Someone has to ask???

[Marty Cozad]

So whats up? are we on weekend lock down on the boards so they can monitered easier?
I'm just asking???[:I]
I may have missed something beings I work [:(]

[Buckeye Riveter]

The following was posted on the CTT forum.
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Dear forum participants,

We’ve had some threads and actions in the forums lately that we at Kalmbach Publishing Co. believe to be out of place, including off-color posts, off-topic posts, flame wars, and unsubstantiated claims about various companies both inside and outside our hobby. Because of these actions, the forums are requiring more and more of our time to maintain.
The forums are also straying farther and farther from our original goals for them, which were to provide a place for model railroaders to exchange helpful information about the hobby and to provide a place for newcomers to get advice about our hobby.

First of all, we'd like to apologize to our loyal users who haven't taken part in these threads. We're sorry that you had to put up with this behavior, and we thank you for using the forums appropriately.

Our company’s investment in these forums, in both time and money, is substantial. As long as we believe that this time pays off for our customers, the hobby, and our firm, we will continue to devote resources to these forums. Recent events have led us to have serious doubts about the value of this commitment, however.

The options open to us include deleting topics much more frequently than we have, closing the forums to new registrants, limiting the forums to subscribers, deleting selected forums to conserve our time, and closing the forums temporarily or permanently. None of these options are very attractive to us, but it’s even less attractive to have inappropriate forums out there representing our magazines and our hobby.

We haven’t made our decision yet. But if the next time you try to visit the forums you find that they’re more limited than they are now or closed entirely, you’ll know why.

Thanks for your time, and thanks especially for reading Garden Railways, Classic Toy Trains, and Model Railroader.

Sincerely,
Terry Thompson
Publisher
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[vsmith]

At least as of today we are back into business. Lets hope the worst is over and we can get back to talking trains!

[RhB_HJ]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Marty Cozad

So whats up? are we on weekend lock down on the boards so they can monitered easier?
I'm just asking???[:I]
I may have missed something beings I work [:(]

Hey Marty,

If you missed it, you probably didn't miss anything worthwhile.[;)][:)]

I didn't see the posts that caused the lock-down, but I'm certain that any admin or mod uses that as a last resort.
As I mentioned elsewhere on trains.com I don't see why the mods and the admin should have to put in extra hours (on the weekend!), just because some "joker(s)" flip their lid.

Everyone got to cool their heels for 48+ hours and do some thinking. Perhaps that will pay off down the line! [2c][2c]

[bman36]

Hi guys,
I too missed the goings on due to being just plain busy myself. It would be sad to see the forum locked up for good. Hopefully it will never come to that. Only a few times in the past have we experienced serious malicious posting leading to deleting a thread entirely. Guess we will see where it goes. Later eh...Brian.

[Big_Boy_4005]

I saw it.

While no single post in and of itself was particularly bad, the whole thing was quite obnoxious. This person had at least 6 different accounts, all created on Friday. There were entire topics where only these entities were talking amongst themselves. In most cases no real members responded to that crap. It didn't stop there though, it spilled into normal topics across the 3 forums that were ultimately shut down.

There is one individual that comes to mind as the prime suspect, as he has a history of this kind of behavior. I suspect that Kalmbach has strong clues as to his identity, but is in a bit of a quandry as to how to effectively block him. As part of his MO, he likes to hit on weekends, which is probably why we were shut down.

My guess is that this series of events will force a change in how people become members of this website. That is pretty well spelled out in Terry's message which Buck posted above.

I hope this satisfies your curiosity. Let's move on please, and NOT try to test the patience of our host.

[Capt Bob Johnson]

When someone is that talented and has that much brain power, isn't it a shame to see it wasted in such nefarious endavours? Just think of the good that it could be put to if properly channelled?

Perhaps as a younger generation puts it "Someone needs to get a life"!

[Anonymous]

I think Kalmbach is very good to let us have this forum, so im sorry of you have had any technical problems and wall the best for the future.


Rgds Ian