One thing that I could not help but notice is the large percentage of posts that are requests for technical assistance, which I think if a wonderful thing for readers to assist other readers with problems, and so this is by no means a criticism. Some time ago, I suggested the Trains Magazine forum be subdivided into essentially the categories it has now. Prior to that , every subject was "lumped" together. Since trouble shooting is a valuable and popular subject. I wonder if it would be helpful to at least divide the forum simply into
Tinplate
Prewar
Postwar
Contemporary.
Trouble shooting as well as other topics could fall into one of four categories.
I know that my interest is tinplate and contemporary, and that it would be nice ( as in another unnamed forum) to simply go where my interests lie.Is this a good idea or one that is unnecessary?
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
Probably not going to happen anytime soon. We came close to doing scenery or Flyer sub-sections, but decided not to since this would disperse the traffic we have into multiple sub-sections.
Regards,
Bob Keller
I would think that participation in this forum was thin enough w/o further fragmentation of interests or topics.
From my point of view, the single most useful distinction would be between threads that ask for help and those that show or describe layouts and other accomplishments, solicit opinions, or take polls. Right now, examples of the latter group would be "Post your Christmas Layout Pics Here", "Building a Large American Flyer Layout", "Sorta new, to American Flyer, Anyway", "...COFFEE POT...", "The Little (Lionel) Engine that Did", and "Sunday Photo Fun...".
Bob Nelson
I have no problem with lumping together the posts that ask for help with those that show or describe layouts and other accomplishments, solicit opinions, or take polls. The authors of these posts, though, could help matters by identifying the nature of their posts in the subject matter. Using a title of "If Only" to describe an electrical problem on a layout (translated, "If Only I Could Find the Short on My Industrial Siding") makes it difficult to browse through the posts of interest to the reader.
I remain disappointed, though, that the forum has not devoted a separate section to American Flyer interests. Sounds like we came close according to Bob Keller. It is dreary to have to look at all of the O gauge posts to get to the S gauge stuff. Heck, they still have a separate section for those MR Anniversary Cars after 5 years and just a few posts on the subject.
Rich
Alton Junction
Lol..I have often wondered what mental contortions a newbie goes through when a post title is something esoteric like "3807 D Problem". or " DCC versus MTC versus AR5". Maybe "It's Broke" would do. Or, "It Broke again."
I know that identifying the manufacturer in the post title might help, and what I was thinking of was the use of perhaps a future forum search function, where you could at least call up (maybe not call up specific issues) but at least get in the ball park. Maybe at least Lionel, Marx, American Flyer as a preface in the title would help.I know that the filter thing is no help in this regard.
There is a great deal of great information here it's at least for me, it is difficult, more often than not , to access it. Again, it's just something I have experienced and is not a criticism, but rather a suggestion.
V8Vega On Tycoforums.com they have a whole bunch of catagories and because the posts are spread around it seems like their are few posts. Dennis
On Tycoforums.com they have a whole bunch of catagories and because the posts are spread around it seems like their are few posts.
Dennis
Is that good or bad?
I prefer the complete listing as it is. Allows me to pick and chose which I am interested in without having to plunge to subsets and then back up and down repeatedly. I ignore those for gauge that I don't run or for detail questions about command control or other. Perhaps a classification box(s) that the author can select when posting that would appear with the title (prefer more than one displaying). Some choices might be: Am Flyer; O Gauge; Tin Plate; Command; Scale; Problems; Wiring; etc. Could select more than one that would display.
Really works pretty good as it is.
Hielsie
Some of us have multiple scales. I have pre war AF Wide (Standard) gauge, Pre war AF O Gauge and S scale and lots of post war and modern S scale so I prefer not to have it sub divided as I learn alot from all the different posts.
Ogaugeoverlord Probably not going to happen anytime soon. We came close to doing scenery or Flyer sub-sections, but decided not to since this would disperse the traffic we have into multiple sub-sections.
I totally agree with you on this.
I can think of another forum that I frequent that has an Electrical and an O-scale section that nobody reads unless they are looking for something specific. I have given up posting in those forums because it takes forever to get a response. I would much rather throw something out in a large group, because there is a much better chance that someone will see it that otherwise wouldn’t be looking for it.
Perhaps the best would be for forum members to develop a shorthand to start out a thread topic : PreW Help, PreW ID, PostW Help, Restor, CMD CTRL or something like that. PW Flyer, Mod Flyer, Jurassic Trains ... the threads would still be in one place, but interested parties could focus on them more easily.
I absolutely agree with everything that everyone has said on this thread.
Timboy, The Peacemaker
Timboy I absolutely agree with everything that everyone has said on this thread. Regards, Timboy, The Peacemaker
Oh brother !
Rich:
Oh Brother; Where Art Thou?
Timboy, The Voice of Reason
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