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Plus side: Easy to learn from the greats - we're sitting here chatting with Bob Bordreau (sorry if I spelled the name wrong - it's tricky, as is my name) and Joe Fugate. Would have been tough to chat with Linn Westcott 30 years ago. Negative side: Too easy to get caught up in the hype of newest and greatest equipment, etc. 20 years ago my Dad and I just built stuff man - we just went for it. Today, I'd probably research a locomotive for weeks on here before purchasing it. I'd also worry that the hood was a scale 6" or whatever too wide. I also would have actually gotten a lot more MRR'ing done if I wasn't getting my MRR fix on this website!!! (the first night I found railimages.com cost me several hours of time). Arggghhh!! As with TV, the internet is good and bad. It allows easy transfer of information - good and worthless. It allows you to become a "mouse potato" very easily. But when you're working, you could also use it to be extremely productive! In the end, I prefer reading messages on here over most of the interactions I've had with hobby shop snobs over the years. However, I think shops are aware of this now, and I've had some extremely pleasant experiences at shops within the past year or so. One shop even suggested I don't buy DCC for a very small shelf layout - even though he sold it - suggested I start out small, and sold me a good ol' trusy MRC power pack. THAT is a good hobby shop! Another shop said I should start with a cheapo plastic airbrush he had - if I didn't like airbrushing, I'd only be out $30 (I already have a compressor/regulator for my nailgun). If I liked it, he'd have a nicer one ready to go for me in a couple months. In summary: My Pre-internet MRR'ing experiences consisted of reading MR (which of course has a very friendly tone) and visiting hobby shops (which seemed extremely snobby to me as a kid - which was wierd because I'd be all excited to go there, then I'd feel uncomfortable when I got there). My "Internet days" MRR'ing experiences consist of enjoying this forum, and having local hobby shops that know they better have their happy face on or else people will buy those $7 Athearn box cars online, and they won't make a cent.
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