Thank you, everyone. The best thing about being a student of weapons and armour and becoming a moderator is that you get the best bahnammer. This particularly exquisite North Italian Banhammer of the early 16th century was wielded by Edward of Beverly, moderator of the rather rowdy /scottishwars bulletin board in York during the tense days before Flodden, when the board was often attacked by pro-Scottish and pseudo-Lollard trolls. We know an awful lot about this banhammer because Edward recorded its history when he willed it to the next moderator of the bulletin board. His brother had bought it in Milan while on his way back from a pilgrimage to Rome. After receiving the Banhammer, Edward made the pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Matthias Trollslayer in Lancashire, near Furness Abbey, and had the Hammer blessed, according to the local custom. The shrine was supposedly founded after St. Mattias, the 13th apostle, appeared when the local Britons were defending the monastery from an attack of heretical trolls (who seem to have objected to a preposition in a statement issued by an ecumenical council) in the 6th century, and granted the defenders of the monastery victory over the trolls. Now St. Matthias, Trollslayer is decidedly a deuterocanonical saint - for one thing, the monastery was not founded in the 6th century, and for another his apparition was not recognized by Rome. However, his position as patron saint of moderators shows how moderators in the Middle Ages sought any aid they could in their constant battle with trolls.

The hammer itself is beautifully crafted, a masterpiece of Milanese banhammers from this period. Though it is ornate, it is still a very practical weapon of war. I have also consulted the few fencing manuals the explain the proper use of the banhammer. So I consider myself ready for duty, and ready to oversee the mod armory.

Captain History

He's a hero

Gonna bring conjecture down to zero

He's user's wishes magnified,

And he's fighting on the user's side

On a more serious note, glad to be able to contribute more frequently to the sub. Since my flair is of more seasonal interest than more perennial WWII and ancient history ones, it gives me something to do before the next flare-up between Havana and Washington.

Congrats to all!

/u/WARitter ,

I shall like to challenge /u/FrancisofFrance to personal combat in order to settle our disagreements once and for all. In your recommendation, which armor shall I wear?

The Karolus Divus celebrating my divine nature?

The Fajas Espesas field armor inspired by Spanish court dress?

Or perhaps the Alia Romana parade armor, so that I can simply march off to celebrate my inevitable victory without needing a change of outfit?

Please tell me your recommendation and prepare the most suitable armor immediately.

Best regards,

Emperor Charles V, by the grace of God, Holy Roman Emperor, forever August, King of Germany, King of Italy, King of all Spains, of Castile, Aragon, León, of Hungary, of Dalmatia, of Croatia, Navarra, Grenada, Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, Majorca, Sevilla, Cordova, Murcia, Jaén, Algarves, Algeciras, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, King of Two Sicilies, of Sardinia, Corsica, King of Jerusalem, King of the Western and Eastern Indies, of the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Brabant, Lorraine, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Limburg, Luxembourg, Gelderland, Neopatria, Württemberg, Landgrave of Alsace, Prince of Swabia, Asturia and Catalonia, Count of Flanders, Habsburg, Tyrol, Gorizia, Barcelona, Artois, Burgundy Palatine, Hainaut, Holland, Seeland, Ferrette, Kyburg, Namur, Roussillon, Cerdagne, Drenthe, Zutphen, Margrave of the Holy Roman Empire, Burgau, Oristano and Gociano, Lord of Frisia, the Wendish March, Pordenone, Biscay, Molin, Salins, Tripoli and Mechelen.

It's an honor and a pleasure to no longer be a has-been. Seriously though, it's great to be back in position from which I can contribute.

I actually thought at least a couple of these were already moderators, and all are good contributors. No clue if that makes them good mods, but apparently they're willing to do that thankless duty (even if you get to publicly and viciously smite quite often).

Are you looking for new moderators in any areas? I would like to study and specialize in Central African history and linguistics (Angola, DRC ex-Zaïre, Republic of Congo, Gabon) Belgian and French Congo.

Huzzah! Welcome to the team, folks! :)

Hi guys, wish you all good luck in your modding adventures!

Thanks for maintaining the professionalism of this subreddit. Always informative to read through.

I've drank beer with at least two of these new mods, so I'm pretty confident in saying we've got some top tier talent joining the mod ranks. That or I'm still feeling pretty good from all those beers. Either way, congrats to all!

Welcome, new mods!

suckers!

Surely the return of /u/agentdcf is a herald of some apocalypse or other?

Congratulations!

I'm never entirely sure which ancient myth is the best metaphor for moderating internet fora. Is it like the labour of Sisyphus or is it more like the Augean Stables?

Either way, good luck!

Welcome, and thank you for volunteering! I have a comment, but I'm not sure if it's been addressed before and I don't think it's worth its own meta post, so this might be as good a place as any:

I wish there were some kind of "answered" flair that could be applied to posts with at least one acceptable answer. Lately it seems like the majority of posts from this sub that are upvoted to my front page are just graveyards of deleted comments. It would be labor-intensive, but as every comment seems to be reviewed anyway, it seems like an "answered" flag could work.