usage of this SDF forum fell off a cliff well before the company decided to adopt the current link policy.
There is another pretty active SDF discussion group out there where I have been. I don't understand why that site caught on over this as I think this is a much more user friendly format.
quote:
Originally posted by shuman14: No more "hot" links to back up facts.
But, I will say that this policy will probably make it more difficult to ever re-energize this board in the future, but the owners have every right to institute any policy they want.
I think this is a great forum as is the other one out there. People fought hard to get a SDF thread on military.com,but I think some of us got carried away with ****ing matches and hurting other peoples feelings {Myself included} worrying about the political end of the thing and forgetting about we suppose to be military and that in itself makes SDF's look 'Rump!'
Now, what can we do to bring real honest SDF military dialog back this forum? We need to realize that this is a military forum for military people and those want want to maybe someday be military and those who have been military. This is not a Town Hall meeting. We need ideas that make SDF's better,ideas that get people that want to enlist in their state's SDF not talk that make outsiders look in and say "Wow,what a bunch of lune wannabes"
Much has happened with the SDF's around the country since 9/11 many has grown and continue to see growth. there is much to discuss about the SDF because we are the original homeland security,born in the days of WW1 when State soldiers braved harsh winters,floods fires and german spys to protect the homeland. Many died in these early days given of themselves unselfishly to aid thier neighbors and we today are no different we come from all walks of life ready to put it all aside to come to the aid of our neighbor,communities,states and our great nation. We are our homeland military We might not be sent to fight distant wars in distant lands,but we are here!
Now,what progress,changes {good or bad} have you seen in your SDF since 9/11? Have you forged closer ties with federal and state agencies {Military included}? What type of traing have you had in your unit that you might think would benefit all the SDF? Have you seen any of the "minimum standards for SDF;s" implemented in your SDF?
