Separate & Stand Alone Lawsuit Topic Title

[Anonymous]

IMHO all discussions concerning the various lawsuits ie: MTH vs. Lionel, QSI vs. MTH and the subsequent flames that they generate serve only to confuse and confound newcomers or returnees to our great hobby.

Now, I’m not saying that these threads are of little importance.

On the contrary, I, too, enjoy reading and participating on them. However, I consider myself and all the others who are interested in these lawsuits to be long time hardcore O-gauge enthusiasts. Many of us share very emotional and partisan ties to the various manufacturers.

Take a moment and put yourself in a newcomer or returnees’ place. Imagine what is going through their heads while browsing the various O-gauge forums. I’m sure very few, if any, really could give a damn about lawsuits.

Nostalgia has awakened their interest in their old trains and accessories. Now they are looking forward to buying new trains, constructing future layouts and are seeking good, constructive, thoughtful advice concerning their newly discovered hobby. Thread upon thread of lawsuit flames only serve to discourage them.


If this hobby is to attract new comers and enjoy continued growth, flaming Lawsuit threads inter-spaced among other O-gauge threads, while valid and important to their contributors, are counter productive to the hobby.

I believe all the O-Gauge forums would serve their members better if their respective forum moderators would devote a separate stand alone topic devoted solely to these ongoing Lawsuits. This way the flamers and trolls would have a place to hang out. And if someone unknowingly, or mistakenly posts a new thread concerning the Lawsuits, rather than the Moderator deleting the thread, the Moderator could simply move the thread to under the more appropriate topic.

This way newcomers could easily avoid being dragged into the flames, and instead they can seek out the threads that are more important to them. While the old timers in the hobby could flame away on their ever ongoing MTH vs. Lionel & QSI vs. MTH flame wars.
BillFromWayne
www.modeltrainjournal.com

[lionelsoni]

I made a similar suggestion, of a separate area for this kind of stuff, in a private e-mail a while back, but nothing came of it.

[Anonymous]

Bob:
At least it goes to show that we do care about our hobby.
BillFromWayne

[daan]

This is a good idea to my opinion. Apart from the newcomers, not everyone wants to have his head in the lawsuits after a day's work, and this way it keeps the forum well organized and enjoyable to read if you're not in the first place joining the forum to discuss lawsuits etc.
This plan has a green light from my side..[tup]

[3railguy]

I made a similar suggestion on the OGR forum and the post got zapped.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by 3railguy

I made a similar suggestion on the OGR forum and the post got zapped.

LOL - They are not open to any suggestions there unless it's approved by the dictatorship. However, I do agree with Bill's suggestion.

[3railguy]

The OGR forum is owned by Rich Melvin. With due respects, he has the right to run it his way. He's tightened up the ship a bit and it's much too serious for my tastes. Bob Keller, Neil B, and Bergie take it all with a grain of salt. The same goes for Bill from Wayne on the Model Train Journal. The flame wars will never end because it's what some of us want. I like Bill's ideas. Let us have our flame wars on a flame war forum. It's what we pay our internet bill for. AOL has one but it's exclusive to AOL members unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Great idea.