Military Forum Posting Standards and Rule

Fellow members, it has become obvious in recent months that a new standard in posting will be required in the military forum to increase the depth and scholarly merit of its content. For this reason, some new rules and guidelines have been outlined:

1. Topics regarding the "best, greatest, most" etc in military topics will be automatically closed if such a topic already exists. If you wish to address such a topic, you must search for it using the AE search engine. Such topics are typically some of the lowest calibre on AE and their patronage should be discarded in favour of more intelligent issues.

To gain a better understanding of what is expected, a topic such as "most powerful army" would be banned as it is so broad and has been discussed so much already there is no justification for another such thread being started. However, topics which are novel or have scholarly merit DO have a place in discussion. For example, "Most effective infantry of the ancient Hellenic world", would qualify as a topic with sufficient merit.

2. Anyone using topics to start flame wars or play out nationalist rivalries will be disciplined. Those starting blacklisted topic discussions will be disciplined as is seen fit. Some members behave as provocateurs in causing conflict on the forum, and they shall be identified and disciplined at the discretion of the moderators. While we moderators are committed to being reasonable, I remind potential provocateurs we will not be timid in applying our discretion to those who we identify as having ignoble intentions.

3. In topics where a claim is made which is not universally accepted as fact, members who do not provide a credible source for their claim do not need to be taken seriously. This is an honour standard, not necessarily incurring a disciplinary punishment, those who fail to live up to this standard are simply looked down upon by fellow members.

4. Do not simply copy/paste information. If you do, provide your own comments or views on the post you have made. If you copy something which is not your own work and post it, reference it.

By posting in the Military Forum, members agree that they abide by these standards. Finally, I may simply request on a personal level that members do their best to keep discussions up to a high standard, make use of scholarly material and refrain from behaviour which is contrary to AE's high level of intellectual discussion. Many thanks.

Constantine XI

Edited by Constantine XI - 12-Oct-2006 at 19:12