Mod inaction and the future

[caiusbeerquitius]

Of course it will still be allowed, the difference is that he did such in a manner that could have been presented better.

So all this fuss is basically about Robert´s tone? There have frequently been problems in this regard across the pond (I can tell). Europe and the US are more different in many ways than one imagines, and Europe as such is in itself very heterogenous. The US are heterogenous as well, as I read constantly in the newspapers, especially over the last weeks #USelections.

Lets look at Forum Rule #1:

The First Principle on RAT is to respect your fellow community members, eachother's opinions, countries, politics, religions and cultures. RAT is an international community where many members - one of the admins included - do not speak English as their first language. That means that not all cultural references, lingual niceties and national sensitivities are instantly understood by everyone. RAT members need to be aware of this at all times, both when posting (show some tact) and when reading someone else's post (don't be a sensitive flower).

Maybe some communication, I mean initially, would have helped. I am, or rather was, often quite baffled about how something I said / wrote sparked here on RAT reactions I never thought possible. In most cases a direct talk to the other person involved helped a lot. Some explanations, a talk about what was actually meant, etc.
e.g. one time I was not aware of a semantic difference between "sensible" and "reasonable", as there is only one word for both in my language. Some cultures are rather blunt, others are overly polite. It doesn´t (or: didn´t) always help to try to talk things over, I also learned. But it should always be worth an effort, I learned, too. This way I at least was able to come to terms with people who are very different from me and my lifestyle, and they did so, too. Which resulted in respectful and often fruitful communication.

Personally, I think the marketplace reform was a very good thing, and overdue for years. I also think that if one advertises something in a forum which exists to discuss Ancient Armies, their material culture etc.. , one should also be prepared to be involved with a discussion about the advertised item. So the act of advertising may indeed be a good or a bad decision of the advertising party. But the community, in the long run, will always profit from the discussion of the advertised items: Either they will be improved or be taken off the market (or not: #trooper helmet... but we all agree it should disappear, don´t we... ^^)

Cheers!
Your notorious C.