Post Number 500

[Ricky]

Wow I finally hit post number 500 and I am still a chief petty officer. If this was an army run site I would have made General by now hahahahahahahahaha.

On a serious note I thank Tbird for the opportunity to be a part of such a great veteran family and for providing a site that has provided me with invaluable information and guidance in the processing of my VA claim. I also want to thank my Hadit family for their time, assistance and sometimes bitting their tonuge when my meds are kicking my butt and I get a little testy.

Although multitudes have helped me I send a special thanks to guys and gals such as Berta, Pete, Six, and Vike for their providing me with expert advice on navigating through the VA maze. Although I sometimes did not want to hear what you had to tell me, after kicking the dog and spitting on the wall I knew that you knew what you were talking about!

God bless each and every one of you. Both my family and I thank you from the bottoms of our hearts.

God bless this great country.

Ricky

[Testvet]

we are just rookies compared to Pete, John and some of the others here, I have been here 5 years in Oct and I think I probably had close to a 1000 posts on the old board because I am close to 1100 on Gulf War vets and I was posting here long before I found the Gulf War board, I have learned everything here, and gone thru several SO's rofl I haven't had a "good" one yet except Hadit

[Pete53]

Ok to clear things up some of the Haidt Elders were jumped up and given more posts than actual to fit the criteria that this baord uses for Senior Status.

I have been on Hadit shortly after T-Bird started over 10 years ago. I do post a lot cause I believe that people fighting the VA need support as well as information.

I believe that Hadit has some very knowledgeable people in many different areas and that over time almost all questions will be answered.

I have not discussed this but I think that Terry had to select a theme to reflect the status of posters.

I suggest that you overlook rank in here. It is also a means for new people to judge some of the comments as y'all know some really weird ideas can pop up here from time to time.

500 posts are a milestone congrats Ricky.

Also some of the best posters here started out not knowing beans about the VA. Opinions are one thing but if its my claim I want Rules and Regulations and Case Law.

[sixthscents]

Personally I was pretty active on the old board, and the new but Terry specifically told me she made me an elder because of how I answered questions. I think we all know a poster or two who posts a response seemingly to everything, and maybe a few remember one who posted a whole bunch of really incorrect information. I do not claim complete knowlege, but I do reference my comments normally, and I do a great deal of off-line work.

So, while Terry has set basic standards SHE uses for promotion, it's her perogative to promote at will. I personally value those resposes where someone actually points to the reg, and shows why something is what it is... does that make sense? It has been my experience, and only MY opinion that those who truely know what they are talking about almost always reference their resposes if possible. Sometimes its impossible because we are basing our answers not on regulatory guidance, but what we know the VA will do from a pool of experience.

I am a member of several other veteran sites, and from what I have seen this has pretty much held true anywhere. Terry has made some of us moderators based on how we respond to certain situations. I not ashamed that she was "of two minds" about making me one. I tend to be very passionate about what I believe, and very outspoken if I think that "bad" or "harmful" advice is being offered up as fact. Hence that fact that I am on probation... for as long as Terry decides I need to be. Personally I have found it to be a good experience for me, because I have had to learn (at least start to learn) to control my opinions and base my decisions and actions as a moderator in a very objective way.

Pete53 is my "mentor", and he will yank my leash up hard if he thinks I am stepping out of line. I think, personally that this is probably the most sane, and just system to train and evaluate moderators that I have seen. To me it is almost mystical the way carlie, or Pete53 will say "We need to keep an eye on..." and next thing you know they are causing all kinds of havoc. Experience I suppose, but it still looks like magic to me sometimes.

So, why did I go into this long-winded spiel? Well I am long winded, but I wanted everyone to kind of understand how Terry bases her ranking of members. It is not necessarily the quantity of posts but as much the quality. She is good at putting out her "commander's intent", and then letting her mods take care of most things. Yet, when you realize how few moderators there are, and how few real problems Hadit has in comparison to other boards, I feel that it is an institutional attitude. Compared to many other veteran boards Hadit has very very few modersators, yet things work amazingly well. I think that stems entirely from the selfless service of a great many knowlegable people. Hadit is a veteran friendly board, and to be honest only one of a very few I have encountered.

Anyway, congratulations on you achievement Ricky, but with you buddy its all about quality. I have seen enough to know that. I'd rather have 5 posts from you than 50 from some others. I include you in that as well Testvet. Again, I am amazed at the depth and breadth of knowlege here.

[Ricky]

Thanks guys. I also started on the old board. The rank thing was an Army vs Navy thing hahahahahaha. I could care less if I was ranked as a navy wanna be as long as a couple of my posts provided good advice to a needy veteran. Anyway, I argue the rank thing with my son all the time - he is in the Army Air Corp, also known as the Air Force. He tells me all the time that the Army promoted me every time I dropped my hat hahahaha.

[sixthscents]

Well I was in the Air Force from 86-91, and yep promotion was really slow compared to the Army... 93-2002. However, the Army was a LOT quicker to take rank for minor crap, than the Air Force was. So, I think it kind of balances out. It was kinda funny though, I'd been in the Army all of 9 months and was a Sgt. (E5) and boy did I have a LOT to learn.... same for 6/7... promotion was almost too quick to be honest, but I guess I managed ok... I was a fair haired child until I got broken anyway...

[Ricky]

You are right Six. The army will promote you at the drop of the hat. But beware, if you pick the hat up the wrong way or put it on your head crooked they will take a couple of ranks fairly quick.