Don't take this as a criticism of anyone or anything! I've been prowling with the "search" mechanism and I am frankly in awe at how many excellent, but older Threads have been buried by the mere passage of time.
Dare I suggest that each member revive his or her favorite Thread from the past, in the hopes that new information has emerged since that Thread disappeared into the back pages????
Really, I think that this would be a good exercise and may attract both new and inactive members who specialize in particular topics.
Very Best,
~D, the EviL
Death is lighter than a Feather, Duty is heavier than a Mountain....
Greetings to both brother David C. Clarke and the community as a whole. Howdy Dave! Well tovarich, in respect to your introductory posting of Thursday - February 22, 2008 - 6:55pm, no one champions the resurrection of old threads in lieu of duplicating an old topic under a new guise more than old Uncle Bob. With that said, should those brave or foolish souls who resurrect an older thread also anticipate a torrent of accusations over the potential issue of spamming? Unfortunately, that is what exactly happened to old yours truly when I made my debut within this forum back in year 2006. That was a real turn off for someone that was new to the neighborbood. It's just some sobering food for thought from someone that has grown weary of many so-called "historical" websites. Well, that's my initial two cents worth on this passing topic of interest - for now anyway. As always, I would like to bid you a copacetic day over in the Garden State of New Jersey.
"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it" - Robert E. Lee
I have learned by hard experience that Forums are strange things in that, although made up of only words, they have an unfortunate tendency to take on lives and personalities of their own.
But, I ask you, why should the resurrection of an old thread of great value threaten other contributors? I breathed new life (hopefully!) into an old thread of my own from 2002, under the sheer hope that more information had been unearthed between then and now.
For my own part, I pray that members understand that this was not spamming, it was an extension of my original quest for knowledge and nothing more.
Very Best,
David
Death is lighter than a Feather, Duty is heavier than a Mountain....
The [Search] button is a wonderful invention that quite a few members tend to forget... But I can also see the point of new threads and new questions on subjects that older threads have (partly) dealt with. One good way (in my humble opinion) is to provide links to relevant older threads that partly covers or contributes when new posts and replies are being made.
Well, that's my two Swedish crowns on this matter! Back to breakfast and the morning paper...
Regards and all that,
Krollspell
"Wie es eigentlich gewesen ist"
Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886)
There is one issue both here and on other comparable sites that is often forgotten - some of our favourite forums have now been around SO long that a whole host of new primary evidence and published material can have appeared on particular subjects...rendering the earlier threads either obsolete, in need of update - or just plain wrong at times LOL
New archeological finds are made - tanks out of Polish and Baltic rivers, aircraft out of Russian lakes and Norwegian fiords, new bunkers and installations found, wrecks of ships and submarines dived on...new memoirs published, new files released at Kew or NARA or Moscow...new "oral history" projects by museums and broadcasting companies, new official archives opened en masse...any or all of which can change our perception of events.
So it's only right that appropriate threads be re-examined and re-contributed to if there's new knowledge to be had or provided.
(For example - only this week have I had a question on the Home Guard answered that I've been trying to find the answer to for a decade! And only new family photographic material and recollections made available to a local researcher here in the last six months brought the answer into the public domain at last.)
"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." - Malcolm Reynolds
But I can also see the point of new threads and new questions on subjects that older threads have (partly) dealt with. One good way (in my humble opinion) is to provide links to relevant older threads that partly covers or contributes when new posts and replies are being made.
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