kp2001
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2006
- Messages
- 2,243
All,
As of last night I have requested to resign from my supermoderator position here. I want to be clear that this was my own decision. Over the last 9 years I have had great experiences with this site and all of the members; however, recent events have taken the joy away and actually created fear instead. Please allow me to explain and realize that the following comments are my own and only reflect my opinion and perception of the events.
Several months ago we were approached by a new member who claimed another member was faking their disabled veteran status. The initial posts and messages, in my opinion, did not have much data and appeared to be a brand new member attacking a well established member. There were no documents of proof offered to me and in the limited research I did initially I could not prove or disprove whether certain medals were awarded to a person whose name I did not know or could not verify. As time went on other questions began to surface and I spent several hours combing through hundreds of posts to see if I could personally find any proof on this site that a member was not who they had portrayed. This member, in my opinion, was nearly perfect in their postings: the dates matched various battles, their posts where chronologically correct, etc. In the time I looked I couldn’t find anything here to substantiate the allegations, in hindsight it appears I missed some information regarding how many limbs may or may not have been missing. I tried looking elsewhere using the username; however, again the data seemed to match and therefore I had to resign myself that although there were serious doubts in my mind I personally could not come up with any definitive proof. I did not have, and do not recall ever being offered, all the data that other sites have now compiled, including a DD214, etc (however, given the anonymous nature of this site one would have to link many pieces of information from other sources to connect a username to a DD214).
During this time I received messages from one or more individuals who were involved in the stolen valor issue. Some were directly to me and others were copies; however, these messages contained what I perceive to be threats to me and my personal life (not my actual life, thankfully). These threats included sending letters to Commanding Officers and alumni associations among other actions. From later messages and posts on other sites the other individuals have actually sent letters to at least one person’s Commanding Officer and have sent letters to all of the alumni associations. The messages also included discussion regarding the use of government resources and potential violations of government regulations. Please note that current DOD guidelines for my service include the ability to use government computers and internet for purposes such as my involvement in this site. (The actual regulations include things like facebook, etc and the basic gist is ‘in your free time and as long as it doesn’t interefere with your job feel free to use the system)
As a volunteer who does the best they can with the information at hand this became an issue where the risk/reward ratio is no longer acceptable. The bottom line is that we were lied to, we were had, and I personally fell for it hook, line and sinker. I’m glad there are groups out there who do this job and although I feel the tact taken with this site was not appropriate given the fact that I know feel threatened (perception is reality, I don’t know if they meant it that way or not, but that’s how I perceive it).
Because this site is an invaluable resource to many who are here to gain information I plan on staying around as a member to help those who need it. Thank you for letting me serve you as a moderator for the last 9 years.
As of last night I have requested to resign from my supermoderator position here. I want to be clear that this was my own decision. Over the last 9 years I have had great experiences with this site and all of the members; however, recent events have taken the joy away and actually created fear instead. Please allow me to explain and realize that the following comments are my own and only reflect my opinion and perception of the events.
Several months ago we were approached by a new member who claimed another member was faking their disabled veteran status. The initial posts and messages, in my opinion, did not have much data and appeared to be a brand new member attacking a well established member. There were no documents of proof offered to me and in the limited research I did initially I could not prove or disprove whether certain medals were awarded to a person whose name I did not know or could not verify. As time went on other questions began to surface and I spent several hours combing through hundreds of posts to see if I could personally find any proof on this site that a member was not who they had portrayed. This member, in my opinion, was nearly perfect in their postings: the dates matched various battles, their posts where chronologically correct, etc. In the time I looked I couldn’t find anything here to substantiate the allegations, in hindsight it appears I missed some information regarding how many limbs may or may not have been missing. I tried looking elsewhere using the username; however, again the data seemed to match and therefore I had to resign myself that although there were serious doubts in my mind I personally could not come up with any definitive proof. I did not have, and do not recall ever being offered, all the data that other sites have now compiled, including a DD214, etc (however, given the anonymous nature of this site one would have to link many pieces of information from other sources to connect a username to a DD214).
During this time I received messages from one or more individuals who were involved in the stolen valor issue. Some were directly to me and others were copies; however, these messages contained what I perceive to be threats to me and my personal life (not my actual life, thankfully). These threats included sending letters to Commanding Officers and alumni associations among other actions. From later messages and posts on other sites the other individuals have actually sent letters to at least one person’s Commanding Officer and have sent letters to all of the alumni associations. The messages also included discussion regarding the use of government resources and potential violations of government regulations. Please note that current DOD guidelines for my service include the ability to use government computers and internet for purposes such as my involvement in this site. (The actual regulations include things like facebook, etc and the basic gist is ‘in your free time and as long as it doesn’t interefere with your job feel free to use the system)
As a volunteer who does the best they can with the information at hand this became an issue where the risk/reward ratio is no longer acceptable. The bottom line is that we were lied to, we were had, and I personally fell for it hook, line and sinker. I’m glad there are groups out there who do this job and although I feel the tact taken with this site was not appropriate given the fact that I know feel threatened (perception is reality, I don’t know if they meant it that way or not, but that’s how I perceive it).
Because this site is an invaluable resource to many who are here to gain information I plan on staying around as a member to help those who need it. Thank you for letting me serve you as a moderator for the last 9 years.