Valid Discussions
Sabretache,
I agree mate. Your query most certainly would not be resolved by routine internet searches! the subject of recruitment, training and allocation of replacements to front-line units is a VERY complex one indeed (in any army and any period), and has frequently in history been a contributary factor in the performance of armies, from Napoelon's Grande Armee of 1813 to 21st Army Group in Normandy 1944. Please continue to ask away!
Lemmy,
You're entitled to your opinion (some might disagree with me), but it is not for any member of the forum to arbitrarily decide whose threads are valid or not. If you've got a problem, e-mail it off-forum directly to the administrator. In my opinion (and I have been on this forum since the day it opened), any thread is valid provided it is broadly on-topic and if anyone is prepared to answer it constructively! Both of my 'validity criteria' were fulfilled before you even made your comments - it was clearly a Napoleonic-related question and was one which I find to be interesting. Eclaireur (who has also been here from the start) clearly agrees with me - so much so that he took the time to answer the question!
I think it's important to remember that if you've been reading any forum for a while, the same questions tend to crop up with some regularity (not the case here, I hasten to add - it was an original and thought-provoking question). It might be 'old hat' to us, but to the 'Marie-Lousie' making the post, it is a new question. I have always considered it a matter of pride and honour to help out newcomers - as, I know, does Eclaireur, as well as many others.
I once visited a German-topic WW2 forum, where newcomers' questions were regularly shouted down with comments such as yours. I left that one in disgust (after some appropriate comments) and I for one will fight tooth and nail against anything of that sort happening here.
If you look back through old postings, you will find that we are a broad church. There is plenty of room for the 'FAQ' to live alongside the 'High-Brow'. We have members here who are just starting to read their first book on Napoleon and to paint their first figure, alongside those who regularly do their research in the British Library, Chateau de Vincennes and the Public Records Office and have written the books that the newbies are reading!
Everyone though is exected to obey certain rules of etiquette and manners - chief among these is that if you declare a disagreement or agreement with something, you'd better follow it up with some good, sound arguments, otherwise we end up in the world of Monty Python;
"This isn't an argument, it's just contradiction!"
"No it isn't!"
Anyway Lemmy, welcome to the forum... I look forward to many future discussions.
Cheers,
Mark