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Is This The End?
Mark Hobson


Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 106
Location: Halifax
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Much to my dismay it appears we are in danger of RDVC and this forum being closed down. Alan states he wishes to no longer help with the running of things, all due to petty rivalries being taken to the extreme. Hopefully in the cold light of day he will have a rethink. In the meantime I suggest everyone takes a deep breath and calms down. Shocked
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Johnny Hamman


Joined: 11 Feb 2006
Posts: 214
Location: Dundee, KZN
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Evening all,

My goodness, I haven't been here in ages, and when I poke my nose in, the fur seems flying. You getting gatvol now, Alan? How are you, by the way? I see Julian is also lurking about somewhere, and Mike is off in a huff somewhere, and lo and behold, my old friend Paul Bryant-Quin too. How are you too, Paul...changed your email address? You do not seem to be getting my mails, so I stopped sending them.

The weather is a bit off the chart in Dundee, but what the hell, the clients are still rolling in, we are not complaining and the old tour guiding thing still goes on.

Whatsup, gents?

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Johannes N. (Johnny) Hamman (KZN 0897)
Treasurer of the KZN Tour Guide Association Battlefields Region
History's Walk Battlefield Tours
Dundee
KZN
"Where Past and Present comes together..."
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peterw


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 865
Location: UK
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Alan

I can only imagine the frustration you must feel at the squabbling and bickering. Users of this site are, after all, guests in your house thanks to the facility you have provided for many years.

Can I add my voice to Mark's and urge you to reconsider? I have learned a great deal in the time I have been a member, made many "virtual" friends and had the pleasure of meeting several face to face. This would not have been possible without RDVC.

The site is a great source of archived information. Only this month we saw a splendid piece of detective work to identify the location in a photograph. And the emergence - in Word format at least - of Carroll, the HMS Active sailor. I am sure that many great stories might emerge in the future - if RDVC continues.

Peter
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Rusteze


Joined: 05 Oct 2009
Posts: 56
Location: Hampshire UK
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Can I just add my name to those who would very much like to see the site continue.

Consider this -my posting of the mystery location photograph of just a week ago has had 1200 views and elicited 41 replies. Absolutely astounding and incredibly informative.

I see that there are now 528 registered members, which I think puts into perspective the unfortunate fact that three or four cannot see eye to eye, to the extent they feel obliged to withdraw. Very sad, but I hope nowhere near sufficient to draw things to a close.

There is a vast, usually silent, majority that continue to value the efforts of those who devote their time to managing all this. It may seem thankless at times like these, but I assure you it is not.

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Rusteze
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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I posted this on "Welcome" and I'll post it here-- I ain't proud or tired!

Alan,
Sure, these internecine "pissing matches" (is that a distinctly Yankee phrase?) could try the patience of even a saint, but look at the number of visitors pretty much every thread on this site gets-- not just the "members", but the "guests" as well! Your efforts here have set the bar so high that all the admin's of the "other" sites can only reach it in their dreams. And now you're trash talkin'?

Perhaps I can't fully appreciate how painful it can be sometimes for you trying to walk a knife-edge of compromise and pacification with this unruly crew often snarling at each other and occationally even you, but I do know I speak for the majority of members and guests- dare I say all?-- when I say : ��s ofereode, �isses swa m�g! Deor had nothing on you when he told us that "This too shall pass" and I never read that with anything but confidence that he got over it in time. How about giving us at least a month from today? Or better still a year?
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Dewi Evans


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 177
Location: Chwilog, North Wales
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I would also like to see RDVC continue, please, please reconsider Alan.
Whenever I turn on my PC I go straight to RDVC, that's every day, before even checking my emails! I can't imagine life without it.

Thank you Alan and Peter for this excellent web site.

Dewi
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Bill Cainan1


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 107
Location: Lampeter
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Copied from the "Welcome - the 2nd Closed Topic Thread"

Alan

I can but echo Peter(Quantrill)'s sentiments.

I can appreciate how recent events have soured the site in your eyes, but please balance that against the immense positive aspects that the site has brought to us all . There have been some truly great threads from which I have learnt an awful lot, as I am sure have many others.

Please do not let a small percentage of the participants drive you away. The remaining 98% of us need you, for all the reasons listed by Peter above. I would sincerely ask that you reconsider your decision, or at least give yourself a bit more time to think it through.

In hope

Bill

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ciscokid


Joined: 01 Nov 2008
Posts: 54
Location: Plymouth, Devon
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Dewi Evans wrote:
I would also like to see RDVC continue, please, please reconsider Alan.
Whenever I turn on my PC I go straight to RDVC, that's every day, before even checking my emails! I can't imagine life without it.

Thank you Alan and Peter for this excellent web site.

Dewi


Ditto
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The Lt.


Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 634
Location: Kittery, Maine USA
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I'm sure Alan you wouldn't want o miss out on the rare photos from your infamous Zulu Warrior photographer which appear from time to time. The forum provides us with a wealth of knowledge and view points of the Zulu War and hopefully it will continue to do so......Joe aka The Lt.
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Colin Fielding


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 126
Location: Billericay, Essex
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I would like to add my thoughts to this worrying situation.
Having attended nearly all of the excellent Rob Caskie lectures in recent years, the level of interest generated never diminishes amongst the audience. 'Where can we find out more' is a persistent question asked. Is there a more informative site than this one I ask myself, I don't know of it if there is. If I had R11.54 (correct at time of writing) for every time I gave people this website address I would be flying first class to SA in January, not with undesirables like Aspinshaw, Jones and Cluff !! ( ha ha).

Although being the great grandson of John Williams/Fielding VC, I was not rocked to sleep as a baby to the strains of Men Of Harlech, so having appeared late on the scene to all this wonderful history, I need an accessible and reliable source in my quest to catch up! (will also need an accessible and reliable sauce at Fugitives Drift Lodge in January !!!!).

Seriously though, this is an excellent site, long may it continue... PLEASE !!

Best regards to all, Col Fielding
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Neil Aspinshaw


Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 290
Location: Loughborough
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Alan
I have posted in the welcome also, but please reconsider. If the wounded parties have stepped back, then as other contributors have put, let it fade off, wipe off the thread and start it afresh.


What Colin wrote says it all, myself and Colin have become firm friends, through this site, and its been fantastic to put other faces to names over the years, I met John Young for the first time at RD this year, Bill has never ceased to make me look forward to his xmas cards, and thats what this forum should be about.

Please don't do it

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Neil
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Peter
Site Admin

Joined: 24 Mar 2005
Posts: 80
Location: Hertford, UK
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Hello all,

Well, what a mess this all is. Since Alan moved to Wales, he's been running the site all by himself, and if the truth be known, for much much longer before. His passion has kept this thing going for the 9 years we've been running.

There are many of you who recognise this, but there do seem to be some of you who seem to insist on taking things too far, not taking a deep breath, and souring the site for all. I'm not personally interested in the who's, the why's and the wherefore's. It really is pretty childish, and petty, don't you think? Does it REALLY matter that much??

I think the site is a resource, a trading post and a stop off to chat. It's not for fighting. It never was, and if you need to be told this, you're not welcome.

I'm going to talk some more to Alan, and we'll make a decision one way or the other about the forum. It needs support, it needs people to take responsibility and I'm looking actively for people to step forward and to be counted.

It's sadly not the first time that we've tried our best to steer the site out of troubled waters that people seem insistent on steering us into, and I can fully appreciate why Alan feels enough is enough. There have been warnings about precisely this happening in the past..

I'm also truly not in the least bit interested in any concept of "competition" or other sites. It really is not, and never has been, about that. To be honest, we have better things to do, and good luck to anyone who chooses to setup a site, and it can only add to the community. It's a shame that people are trying to create animosity - Neither Alan nor I feel any, and wont anytime soon. We're happy with RDVC, and happy that others find it useful.

It's heartening to see so many positive posts, and it is absolutely true that 99% of people are giving something back. I'm sorry for the rest that 1% are the loudest right now.

We'll be posting again soon, but please let's talk about where the site should be going, and how we move forward.

Peter
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Rusteze


Joined: 05 Oct 2009
Posts: 56
Location: Hampshire UK
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Peter
Wise words if I may say so. A thought occurs so far as moving forward is concerned. I note that the largest number of people on line at any one time was on 27 January 2007 when 140 people were looking at the site. Whenever I look these days there seem to be less than a dozen. Do we know what was happening then to attract so many punters and are there any lessons?

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Rusteze
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John Young


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 1020
Location: Lower Sheering, Essex
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Peter,

If there is anything I can do in any way, shape or form, you can count me in.

John Y.
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M Brady


Joined: 15 Jun 2007
Posts: 1
Location: New Jersey
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My first post...as none were ever needed to satisfy my many questions and interest into the AZW...until now. This forum is THE most important source for a student like myself to get to hear the current era of experts on this subject.
If I can take some responsibility, post more, anything at all, please count me as "on board" for any seas.

Mike

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Is This The End?
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