Warbird Information Exchange

Greetings to the WIX community! I am starting a new thread which announces The War You Know, a unique military history resource which hopefully proves to be of wide value to the membership here. The link to The War You Know:

http://thewaryouknowcurat.wixsite.com/the-war-you-know-

Please allow me to emphasize that everything at the above website is free and it generates no revenue. There is no advertising involved and the site has already had more than 1,000 views. Further, I am not attempting to build a parallel membership base. The sole purpose of The War You Know project is to educate and generate discussion by exhibiting original wartime primary sources such as letters, diaries, telegrams, newsreels, period military films, and etc.

Please consider visiting the site and join me in going back in time to study past conflict, including aviation history. I welcome your comments and will constantly strive to make The War You Know better for everyone's benefit. Thank you in advance for your time and interest -

Sincerely,

Site Manager

The War You Know

http://thewaryouknowcurat.wixsite.com/the-war-you-know-

I have been an aviation historian/author/publisher for more than thirty years and every book or article or quote written or published has had my name, my publishing name, and the names of all the authors and quoted individuals included, because without that, there is no credibility or value to the materials.

I have just read a couple of your pdf offerings and quite frankly don't see much value in them, without a real name attached. On top of that, without you naming yourself, I see little value in your site.

Harsh perhaps; an over reaction perhaps; but that's my opinion.

Doug

Doug's post is valid. My post applauds your efforts. Without the efforts of those who try, there will be no results to critique and therefore no effort to remember the past. While I'll agree with Doug's assessments, I do appreciate your quote for it seems you have an interest in improving your work. Keep working on it, keep learning to improve your efforts and by no means give up. We who care about what it is your trying to do appreciate and respect your efforts. Keep up the good work and never refuse "constructive" criticism.

All the best,

Mark

_________________
45+47=Psalm 92:6

Hello, Doug and Mark:

I'm grateful for your candid observations about The War You Know and was hoping to receive these sorts of critical appraisals which will improve the project's chances of surviving scholarly and public scrutiny. Having dedicated more than three years to gathering the original primary source material which resides on the website (and having spent a considerable amount of money doing so) to then offer it all for free, I want to take the right steps to ensure the credibility and historical quality of the material is acknowledged without reservation and the sources are considered worthy of reference, retention, and discussion.

With this said, in light of your comments above, I now find myself on the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, if I attach my actual name to The War You Know website, I may diminish the personal privacy which is very important to me (and in my line of work). Moreover, I have no interest in calling attention to myself and would prefer the original wartime primary sources be the story rather than me.

On the other hand, I am equally concerned that if I associate each story file (more than 100) with its true wartime author, I am liable to invite the wrath of some spouses, children/grandchildren, and others if they learn of the profanity, ethnic slurs, war crimes, sexual activity, and dishonorable service documented in some (not all) of the materials. Additionally, with thousands of dollars spent to legally obtain said materials, I'd like to avoid unfounded accusations that I either stole them or somehow came by them in a perceived underhanded fashion. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Consequently, I suppose I have some serious decisions to make but, if I do adopt your recommendations, it will still take months to complete the modifications. I wish I'd fully recognized the pitfalls to taking an anonymous/nom de guerre approach earlier on but thought the website content (all wartime period originals) would stand on its own merits. Thank you again for pointing out some concerns to me and don't hesitate to let me know if there are other things I might do to improve this free historical/educational public service. Have a good day -

Sincerely,

Site Manager

The War You Know

http://thewaryouknowcurat.wixsite.com/the-war-you-know-

I've been sampling the material and it's marvelous stuff. Much of it is very moving, especially the letters from men who were later KIA.

I agree that names are necessary to "legitimize" the works. Perhaps you could have a plan to deal with any concerns from family members on a case-by-case basis, pulling down specific letters if requested?

Thank you for posting the site.

My useless 2 cents. I'm no journalist nor writer but I suspect there are exceptions to the standard journalistic/literary license that allows a certain level of anonymity and discretion when working with delicate subject matter. Is this subject matter an example of that.....I don't know?? IMO your reasoning is legitimate. It maybe worthy to seek numerous professional opinions from those folks who actively work with delicate subject matter.

Richard W., I want to thank you for your uplifting post and I'm reassured that the original wartime website content is compelling, though I need to relook author attribution. The comments in this thread about the latter are nudging me in that direction (full attribution), as long as I'm doing it for the right reasons. When you're back at The War You Know, please consider looking at the period film if you haven't already done so along with the text you've been reading. I'm glad you took some time to visit.

CoastieJohn, I appreciate your helpful point as well and do want to move forward deliberately in consultation with others (as I am here) before taking the leap on full author attribution. This is a big deal for me because I'm a very private person who prefers to avoid the limelight. Thanks to you, too, for visiting.

If I reach a decision to fully attribute as discussed and it ends up going sideways with even just one veteran's family (unintended on my part), I remain concerned about those who wield patriotism as a weapon with which to bludgeon their "un-American adversaries" and further agendas, despite my nearly 30 years of apolitical U.S. military service. I do not want to be the main attraction in a media circus and we all know what can happen in the court of public opinion. A good weekend to the WIX community and I should be adding more material to The War You Know in the near future (prior to the larger attribution decision) -

Sincerely,

Site Manager

The War You Know

http://thewaryouknowcurat.wixsite.com/the-war-you-know-