'What if' questions

[Laurent Rizzotti]

One of the latest members of this forum posted in those last days a number of 'what if' posts. He admitted being 16 and have few knowledges of the subject and the general position of the repliers seems to confirm this. I answered the first but allready regretted it.

IMOO "what if" have very few historical interest as any serious research shows that WWII war machines were very heavy and there is a huge gap between a good idea and its execution. Most "what if" posters simply ignore political, logistical or administrative fields, while they are the basis of war. Wars are started for political reasons, directed by administrations and supported by logistics.

The best that can happen is that someone posting such posts will use the links and books provided to learn more of the subject.

On a sidenote, another disagreements I have with "what if" posts on the Net is that 95% of them are pro-Axis. Hitler was the bad guy and one may only wish he has been beaten faster than the contrary.

It seems to me that "what if" posts were not appreciated on TOCH, but I may be wrong. What is the "official" ( = Ruy's) TOCH opinion on the subject ?

[Ruy Horta]

Laurent,

Although I may be the host of this forum, it has always been my aim to let the community decide what it does and does not like. It happens to be that our community generally doesn't repond well to 'what if' questions. Most likely because they tend to lead nowhere and are seldom informative.

Personally I tend to ignore most of them, but sometimes even a 'what if' thread can be interesting for its originality, quality or information. There is no reason to ban 'what if' questions. Any normal person would catch on to the forum response soon enough and adapt accordingly.

At one point you may start doubting the sincerity behind these questions. Sometimes your senses warn you with the first post and sometimes it takes time to see a pattern, but there are people who take great satisfaction in wasting other people's time or creating trouble on a forum.

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=1477

Any forum dealing with Luftwaffe (or warfare in general) will always attract people who disagree with our choice of interest, you should always keep that in mind.