THIS IS NOT A MODELING BOARD!!! (Attn: Moderator)

[Lost World]

Some measure needs to be taken to direct modelers and toy train enthusiasts not to post their modeling/collecting questions on this board. One would think the title General Discussion (Classic Trains) would be enough, along with the fact that the Model Railroader and toy train/garden railway boards are on the same Trains.com homepage. Yet apparently mere titles are not enough. How about a large warning or disclaimer in big red letters proclaiming to all potential posters that modeling questions are not appropriate for this board? Maybe an alarm could sound along with it. Hell, I don't know, but when 7/8's of the new posts on this board have nothing to do with the topic the board is here to address, there is obviously a problem. And I know I'm not the only one who is annoyed by it. So, anyone else have any bright ideas?

[TomDiehl]

For somebody so new to the boards, I think you need to chill. This is only an internet forum board, and the world isn't going to come to an end if somebody posts a question or statement under the wrong heading.

[PBenham]

Well, if you do not subscribe to MR,Garden Railways or Classic Toy Trains, but do subscribe to Classic Trains, this might be the only place you could ask your question, aside from a jungle of unmoderated chat rooms and discussion boards, which may have chats that a reader might not wish to see for whatever reason.

[BigJim]

Well, if you do not subscribe to MR,Garden Railways or Classic Toy Trains, but do subscribe to Classic Trains, this might be the only place you could ask your question, aside from a jungle of unmoderated chat rooms and discussion boards, which may have chats that a reader might not wish to see for whatever reason.

What in the wide wide world of sports does subscribing to any of these magazines have to do with it...HMMMMM?

Register with any Kalmbach forum and you're in like Flint to any of the others. If your thing is Z, N, HO, go to the Model Railroading Forum.;

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/13/ShowForum.aspx

If you like O go to the Classic Toy Trains Forum;

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/95/ShowForum.aspx

 It's as simple as that.

One more thing! This is not trying to be hard on anyone or berate anyone. This purely trying to help SOMEONE find the BEST place to get a good answer to their question!

[BigJim]

For somebody so new to the boards, I think you need to chill.

As a bit of a PS (or I told you so), check out this timeline:

11/20/06

2:59pm

    scottso posts a question here; "Signal help for the newbie". Scott chills out waiting for an answer.

6:03pm

   I suggest that Scott try the CTT Forum to find an answer.

6:33pm

   Scott is smart and posts his question to the CTT Forum.

7:36pm

   BAM! Scott gets his first answer.

7:50pm

   BAM! BAM! Scott gets his second answer, with pictures!

NOTE - Scott has yet to get an answer to his question HERE on the Classic Trains Forum

Just another prime example of "The Proper Tool for the Proper Job".

  

 

 

[TomDiehl]

For somebody so new to the boards, I think you need to chill.

As a bit of a PS (or I told you so), check out this timeline:

11/20/06

2:59pm

    scottso posts a question here; "Signal help for the newbie". Scott chills out waiting for an answer.

6:03pm

   I suggest that Scott try the CTT Forum to find an answer.

6:33pm

   Scott is smart and posts his question to the CTT Forum.

7:36pm

   BAM! Scott gets his first answer.

7:50pm

   BAM! BAM! Scott gets his second answer, with pictures!

NOTE - Scott has yet to get an answer to his question HERE on the Classic Trains Forum

Just another prime example of "The Proper Tool for the Proper Job".

  

Actually he did get his answer here, you directed him to the CTT forum board.

My "chill" comment was directed more toward the hostile tone of the original post.

[BillyDee53]

If 7/8s of the posts are off topic, they need to change the topic.

[wjstix]

Well it would have been nice if Kalmbach had picked up the "Vintage Rails" title from Pentrex instead of using "Classic Trains. "Classic Trains" forum and "Classic Toy Trains" forum names are too close to each other and causes mix-ups. That's why we keep getting "What is my Lionel 773 worth?" questions here.

[markn]

What the heck-I'll pull the pin and toss a grenade in...Yes, to a certain degree it is a modelling forum.   Some of us choose to honor/research/relive the past glory of railroading by making replicas of it.  The last time I saw my beloved N&W "J"  operating it was an HO model.  The only real one I've seen is sitting gathering dust in  a train shed in Roanoke.

I am not advocating this became modelling forum but if somebody wanders in with a question, we should answer it if we can, thank them for stopping by, and politely direct them to more appropriate forum.  If they are on this web site, they are interested in trains and  therefore "railfans" in one sort or another.

Several years ago I build a Lionel-like HO layout for my boys-lots of "play" things-log drops, loaders, and a coal tipple-to which they said "What's coal"- I explained and told them how I unloaded coal cars during college summers, their great uncle worked for the NYC, and on our next trip on I-64 (that parallels C&Os original cut thru the mountains) we "railfanned" several modern coal drags along the way-they were interested because of a model.

Concur with previous posts-let's chill..remember ALCO, Baldwin, Lima aren't making 4-8-4s anymore but Lionel, LGB, Bachman et al are....

[Lost World]

<BLOCKQUOTE><table class="quoteOuterTable"><tr><td class="txt4"><img src="/trccs/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif">&nbsp;<strong>TomDiehl wrote:</strong></td></tr><tr><td class="quoteTable"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="100%" valign="top" class="txt4">For somebody so new to the boards, I think you need to chill. This is only an internet forum board, and the world isn't going to come to an end if somebody posts a question or statement under the wrong heading.</td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>
The fact that I'm new to the board has no bearing on anything. I have just as much right to be on here as anyone. In fact, I have more right than those who get on here and don't post in topic. I stay out of conversations where I'm not welcome, post if I need to, and answer if I have something to add. The fact that I don't register activity on here every single day, or week, is meaningless.
As to the original post, I was merely suggesting that the purpose of this board be made more clear, and whether there were any ideas about how this might be accomplished. THat was all

[PBenham]

Lost: REMEMBER: There is no cure for stupidity.
I tried to start stupidity anonymous a while back, but no one could recall the first step! (Sha BOOM!)

[Lost World]

That sums it up.

[selector]

I agree with pointing out the person's error since civility costs nothing.  If he/she persists, we can become a bit more insistent ourselves, or merely collectively decline to respond to his/her posts.

I would be deeply offended if I walked in the wrong door of a service facility run by the Federal Government, say the passport office, and had "alarms ringing" to warn everyone that I had made a mistake.  That does well on vapid TV game shows, but not on a public forum where exchanges of information and opinion are meant to be welcome...that includes requests for the same.

[PBenham]

The Canadian government is not half as paranoid as that of the good 'ol US ofA! Go in the wrong door here, and they will send you through a door, that will be closed behind you for five to ten years, for a first offense.

[superheat]

The Canadian Gov't isn't under constant attack from within and abroad. Even now there are spoiled malcontents who are trying to sell the idea that the 9-11 attacks were the work of the U.S. Gov't, and there is no shortage of brainless idiots eager and willing to buy into such extreme lunacy. Only in America do people aspire downward.

[Loco]

    Wjstix,

Amen to the "Classic Trains" and the "Classic Toy Trains" titles.... I just got my first issue of Toy Trains... Which I then had to call in and cancel as I model in HO during the mid 50's LOL.  I thought I was getting "Classic" when I ordered.  On the POSSITIVE side, they were very understanding and we both got a chuckle out of it.  Guess I'm not the first.

I've been a moderator and have worked on the web for a long while.  I've found that gentle and polite "nudging" works rather well 8% of the time. 2% of the time you got to put the hammer down.  The other 90% of the time, if the moderators have done thier job correctly, the MEMBERS do the most to keep the board on track.  And trust me, this is MILD and MATURE board in just about every respect.

LAte
Loco