Gerhard leaving what's upo next

[panzerschreck1]

With this i want to ventilate my anger

Why, how did we let it come this far?.... a few days i wasn't on the forum and now this.....

Goddamn it.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some vets like Gerhard don't have a thick skin like Haen, i saw this happening a long time ago , constantly chastising Gerhard and yes he has shown clear signs of up till here and no further....

Do we really think a real nazi bastard would adress feldgrau and share his ww2 experience like Gerhard and Rudi and Haen....

Why can't we cherish that that is lost soon ....forever.....even the last momemts of Gerhard on this forum is ruined we could and should be really really ashamed for what we have done(even those who haven't done anything)



PLEASE GERHARD COME BACK


Truly we should be all ashamed for allowing this to happen, such a unique thing ,but for those who had witnessed the vets from feldgrau from the first day and every one that joined later don't can't appreciate it unless they are gone.......

Yes it makes me fell sick ......

[John P. Moore]

Why would Gerhard want to come back? Do you believe that he is a stupid man? Do you believe that he is really some kind of masochist who derives pleasure from being insulted by people less than half his age?

For nearly two years HaEn, Annelie and I moderated the Alte Kameraden German Veterans’ forum that Prosper Keating had set up on MCF. This forum was very successful and had the active participation of around a half-dozen veterans plus one of the moderators was a veteran. Later on we all resigned from the MCF over a dispute with MCF management concerning offensive material and conduct taking place elsewhere on their site. A number of people urged us to re-establish a similar forum on another Web site. Feldgrau was one of the sites that we considered, but decided against because of the behavior on the part of some members that we felt we would have little control over. We selected another site for the German Vet forum and while we did have fairly good control, together with the active participation of the site’s owner, it never got back up to the same level of participation as had been the case with the original “Alte Kameraden”. About a year later the forum ended when the site closed down. It’s a lot of work to set up and actively moderate a forum. I’d never do it again when I have to put up with the mentality of some of Feldrau’s members who have free rein to insult and harass veterans who are trying to share their first-hand knowledge with interested persons. After all that has taken place on Feldgrau during the past year it is beyond me why a veteran would even want to participate here. I’m sure that they have more enjoyable ways to spend their precious time. Feldgrau is not alone with these problems as a lack of civility between members seems to be on the rise in WW II forums and worst of all in SS-related forums.

John Moore

[Annelie]

To tell the truth there have been more than a few Veterans
whom have left this forum. Perhaps you didn't realize they
were veterans here but there were here and contributing in their
own way. They have all left now. Most all feeling the same
way Gerhard has.

No they were not all German but fought in the wehrmacht.
Their input would have been very interesting. I hoped
somehow they would find comradship between them. The
Veterans I know in my area have no desire to share their
experiences with strangers on the net so I thought we would
all realize what an valuable asset the Vets were are. I guess
not.



Strange the ones that caused the most angst for them now say
nothing .

[Paddy Keating]

This really is appalling. Regarding the Alte Kameraden forum, it did work well because we imposed a zero tolerance policy upon the sort of thing that has, as Annelie says, discouraged a number of veterans from continuting to participate on Feldgrau.net.

Not all of the veterans who post here announce themselves and I have noticed the withdrawal of a few of them. What is needed is a tightly-run veterans' forum with a zero tolerance policy like the one we enforced during that all-too-brief time of success with the AK forum of which John writes.

If Haen, John or Annelie reported a troll hassling veterans to me, I clobbered the troll and excluded him. However, this simple system broke down when I went on vacation for three weeks and came back to find that our AK forum had imploded as a result of the dispute John describes.

However, the AK forum had worked very well and was growing. There was talk of its evolving into a de facto if unofficial HIAG meeting place for internet-savvy veterans who wished to share memories and information with one another and with people who wanted to 'meet' them.

I think there's room on the internet for an AK Forum MkII. Of course there's room! 90% of the people who apply for membership won't get in if we have anything to do with it! LOL!

PK

[haen2]

Feldgrau, and MCF/AK are not the only forums that have this problem.
Not too long ago there was a "Waffen-SS.Com" (not Waffen-ss.nl) forum, that rolled along pretty smooth and had some nice exchanges of ideas between a few vets and the members/visitors.
Slowly it got invaded though with troublemakers, and it also went down the drain.
As for me I have several times been on the verge of quitting ALL of them, except the Dutch one. But then thought about Abraham's plea: "Lord if there are a mere thousand righteous people in the city will you spare it ? And the answer was Yes. He then went on but Lord if there were a mere hundred . . . . . etc. Again the answer was yes. So finally he asked: but Lord if there were to be just ONE righteous person, could the city be spared, and the Lord said (not in so many words) "Alright already, get off my back, I will spare them"
So . . .I'm still here and even visit the others now and then, though nothing has changed there, and I think I finally am through even visiting.
Not good for my bloodpressure
Regards,
HN

[Annelie]

Crikey not you too HaEn?

[Rajin Cajun]

I agree with all the sentiments expressed here. Being a former moderator of the military forum Infantrymen.net when I came here I was excited by the prospect of discussing things with German veterans lo and behold though they are damn near crucified here. Having moderated for Infantrymen.net from when it was an EZboard till it became its own site before I was excused of my duties with a number of other vets for being too "tough" on the kind of people we seem to have harboring around here. Honestly we didn't put up with a 1/10th of the crap we have going on here if someone like Sid came back then he would have banned within a few posts for attacking veterans but alas that is not to be here.

[haen2]

Crikey not you too HaEn?

Nah ! I am a sucker for punishment
So, besides from a down-mood-swing now and then, I think I'll stick around; also will stick to A.H.F.
Friends like you, Brooke, John, Tom, Guy, Larry, Rudi, Bill, and a few more make it worthwile.
"Ende dispareert niet" (don't dispair in dutch).
HN

[dduff442]

Hi All,

Like it or not, with out Sid and a few others, the vets here would only have total wingnuts for company. Funny, for instance, that so few people found max painless' 'leather-faced, bitchy jews' remark offensive... If such things are allowed to run on, then (uh...) normal people will quickly become embarrased to be associated with the site, yet 98% of members let such things slide without comment.

Like it or not, Gerhard lost his composure and fell into anti-semitic slander. This would be bad enough in any case, but in the case of a former SS soldier?

His apology was good enough for me, and I believe it to have been sincere, but there's no need for him to be so thin-skinned he can't take the rough and tumble of forum debate.

Regards,
dduff

[panzerschreck1]

Last few days i saw a program on dutch tv saying that even in germany it is now becoming discussable to make jokes about Hitler and nazi Germany,comedians seem to pick up the humourous side of it (which means the taboo is fading with the years....)

Look at people like the 'British' Kazachstan Borat making some pretty harsh jokes about jews not ww2 related but , harsh in another way it seems to be accepted because many tv stations use it in their programs....

Jew related jokes seem to be generally accepted in a strange way.... and with that said ww2 is a 66 years ago , and still some remarks are weighed carefully and enhanced on a ethics scale, but why would we allow all this and not allow some old vets to give their opinion either a wrong or a right one, with normal discussions we can work it all out (healthy dialogues)
without permanently hurting vets that have a good hart and mean nothing offensivly (apologists) with some statements, and if those remarks are pretty of topic and seem to collide with some ethic rules, just imagine that
comedians like Borat can get away with it without actually really knowing what they're talking about...