Last few Days Forum use 16 - 20 Jul - for Web guy

[Anonymous]

I can't speak for others, but in the last couple of days the forum has been quick and responded well. It has been as fast as the Atlas forum, which is a real compliment, so I hope things continue to go well. I'm sure you've been a bit under the gun. Even the Atlas forum has bad days. So my rating from when I first voted on the quality of this forum is climbing.

To Kalmbach, you made the right decision to improve this forum. No matter what you do, not everyone will be happy, but I'm sure you here complaints all the time in the publishing business. I did a long harangue against Kalmbach criticizing its old forum at the Atlas forum many months ago. In my criticism I made the point that you are in the business of delivering information, whether it is on paper or electronic. If the old Horse and Buggy Whip manufactures had kept in mind they were in the accessory business to the transportation industry, they probably wouldn't have gone out of business. More and more of us are taking our information from the web.

The task for you is to how make MR go with the changes in the electronic media, some how one will need to feed into the other, a task I know you are already doing. I personally believe the magazines are here to stay as reading a magazine is a different experience from the net.

For example, for me

1) looking at layouts is more pleasurable in a mag
2) reading philosophical points of view is better in a mag - don't know why you got rid of "one readers opinion" but I miss it.
3) scratch building and kit bashing is easier in a mag - you have to read the article so many times to twig to the information and to get it to sink in
4) advertising is more fun in a mag where I can look at it at my own leisure, pop ups on the net are a drag
5) New announcements are better on the net - faster. Should have been in the Atlas forum when Athearn announced they were going to enter the N field - real feeding frenzy
6) Teaching is better in a mag, whether it is dcc, or the excellent recent article on how to do a waterfall, and the pond article
7) Being able to go back and re-read and re-learn is easier with a mag

Anyways, this forum will pick up and do well.

[Anonymous]

I can't speak for others, but in the last couple of days the forum has been quick and responded well. It has been as fast as the Atlas forum, which is a real compliment, so I hope things continue to go well. I'm sure you've been a bit under the gun. Even the Atlas forum has bad days. So my rating from when I first voted on the quality of this forum is climbing.

To Kalmbach, you made the right decision to improve this forum. No matter what you do, not everyone will be happy, but I'm sure you here complaints all the time in the publishing business. I did a long harangue against Kalmbach criticizing its old forum at the Atlas forum many months ago. In my criticism I made the point that you are in the business of delivering information, whether it is on paper or electronic. If the old Horse and Buggy Whip manufactures had kept in mind they were in the accessory business to the transportation industry, they probably wouldn't have gone out of business. More and more of us are taking our information from the web.

The task for you is to how make MR go with the changes in the electronic media, some how one will need to feed into the other, a task I know you are already doing. I personally believe the magazines are here to stay as reading a magazine is a different experience from the net.

For example, for me

1) looking at layouts is more pleasurable in a mag
2) reading philosophical points of view is better in a mag - don't know why you got rid of "one readers opinion" but I miss it.
3) scratch building and kit bashing is easier in a mag - you have to read the article so many times to twig to the information and to get it to sink in
4) advertising is more fun in a mag where I can look at it at my own leisure, pop ups on the net are a drag
5) New announcements are better on the net - faster. Should have been in the Atlas forum when Athearn announced they were going to enter the N field - real feeding frenzy
6) Teaching is better in a mag, whether it is dcc, or the excellent recent article on how to do a waterfall, and the pond article
7) Being able to go back and re-read and re-learn is easier with a mag

Anyways, this forum will pick up and do well.

[Anonymous]

Wow... Sounds like I showed up here at the right time. I just started reading these forums a few days ago - thanks the the e-mail that I received with my username.

These forums seem to be operating very well. Nice and snappy. I mod at another forum, and I know from experience that there are good days and bad days with respect to speed and response.

Keep up the good work!

Rob

[Anonymous]

Wow... Sounds like I showed up here at the right time. I just started reading these forums a few days ago - thanks the the e-mail that I received with my username.

These forums seem to be operating very well. Nice and snappy. I mod at another forum, and I know from experience that there are good days and bad days with respect to speed and response.

Keep up the good work!

Rob

[Anonymous]

I'm new to the forums here, but am enjoying the conversation threads and occasional flame mail. So far, I like the navigation, but the searches aren't working well for me - either can't find the topic, or they generate error messages from the search engine.

Re your seven points contrasting web and hardcopy publications, I would say that researching and linking topic threads and information content is (or can be, depending on the web designers) far easier than flipping through stacks of magazines. Also the issue of portability, which you address with such comments as ("i can look at it at my own leisure") will be addressed by next-generation handheld devices. My Sony Clie is high resolution, downloads content from the net, and displays nice color pictures. Getting sites like this form to set up a formatting function to download sections and topic threads would be a good start in that direction. I used to get daily content of Yahoo discussion groups emailed to me daily, like the layout design special interest group, and would move them over to my Palm device for later perusal, say in boring meetings or when I was waiting somewhere for a family member to finish something (yes I have teenagers).

Anyway, the rapid exchange of ideas via this forum is a welcome thing.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I'm new to the forums here, but am enjoying the conversation threads and occasional flame mail. So far, I like the navigation, but the searches aren't working well for me - either can't find the topic, or they generate error messages from the search engine.

Re your seven points contrasting web and hardcopy publications, I would say that researching and linking topic threads and information content is (or can be, depending on the web designers) far easier than flipping through stacks of magazines. Also the issue of portability, which you address with such comments as ("i can look at it at my own leisure") will be addressed by next-generation handheld devices. My Sony Clie is high resolution, downloads content from the net, and displays nice color pictures. Getting sites like this form to set up a formatting function to download sections and topic threads would be a good start in that direction. I used to get daily content of Yahoo discussion groups emailed to me daily, like the layout design special interest group, and would move them over to my Palm device for later perusal, say in boring meetings or when I was waiting somewhere for a family member to finish something (yes I have teenagers).

Anyway, the rapid exchange of ideas via this forum is a welcome thing.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

If this forum is run by the same engine that runs Atlas, then there is a trick to using the "search" function. You need to limit your request and the more you limit it, the more likely you are to generate a response and not an error message. So if I am in HO and I wanted to recall a post on ballast, I could input HO only and "ballast." But if I know the ballast thread was only in the last couple of weeks, then limit the time as well. If I know the word appeared in the Subject heading, I would limit my choice to that as well.

So "ballast" limited to a couple of weeks, in the HO forum, subject only would not create an error message.

[Anonymous]

If this forum is run by the same engine that runs Atlas, then there is a trick to using the "search" function. You need to limit your request and the more you limit it, the more likely you are to generate a response and not an error message. So if I am in HO and I wanted to recall a post on ballast, I could input HO only and "ballast." But if I know the ballast thread was only in the last couple of weeks, then limit the time as well. If I know the word appeared in the Subject heading, I would limit my choice to that as well.

So "ballast" limited to a couple of weeks, in the HO forum, subject only would not create an error message.

[Anonymous]

A quick update about the search.

The search page was "broken" over the weekend. Late this afternoon I uploaded a fixed copy so it should work the way it originally was intended to.

[Anonymous]

A quick update about the search.

The search page was "broken" over the weekend. Late this afternoon I uploaded a fixed copy so it should work the way it originally was intended to.