Ten years on the "Military Review"
Yes, ten years have passed so imperceptibly that one is amazed. It seems like I recently started trying to comment on the site, and here there is already an asterisk in the profile. Therefore, I wanted to talk and speculate about how these ten years have passed. The fact that it is fruitful is understandable, but now we will not talk about achievements (although there are not many of them), but about one of the components of our today's existence.
That is, about readers and writers. About our audience.
Indeed, over the past ten years, the mass of readers has changed dramatically. And today, even in the sweetest dream, it is already unrealistic to imagine the processes that took place at the dawn of our formation.
Ten years ago, the site was just beginning to rise to its feet and was, in fact, a cozy room where rare army fanatics gathered, who really wanted to see at least something positive around them. And yes, we, the creative team, did our best to show that there is something good in our military environment. To carry, so to speak, optimism and hope to the masses.
And they carried it. Probably, they carried it well, because they gradually reached the level that we rightfully occupy. Yes, we are walking on the "Top-100" of the Russian media, but to great pleasure in the first half of it.
But then we really were a bunch of like-minded people who gathered in a virtual smoking room and talked in a friendly way on various topics. Then other readers began to catch up, the conversations became more lively and more interesting.
Then there was a series of "national conflicts". Armenian-Azerbaijani (but this is eternal, it seems to me), Russian-Arab-Israeli, Russian-Ukrainian, and so on. We, administrators and moderators, have gradually learned to be tough. Old-timers still remember and remember with the kind words of the moderator Apollo, who tried to find an approach to everyone and preferred to persuade not to be rude or swear at the commentators. Azer and I often argued on this topic, but when he started his career as a moderator, a day and a half to two dozen commentators came in, and therefore we could afford to mess with everyone.
Then came other times and other numbers of commentators. More aggressive. More motivated. These damn epaulets and ratings are still poisoning the life of the administration, as presented by some of our readers. During the night, 1000 points disappeared - we urgently need to catch the next Order.
The Order was fun too.
But the peak of unanimity came in 2014. There is something to remember, indeed, there was a complete feeling of being a part of one perfectly well-oiled organism that breathes and thinks with you. And we really did a lot of good things.
And then what we have today began. Even more people came, different people came, and they came in such a way that the "old people" began to leave or stop writing. Here the Order, of course, helped, but really, what's the point of writing something if a whole crowd immediately rushes at you, and without reading (this will be a separate conversation) throws "minuses" at you.
Initially, if a person comes to some platform, he comes for positive emotions that he experiences, assimilating information that is interesting for himself. There are more than enough negative ones in everyday life.
But in general, many note and I almost agree with them that the site ... no, I do not quite agree here. The site has remained the same. Yes, the authors are changing, there is such a thing, but the orientation of Voennoye Obozreniye has remained absolutely the same. Moderately sensible and politically pro-Russian.
The audience for commentators has changed. Moreover, it actually happened before our eyes, for some three or four years. Literacy fell, and with a crash. Don't be offended here, those who read it, but today, when you moderate the comments of so many people who write, you realize that here it is, the 40-point USE in all its horror. Morgoth just smokes nervously on the sidelines.
The goals / priorities have also changed. Before, yes, it was a cozy and warm communication of like-minded people. Today, the main majority of commentators come for only one thing: to express their Personal Opinion to everyone and to show how the author is not in the subject. To rise, so to speak.
Moreover, the argumentation of the correctness of the commentator sometimes takes on obviously ugly forms. As one of this legion recently issued, "The author received a fee for his article, and therefore he must take into account everything that is said to him here."
Interesting, right? This was not the case before. In fact, it's funny. It seems that some of the commentators pay royalties to the authors, and therefore each of the authors is simply obliged to take into account everything that the commentator wants to give out.
Authors react differently to this, but those who know about the sources of funding do not break their hearts.
Previously, the author and readers were interlocutors, communicating on common and interesting topics. Today the author, in the understanding of a certain number of readers, is an element of entertainment for the latter. Therefore, you can not stand on ceremony. Anonymous, since you still need to look for such minimum requirements as on our website in terms of registration.
In general, the respect has decreased several times. Yes, there were times when the address to the interlocutor on the site was "respected". Indeed, there were fewer visitors and everyone respected each other, even if they did not love.
Now the norm is familiar rudeness. Yes, and even on "you". For different authors in different ways, I, for example, amused when a complete stranger considers it normal for himself to address "Roma, you ...". And it is a pleasure to write back a request to remind me which ditch we were in together, and whether we drank up to the broodershaft ditch.
You never know, I suddenly forgot ... We are not cognac, we do not get better with age. Suddenly I really forgot.
Some may point out to me that in PM I just behave like a tram boor. Or a Voronezh redneck. Yes, there is, I admit. But a personal - she's a personal, and what happens there between two organisms is their own business. It happens, of course, and some messages become public, but this is already the level of Ukrainian politics or lower.
But - that is, that is. Politeness was gone along with warm communication. There is some kind of rabidness, the impression is that people come here not to read something interesting, but to quickly throw out in two lines all the anger accumulated during the day. Well, or take it out on the authors.
Not all over the place, of course. Andrey from Chelyabinsk has his own little bay, they sit there, polish anchors and you can even envy. But mostly the situation is sad. Especially where there is a discussion of topical topics.
Of course, there is a certain medicine here. For example, do not read the comments on your articles. Personally, it has been helping me for a long time, I rarely go. And the opinion about the article can be read on other resources, where the people are more cultured. Fortunately, they are being reprinted. And with us - there is no point.
I, of course, understand that a mundane 10-hour working day and a formatted telecom man in the street needs what? It is necessary to get confirmation of what he heard / read during the day. And if the files do not fit, then everything is according to old man Zadornov. Stupor and unwillingness to think. But what can we do, this is our life today.
Well, the most unpleasant thing for the author. Reading became even less. This is again towards the commentators. If in the "good old days" they read through a line, now, at best, through a paragraph. In general, the first two and one last paragraphs are usually enough.
The main thing is to grasp the general meaning of the article, and rush to scribble a comment before others get ahead. Otherwise, you can probably get fewer "plus signs". But the fact that often gentlemen commentators demonstrate that they have not read all the material is a normal and common occurrence, to my deep regret.
Sometimes you read this, and you yourself are amazed - well, where, in what letter did I write this? Sometimes you even check, and sometimes a cognitive dissonance arises, you look like this, you understand that this is it, here I wrote this and that. And the reader is just a mimicrocodile, took it and slipped through. But he took a thinner in his mouth and wrote how he spat. And you there understand His Special Opinion, and just try not to respect.
Appeal to reason? Completeness ... you look with what rapture the gentlemen commenting on each other sometimes shut their mouths and you understand that it is also a pleasure for them to impose on each other. Done regardless of age or position. Like everyone is equal here.
So we had to cancel the flags. Well, it's just that there is no longer any strength left to endure this obscurantism. Return rating to Jews, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Ukrainians. After all, they sculpted it completely without reading, purely according to the flag, as if they worked on sight. And in the end, many survived.
And I am personally sorry that the Israeli diaspora has thinned out. Yes, they are mostly harmful, but smart. And they go further than shouts that everyone who enters the Black Sea should be drowned, or that the United States should have been hit with its entire nuclear arsenal long ago. Clever, but harmful Jews diluted the domestic swamp very well.
It is a pity that there are almost no Kazakhs left. But this is not our fault, but the politicians of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who for some reason put us on the “black list”. And now it is very difficult to get to the site from Kazakhstan. But our cunning and thoughtful neighbors are leaking in. And I am very sorry that the Kazakhs are almost gone.
And in general, unfortunately, mostly smart people leave. Or they stop commenting, which is almost the same thing. They just do not want to get involved with those who do not strain themselves too much with the process of deliberation. It's easier. It's so much easier. It's like not reading the comments on your articles, roughly from the same opera.
As I understand it, this streak is a little longer. Probably, it is worth considering tightening the censorship in relation to comments. And in the "reader-author" system, and in the "reader-reader". Too many nervous readers have appeared, frankly unable to control themselves. It's time to start doing something in this direction. Instill courtesy.
Well, dissent. This is generally the scourge of our time. Unfortunately, all the same problems began to appear in our country as in the whole country. Completely according to the Ukrainian scenario, that is, "Get the gang!" We took a lot in this regard from our neighbors, and we poison everyone who does not agree with the generally accepted point of view.
Do you not believe in the saints of "Poseidon" with "Petrel" who will send us to paradise and America to die? On you cons, dear. Do you not believe that in 7 years we will have a nuclear aircraft carrier with a capacity of 100 tons? You're sold to the United States with giblets, dear. Don't you understand that besides Putin, there is no one else to lead the country? Your place is not on "VO", but on "Echo".
And stuff like that.
In general, of course, the ideas of our Orenburg reader Vitaly, who changed several hundred masks, going from Mehan to Weasel (a better nickname, in my opinion, than any "exposer" and "truth-tellers"), that one should shout "urya" without thinking at all, they sprouted. Unfortunately. Or the virus of "mechanism" is raging.
But in principle, stupidity and stupidity is not the worst thing. Vitalik is sculpted with packs of "minus", he really got fed up with his very gash melody on the theme that "everything is going as it should, you just have to be patient."
More fearful is hatred of dissidents and outright rudeness. Sometimes you read the "communication" of readers and wipe whole branches with an unwavering hand, because these comments do not carry any useful information, they are solid negative.
And especially for some reason, fans of "Great Russia" and "We are going the right way" succeed in this. For some reason, they are the most rabid in terms of defending their point of view, and therefore they are not shy in expressions.
Directly you begin to believe in Jewish pogroms, mass punishment of dissidents (from the unvaccinated to mysterious liberals), give them only the opportunity.
After that, you often start very aggressively thinking about whether we are people at all? If there are so many of us among us, where will we go, to what heavenly booths? Well, the "mechanized" ones, they don't care what kind, if only a nuclear strike would be inflicted on the United States. And there, in the ashes, they will dance the hopak from the heart.
Ten years is a period. Reading the comments, which from year to year do not become smarter and more meaningful, it becomes somehow sad. Where are we heading? To "mechanized" sofa columns sweeping away everything on their way to a brighter future? Who are shouting their eternal "we will not forget, we will not forgive"? From the couch.
In general, there is still a slice of hope that everything will return to normal. And in another five years, I will be able to admit that in 2021 I saw everything in a somewhat gloomy light. But what if this is still the case?
In general, I hope that the site will grow wiser after all. And there will be many more readers who will write really worthwhile and smart comments. Not like this:
Russia needs to deliver a nuclear strike against the United States and this will end the Great Patriotic War. The United States cannot retaliate with a nuclear strike against Russia, it has already tried it many times.
An indicator of what is going on in the minds of some. I would like as little as possible of such reasoning from sick people and as much as possible smart from normal readers.
After all, we come here not only for information, but also for human communication. I really hope that it will be like this for another 10 years, or even more. Humanly, first of all.
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