Who is Rum Ration for?

[spearfish]

I was in the first couple of hundred of people joining this site and I was naturally very please when it appeared.However I believe that the site has not progressed in the way that the owners who also appear to be the moderators had hoped.Despite having a reasonably large membership the current young generation appear reluctant to post.Why this is the case I do not know?Possibly they are all busy on service around the four corners of the world and have better things to do!
At the same time a lot of former members of the service have posted yet this seems to be actively discouraged by the moderators.I frequently see in print that the strength of the Navy is partly due to its long history and heritage something a lot of foreign navies can only aspire to!
The current attitude appears to be that the uncle alberts are not wanted which I find astounding.So I ask all of you where is this site going?If the current attitude is continued I can only see one version of the future-a premature death which will not be mourned by many of the readers.
I would suggest that moderators who are independent are employed and that an advertising campaign is instigated to persuade some of the younger members to join and post.The official RN website recently had a competition with some i-pods as prizes.Perhaps some market research amongst the readership would also help.I think that resticting posting to current junior members of the Navy is misguided.The next thing will be restricting it to only sailors currently at Raleigh!
Blue touch paper lit-over to you!

 

[Always_a_Civvy]

I was in the first couple of hundred of people joining this site and I was naturally very please when it appeared.However I believe that the site has not progressed in the way that the owners who also appear to be the moderators had hoped.Despite having a reasonably large membership the current young generation appear reluctant to post.Why this is the case I do not know?Possibly they are all busy on service around the four corners of the world and have better things to do!
At the same time a lot of former members of the service have posted yet this seems to be actively discouraged by the moderators.I frequently see in print that the strength of the Navy is partly due to its long history and heritage something a lot of foreign navies can only aspire to!
The current attitude appears to be that the uncle alberts are not wanted which I find astounding.So I ask all of you where is this site going?If the current attitude is continued I can only see one version of the future-a premature death which will not be mourned by many of the readers.
I would suggest that moderators who are independent are employed and that an advertising campaign is instigated to persuade some of the younger members to join and post.The official RN website recently had a competition with some i-pods as prizes.Perhaps some market research amongst the readership would also help.I think that resticting posting to current junior members of the Navy is misguided.The next thing will be restricting it to only sailors currently at Raleigh!
Blue touch paper lit-over to you!

Hi Spearfish,

I proposed something similar, see below, but have received no response so far. Bad omen perhaps?

source: http://www.rumration.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/viewtopic/p=19337/highlight=iPod.html#19337

I think the problem despite the intemperate outburst from the_matelot is not that there should be any less of the old fart stuff, after all it is the olf farts to a substantial extent who keep the place ticking over, rather we need to get people starting threads which will atract the missing elements. Now we get roundly criticised, but as yet no one, least of all our latest complainant the _matelot who seems to have gone back to his chums on arse, has started doing anything positive like posting what they believe is needed.

Come on lets see some of the stuff the serving Jack/Jill actually wants to take part in.

Peter

I see the MOD Navy site is running a competition with an iPod as prize (I have entered for it but don't expect to win :lol perhaps, as they seem to approve of us, they might run a survey for us or we could possibly run something similar on this site and publicise it in Navy News? I would suggest, say a 1GB iPod Nano as a prize for the suggestion judged best by the Mods (1GB IPod Nano costs £100) which we can get engraved free (by ordering online) with RumRation and our web address. I'd be willing to stump up half the cost.

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[spearfish]

Always a civvy,well I obviously missed that one!The moderators on here certainly seem to have an agenda of their own.As a regular reader Iknow very little about them apart from Jenny.What i do know is that they lack impartiality and they all need a lesson in spelling and grammar-perhaps they are all Young people who converse only in text speak.
Most sites I subscribe to are moderated by the users.This allows them impartiality as they are not worried about their advertising revenues.They also truly care about the site and the discussions on it and they only step in when there has been a security problem or a poster's behaviour is unacceptable.
I am off to the florist tomorrow to get a wreath!

 

[Always_a_Civvy]

As a civvy* I don't really feel qualified/entitled to respond to some of your comments, though I think you can guess where I stand, as a relic of the Cold War and Operation Hornbeam. I am sorry John Major's government disbanded Hornbeam - and told the public what it was in a Parliamentary statement, before 'we' knew about this! Felt betrayed at the time!

Let's see if this thread gets anywhere. I'm off for a fortnight - perhaps things will have changed when I return, if the Mid-East doesn't explode further!





*Only naval experience was in the RNXS!

 

[asst_dep_to_dep_asst]

I think we need to be a bit careful, here. RumRation came into being on the back of the Arrse website, which some of us in tri-Service jobs had been reading for some time, and has the herculean task of involving the more junior members of the RN in discussions.

The simple truth must be that those of us who are longer in the tooth care more about the issues that are discussed and the younger members either haven't yet heard of the site or don't feel that they have anything to contribute. I think that the Mods are generally quite mindful of the wider audience and I have only seen one or two instances of unfair censorship.

 

[Maxi_77]

I think we need to be a bit careful, here. RumRation came into being on the back of the Arrse website, which some of us in tri-Service jobs had been reading for some time, and has the herculean task of involving the more junior members of the RN in discussions.

The simple truth must be that those of us who are longer in the tooth care more about the issues that are discussed and the younger members either haven't yet heard of the site or don't feel that they have anything to contribute. I think that the Mods are generally quite mindful of the wider audience and I have only seen one or two instances of unfair censorship.

I tend to agree, and I would suggest that we all owe a substantial vote of thanks to those who have made this place a reality. Mind you I would also suggest that unrully though some of us may be from time to time as things stand we are RR, because without contributors it is nothing.

I for one have no problem with constructive criticism, but I do think that those who do not offer any solutions to percieved problems fail to help, and it is more distressing when this is done by a moderator.

Peter

 

[fishmiester]

Serving member.
23 Years done - few more left to do.

Neither old fart nor young pup.

Can I still play??

 

[spearfish]

The sllence from the moderators is deafening

 

[dondon]

I think we need to be a bit careful, here. RumRation came into being on the back of the Arrse website, which some of us in tri-Service jobs had been reading for some time, and has the herculean task of involving the more junior members of the RN in discussions.

The simple truth must be that those of us who are longer in the tooth care more about the issues that are discussed and the younger members either haven't yet heard of the site or don't feel that they have anything to contribute. I think that the Mods are generally quite mindful of the wider audience and I have only seen one or two instances of unfair censorship.

I tend to agree, and I would suggest that we all owe a substantial vote of thanks to those who have made this place a reality. Mind you I would also suggest that unrully though some of us may be from time to time as things stand we are RR, because without contributors it is nothing.

I for one have no problem with constructive criticism, but I do think that those who do not offer any solutions to percieved problems fail to help, and it is more distressing when this is done by a moderator.

Peter

Have to agree mate , not sure what the solution is though , I certainly don't want to see it fall , I am constantly telling peaple about the site , a few have joined , but there is an awful lot of apathy out there , don't know why , and not just about this site either , peaple are just not bothered about anything going on around them , Fxxxxxxxxg sad realy , wish I knew the answer :twisted: :roll:

 

[Bad CO]

The sllence from the moderators is deafening

I suspect that might be my cue.....

Most of you will know that RR is an offshoot of ARRSE. People had often mentioned that there was no RN/RM equivalent. It seemed to us that no-one else appeared interested in setting up an unoffical RN/RM forum so we cracked on.

Our aim has always been to try and duplicate the success of ARRSE in that RR becomes the website of choice for all matters RN/RM. In order to do that we believe that you need a wide mixture of people. That includes those serving, those retired, those wanting to join and all those with just an interest in RN/RM matters. So far we believe that we are doing quite well judging by the size of the membership and the number of hits the site gets. Whether we have got the mix right is something that remains to be seen.

However neither GCO or myself has any RN/RM background and this is a deficiency that seriously bothers us. We therefore rely very heavily on feedback from people like our moderators and site users like yourselves. Inevitably we are never going to please all the people all the time but that shouldn't stop us trying!

The mods tell us that the proportion of serving members of the RN/RM on here is quite low and that the site image may well be putting them off. Anecdotally I have heard something similar from my RN colleagues at work. Clearly this is something that we should try and redress.

Its clear that attempts by the mods to do this have upset a lot of the more senior users and for that I apologise. Hopefully you can appreciate that they had good intentions? The key question remains though, how do we attract more serving matelots whilst still making the site attractive to those who seem to make up the bulk of the current membership?

I look forward to your comments.

One small point that I should probably make clear. Being a mod on a site like this is always contentious. All ours have put in a lot of work in getting the site off the ground and we continue to be extremely grateful to them for their efforts.

 

[harryaitch]

The sllence from the moderators is deafening

I suspect that might be my cue.....

Most of you will know that RR is an offshoot of ARRSE. People had often mentioned that there was no RN/RM equivalent. It seemed to us that no-one else appeared interested in setting up an unoffical RN/RM forum so we cracked on.

Our aim has always been to try and duplicate the success of ARRSE in that RR becomes the website of choice for all matters RN/RM. In order to do that we believe that you need a wide mixture of people. That includes those serving, those retired, those wanting to join and all those with just an interest in RN/RM matters. So far we believe that we are doing quite well judging by the size of the membership and the number of hits the site gets. Whether we have got the mix right is something that remains to be seen.

However neither GCO or myself has any RN/RM background and this is a deficiency that seriously bothers us. We therefore rely very heavily on feedback from people like our moderators and site users like yourselves. Inevitably we are never going to please all the people all the time but that shouldn't stop us trying!

The mods tell us that the proportion of serving members of the RN/RM on here is quite low and that the site image may well be putting them off. Anecdotally I have heard something similar from my RN colleagues at work. Clearly this is something that we should try and redress.

Its clear that attempts by the mods to do this have upset a lot of the more senior users and for that I apologise. Hopefully you can appreciate that they had good intentions? The key question remains though, how do we attract more serving matelots whilst still making the site attractive to those who seem to make up the bulk of the current membership?

I look forward to your comments.

One small point that I should probably make clear. Being a mod on a site like this is always contentious. All ours have put in a lot of work in getting the site off the ground and we continue to be extremely grateful to them for their efforts.

As an old fart I very much enjoy the rum ration site.But it would be nice to hear more from serving members of the RN/RM.comparisons with old and new can be made and expierences shared.Does the army site have a good mix of old and new.?

Just a question to ask.As a young serving member of the RN/RM what would you rather be doing,?enjoying life,traveling the world,making history,or sitting in front of a computer reading of nostalgic journeys made in a bygone era by such persons as I and a lot of other ancient mariners whose past is as important as their future.

 

[Maxi_77]

The sllence from the moderators is deafening

I suspect that might be my cue.....

Most of you will know that RR is an offshoot of ARRSE. People had often mentioned that there was no RN/RM equivalent. It seemed to us that no-one else appeared interested in setting up an unoffical RN/RM forum so we cracked on.

Our aim has always been to try and duplicate the success of ARRSE in that RR becomes the website of choice for all matters RN/RM. In order to do that we believe that you need a wide mixture of people. That includes those serving, those retired, those wanting to join and all those with just an interest in RN/RM matters. So far we believe that we are doing quite well judging by the size of the membership and the number of hits the site gets. Whether we have got the mix right is something that remains to be seen.

However neither GCO or myself has any RN/RM background and this is a deficiency that seriously bothers us. We therefore rely very heavily on feedback from people like our moderators and site users like yourselves. Inevitably we are never going to please all the people all the time but that shouldn't stop us trying!

The mods tell us that the proportion of serving members of the RN/RM on here is quite low and that the site image may well be putting them off. Anecdotally I have heard something similar from my RN colleagues at work. Clearly this is something that we should try and redress.

Its clear that attempts by the mods to do this have upset a lot of the more senior users and for that I apologise. Hopefully you can appreciate that they had good intentions? The key question remains though, how do we attract more serving matelots whilst still making the site attractive to those who seem to make up the bulk of the current membership?

I look forward to your comments.

One small point that I should probably make clear. Being a mod on a site like this is always contentious. All ours have put in a lot of work in getting the site off the ground and we continue to be extremely grateful to them for their efforts.

Thank you both for the comments above and the efforts in getting this of the ground, quite an achievement in my opinion for what that is worth.

It is always a difficult question in these things as to whether it is better to let nature take it's course or to tryand manipulate it. I have a suspicion it is not just content but the general tren to watch rather than take part that is at least in part the cause of the percieved difficulty, and I really have little advice other than showing others how much fun you can have by taking part. As to the content perhaps those who have the ear of the sailor of today should be a bit more proactive and start threads directed to the reluctant participant and see if that draws more in.

Good luck.

Peter