Bergie, get rid of the "edit" announcement

[Anonymous]

Bergie,
A number of forums have the feature of after the poster has edited it, then a little do hickey at the end says the date, time , etc of the edit. Other forums had it and got rid of it - like the Atlas forum for one.

Now my question to you is this; who cares if something has been edited or not. At one point on the Atlas forum, it used to list every time a post was edited. So you could see at the bottom the number of times the post was edited... each with its own sentence. My question to Atlas at the time and now to you is this, who cares if a post is edited. If I have to edit something in that is really important (at least in my brain) to what I have already said, I just say I am editing this in.

Since both forums are snitzle or is it snitz, you can get rid of it if you want. The edit announcement just takes up unnecessary space and is completely unimportant.

I edited this in to give you an example... now do you really care that this post was edited?

[michaelstevens]

[?]Ten - Four or should I say "That's a Roger"
While your I.T. guy is at it; please have him enable the;

[:D][8D][:I][:p][}:)][;)][:o)][B)][8][:(][8)][:0][:(!][xx(] [:)] etc.

graphics so that "replying" is a ONE step [^] process.

[AltonFan]

I've found that it is useful to know if and when a post has been edited.

This particular message board treats edited posts as new posts, and put the thread with the edited post at the head of the forum and sets the purple folder to show a new post has been made. Being able to identify the edited post can save some frustration.

On a few message boards I am familiar with, when disputes arose, people would edit their posts and then deny they had made thus and such a comment. Having a public record of an edit discourages such behavior.

Finally, if the administrators have to edit a member's post for one reason or another, it is good to have a public announcement of the fact, with perhaps some comments by the administrator who made the edits.

The BBS software trains.com is using is intelligent enough to update the edit tags after repeated edits. (As opposed to older versions of say, UBB software that add a new edit line every time a post is edited. But even there, one learns to delete the old edit tags before posting changes.)

One line in small type at the end of a post isn't going to overload the server. It also isn't going to kill anybody, either.

[dave9999]

Good points. I have used the edit function ALOT. I dont mind the small
announcements. If you really need to complain about something, ask
for a spell check. I've seen more misspelled words on this forum than
in a kindergarten class. Dave

[Anonymous]

Like ALOT. It's two words, not one. Alot isn't even in the dictonary and was an automatic F if it was ever used in a paper at the university I attended. We didn't use it a lot . "Glass houses and all." FRED

[Anonymous]

flee307,

Here's a rock for yur glass house! You have irritated me once again with your petty corrections. You must be what has been termed a "rivet counter". Most of your replies or alot of them anyways, are corrections to other posters. I understand that you are a business owner and I feel for your clientel if you correct them as much as you do us here on the forum.

Alot or a lot... why does it matter? We all know what is meant.

BTW you sign your posts FRED does this stand for Flashing Rear End Device -- Slang term for end of train telemetry device.

[Anonymous]

handbags at dawn by the look of it!

[dharmon]

I say leave it in place. It gets used A LOT.


A lot of time was allotted to edit this post....it's my lot in life.

[dave9999]

Fred,
I will make sure to write "I will not use the word 'alot' " 100 times on the blackboard if you will make sure to never post in response to me ever again. Deal? I have yet to see a positive response from you on any subject. Are sarcasms and corrections the way you deal with everything in life? I have had to sharp shoot with you numerous times, only to get fed up and say screw it. As for " a lot " everyone knows that. A simple miss of the spacebar does not make a misspelled word. As for my suggestion for a spell check, it would eliminate A LOT of edited posts. Dave

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Snake

flee307, BTW you sign your posts FRED does this stand for Flashing Rear End Device -- Slang term for end of train telemetry device.

I know that's kinds mean but that one made me giggle, Snake. [:D][:)][:p][;)]

[Anonymous]

Let's all just take a chill pill!!! Better yet, lets take a lot of them (or alot if you prefer). For a second there this was starting to look like one of OLD DAD's postings on the Trains forum (no offense, OLD DAD). Remember, this is a forum, not a colluseum (if you didn't get it, post back and I will explain it)! So let's all just forget about one miss of the space bar! I admit, I didn't even know myself that alot was incorrect unitl about two months ago, and I'm at an age when I really should know that. Now as for the spell check suggestion, I would support that only if the spell check recognized catenary, intermodal, and most importantly, railfan[:)].
Back to the orginal topic, I feel that we should keep the edit line mostly for the reasons cited by AltonFan.

See you around the forum,
Daniel

[Anonymous]

There is a download of a very good spell check for forums I use called ispell. I use it in 95 % of my posts.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by trainjunky29
[ Now as for the spell check suggestion, I would support that only if the spell check recognized catenary, intermodal, and [b]most importantly, railfan

Most Spellchecking software for forums is easily adaptable and key words specific to those forums can be inserted. Also most have a way to filter words such that certain therms can be changed to more pleasing forms.

So you could have say..."UP bashing" turn into "Union Pacific Meets Club" or other querky things.

And no offense to the spell checkers here, but Alot is a valid word. It is considered a slang term, and many prominant writers use it in their works. I highly anticipate that within the next 5-10 years it will be listed in Websters, and i believe it is in more prominate ones already.

Jay.

[Anonymous]

It has always been considered extremely bad manners to point out incorrect grammar or spelling on any international forum. Firstly there is no way of knowing whether English is the native tongue of the author and secondly Ameriglish is quite prevalent and must be allowed for.
Canglish et Jouale, les langues officiel du Canada.

[eastcoast]

Does anybody REALLY care if these posts were edited ???
I go back and add comments ALL THE TIME. It does not matter.
[}:)]
See , Now I went back and added more , just to be a pain.
[:p]

[Anonymous]

Lightbender,
A few of us from different forums try and meet each other at different events, for example I met Dave Koch from two different forums in Billingham Washington when they had the last public showing of their layout before tear down. I also met Dispatcher42 last summer at a meet. Dispatcher42 is one of the active members of the N scale modular layout you see at lots of shows.

So if you are going to a show and want to meet other forum members, let me know. I think the next show is in March. Also my son works at Central HObbies on Saturday's, and more during the Xmas season. His name is Dane.

[Anonymous]

Hello Rick,

Sounds good to me. I was going to drop you a line before the last Cameron show but as I hadn't organised a guaranteed ride I wasn't certain I'd make it. I will definitely be at the March show and was thinking of the Mount Pleasant show in February, after all that's where I live.

I have a love/hate relationship with Central Hobbies. Love going there, great people, terrific selection, great prices. Hate the way that place sucks all my money right out of the wallet and has been known to drain the bank account dry on occasion.....haha.

[Anonymous]

[}:)]Was there a full moon in the sky when this subject reared its head? For the love of God, enough already. Some of you are showing yourselves to be little more than children eager to throw tandrums over the slightest hiccup. We should all be ABOVE this level of behavior, gentlemen. That said, back to your trains--all of you!

[Anonymous]

Superchief,
I was going to let sleeping dogs lie, with your post; but then I thought better of it. I checked out when you joined this forum and it was about a month ago. The history of this forum is that it is a replacement of an MR forum that was slow, kluttzy, hard to follow, impossible to do a search, and generally poor performance. It was a number of us who whined and moaned and complained that I'm sure help bring it to the attention to those powers that be who eventually decided to correct it.

The biggest problem with the current forum is that you can't post pics to it. For me, this really isn't a big deal, as I am the most active on the Atlas forum where thousands and thousands of pics have been posted, and the world didn't come to an end.

But when this forum came into being, because I whined and moaned so much, I made a personal commitment to stay here for at least one year to help it become a good forum and a great place to come. What you see today is light years ahead of what used to be.

The only way to get improvements is to whine and moan about them. Oh yes, my favourite whining and moaning isn't about pictures but about the pop ups.

A good forum, is quick, easy to navigate, fairly simple in design, allowing pictures, with chat (I haven't whined and moaned about that yet), without the edit notices that just take up space and make the telephone internet people even have to wait longer for items to load. Of course, one edit announcement really isn't going to make a whole lot of difference, but if you have many many edit announcements wasting space, downloads will be slower. I'm on cable and really don't care about download speeds any more.

This forum has grown and is much better than it used to be, but it isn't a mature forum yet.

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rsn48

Superchief,
I was going to let sleeping dogs lie, with your post; but then I thought better of it. I checked out when you joined this forum and it was about a month ago.

Superchief,

What he means is that he has senority. When MR starts furlowing the members because of budget cutbacks.....you will be furlowed before him....and apparently myself too, since he has me by a month...but I've got more posts...hmmmmm

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rsn48

Superchief,
I was going to let sleeping dogs lie, with your post; but then I thought better of it. I checked out when you joined this forum and it was about a month ago. The history of this forum is that it is a replacement of an MR forum that was slow, kluttzy, hard to follow, impossible to do a search, and generally poor performance. It was a number of us who whined and moaned and complained that I'm sure help bring it to the attention to those powers that be who eventually decided to correct it.

RSN, believe me--I can appreciate your efforts in wanting to create an interesting, informative and fun forum for all to enjoy. But to read of posts from guys complaining about some writers not using spellcheck...or debating the issue of whether or not a word really is or isn't a word (i.e. 'alot') is really pushing the envelope. Where's the 'fun' in going back and forth over something so miniscule? That's all I wanted to convey. I think this is an excellent forum and I'm glad I discovered it a month ago. It's an enhancement to a hobby that I enjoy immensely. Truce?

[Anonymous]

dharmon,
Seniority isn't an issue, though I suspect you are kidding around. I used to be here under a name I can't remember about two years ago or more, then I used my son's name here for a while - "Cascade."

Seniority really isn't that big a deal, in fact, it has proven to be more of a liability than anything else. In the Atlas forum, you will discover I have about 3,500 posts. After your post count starts to climb, mental midgets start sniping at you because you "don't have a life" or you are a "loud mouth". What you will find with any good forum is that in general it is the "active" members of it that keep it interesting. If you look at member participation in many forums, the first hundred members in terms of posts are what really keep the forum active. After that most members will only post a couple of times and disappear for whatever reason.

www.iespell.com is the spell check I use and is a great "forum" checker. I have been using it for a couple of years now. You will see the attacks on spelling come up about every 6 months, so you might as well relax into it. Occassionally a guy will come in and his spelling is so bad you can't really make out what he is saying. When you suggest he use a spell checker such as the above download (free), some will get their nose out of joint.

[vsmith]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dharmon

I say leave it in place. It gets used A LOT.


A lot of time was allotted to edit this post....it's my lot in life.

A lot of people like me use the edit tool alot!

[Anonymous]

It isn't the edit tool I am talking about, but I figure Bergie knows what I mean. Re-read the initial post, its the edit announcement. Go check out the Atlas forum, you won't find one edit announcement, yet people edit all the time - I do - the edit tool is there for all to use. Both this and the Atlas forum use the same forum engine, hence the continual comparison to both.

www.atlasrr.com

[Anonymous]

So much fuss over such a trivial thing !!

If it ain't broke, don't fix it !

Let's get back to what brings us all here in the first place.....

[vsmith]

As Foghorn Leghorn says, "It's a joke, son.."

I know what your refering to, I just see any difference, one way or the other.

[dharmon]

As vsmith aptly put it, it was a joke. However it was intended to point out that the statement, at least to me, seemed a tad condescending. I'm sure that it was not the intent.

The edit statement I my opinion, calls attention that the poster felt the need to amend his statement either for spelling/grammar or content. Far too often in these threads, folks tend to shoot first...some, including myself, tend to feel the need to change something after reflecting on it.

The only complaint I have with this forum's form is that pictures cannot be posted. I consider pop-ups to be the cost of this free forum. I have pet peeves about some of the posts, but that is a different subject...but spelling and grammar are not among them.

I have been a member and reader of the atlas forums for some time. I do not post there routinely. I like it here better.

[dave9999]

OK, I feel I sould jup in cince mi coment about the spellin seams
too hafe startet sumthing beg.

Now how many times did you have to read that to understand it? That was the
only point I was trying to make. When I have to read a post two or three times
to even begin to decipher what the author was trying to ask or explain, I think
a spell check request is not out of line.

SuperChiefFan
You said and I quote "Where's the 'fun' in going back and forth over something so miniscule?". Well obviously you find it a little fun yourself or you would not
have joined the party. I visit this forum to help and get help with model railroading.
I contribute regularly and do not appreciate responses from persons who only
contribute when they can contradict or give a holier than thou response. This
explains my comments directed at another forum member who has in the past
chimed in when I have tried to help someone who asked for my advice. He has
forced me to prove my point when he could have expressed his opinion in a
more positive manner. I'm done. Dave

[Anonymous]

Hello Dave,

QUOTE: OK, I feel I sould jup in cince mi coment about the spellin seams
too hafe startet sumthing beg.

You may have written that in an attempt to ridicule but it is rather too close to the way I have seen posts written on another forum that I belong to. The author claimed fluency in 5 languages but admitted to limited knowledge of English. Your quote with a phonetic pronunciation will provide an accent that is very reminiscent of our Nordic friends.

QUOTE: When I have to read a post two or three times to even begin to decipher what the author was trying to ask or explain,
I thinka spell check request is not out of line.

Isn't this the complaint of the learned men of letters regarding the works of Samuel Clemens.
Did not the same Mark Twain say that people who spell correctly only do so because they lack any real imagination?

Yes telling someone to spell your way is rude. Ignoring their message and going on to one that you approve of is 'not out of line'

QUOTE: I visit this forum to help and get help with model railroading.
I contribute regularly and do not appreciate responses from persons who only contribute when they can contradict or give a holier than thou response.

I agree, in fact I doubt any would disagree. Responding to an AB is the only way to encourage them to stay around and keep on acting like an AB.

The trouble with sidelining this topic is that it makes Rick's valid point that much less coherent. I ran a BBS for 14 years (and it may still go back up) and speaking as the System Operator, I can attest to the user complaints being the single most important driving force to develop and improve a board. Mine is some 500 times bigger than when first installed and has been changed to the point where it's difficult to recognise it's lineage.