OK Rob, I accept it was done on the fly, but why not just name the moderators? No-one on here would have an issue with them as individuals as their experience is well known and understood on here. All of the other forums name their moderators, why not this one?
My point of centention is not who they are, or the rationale behind having them (I always believed that one of the things which seperated this forum from the others was that we didn't need a moderator to sort out our squabbles, coming from the environment we do we can sort them out ourselves, but times and circumstances change and I see the logic of this decision in its time and place), rather it is the perception that may form in the minds of those who use it that it is becoming more and more a partisan forum for RAF aircrew to the exclusion of others.
When we started ARSSE and set up the boards by cap-badge the view was taken to name the relevant forum "Aviation" and not "AAC" because of the many aspects of army avn (a/crew incl AGs, BATS, GrndC et al) as the intended audience was different. Here the focus is less on what we do as an operational function within the OrBat and more to do with the art and craft of flying operational and training aircraft. The sad thing is that because of the mindset of a few this forum is fast loosing the benefit of multi-disciplinary input. We never intended to poach people from this site and that was part of the decision not to have an AAC but an Avn forum, though inevitably those who found their way into ARSSE have chosen not to return because of their perception of the RAF dominance of this forum and the posturing of a small minority of users of this site from (what we can only presume are) members of the RAF. There are a number of RAF guys who welcome a bit of banter and debate but there are some that take things too far and see this as their forum and theirs alone. Again, I ask how do you think the positioning of the moderator is potentially interpreted?
Rob, you use the word "fight", I don't think this is in the sense of the word as you use it. I merely contend that it would have been better to give the people you have assigned mods of this forum admin rights and kept quiet about it for the time being or to name the designated mods outright. If I am fighting for anything it is the preservation of this forum as a multi-disciplinary environment and the perception that it is not and a return to what it was about 3 years ago when I joined when there was more life and vibrancy to it, when now it is mainly a sounding board for RAF grievances of one form or another (and I am not for a second suggesting that they are not genuine issues, merely pointing out that it forms the majority of the content).
I am quite content to argue this point through, and expect that it will go no further than to be an argument of point and principle (i.e. I'll loose!), but I think that the point needs to be made as I still use this forum albeit not as much as I used to.