Long-time members as well as those in the habit of causing trouble

[Bergie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

Thanks to everyone who has responded. Let me assure you that the “pay for forum use” has not come up in any Trains.com meeting. That was simply my idea this morning for a way to help assure quality. I knew I’d get constructive feedback, and I have. Thanks again.

Bergie

This is a first for me.... I'm quoting myself!

I repeat, we have not discussed moving to a paid forum.

Thanks again for the feedback, everyone. I'm locking this now so we can move on to better things.

Bergie

[Anonymous]

I second and agree, enough is enough.

[csxengineer98]

can we all let it go now...this its like beating a dead horse
csx engineer

[zardoz]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

Thanks to everyone who has responded. Let me assure you that the “pay for forum use” has not come up in any Trains.com meeting. That was simply my idea this morning for a way to help assure quality. I knew I’d get constructive feedback, and I have. Thanks again.

Bergie

I only quoted this again so y'all can stop going on about what you would do if there is a fee.

For what it's worth, I feel this forum runs very well as is. Bergie douses fires soon after they start, and as long as we do not fan the flames, they will go out. We are strong enough to withstand an occassional attack, and when it is over, the troublemaker is laughed at many times, then forgotten. And the rest of us are still friends.

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with you. If someone can't play buy the rules, you should make them pay to play. It's just like the two major trouble makers we had on this forum. They got so bad that David Voss had to lock out their computer addresses to control them.

[Anonymous]

I learnt one BIG thing when moderating a forum

Don't jsut show up, lay the law down, then dissapear.

You have to be at one with the members, be online every day, talk with them, and become there friends.

You lay the law down only when you have to and people will understand you better, because they have had a chnace to know you, and to understand what is appropriate/inappropriate.

Don't just show up, bant off on a few people, then retreat (no offense Erik) and wait for somebody else to missbehave

An admin or Mod has to be present pretty much all the time, and be friends with the people of this site and getting to know people very well, people don't have such a terrible backlash when it becomes time to lay the law at that point.

[cherokee woman]

If we could nominate someone for a forum member moderator,
I nominate Ed Blysard.

[Junctionfan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TheAntiGates

QUOTE: Originally posted by Junctionfan

I There are a good few folk out there who would do an honest job of being an impartial moderator.

I cannot think of a single member here who has not displayed partiality to their own POV , nor one who does not have their own "inside circle" of friends And typically, when it comes to backing up ones special pals, that where 'member mods" become problematic.

Hey, I wouldn't mind more mods if they were magazine staffers, having ones paycheck hanging over your head is a great motivator to remain objective. Absent that, partiality is an inevitability.

what about someone like psioulion? (sorry if I got your name wrong) What about M.W Hemphill? Thease gentlemen are not bias nor do they exhibit any trait that would be a problem to the integrity of a moderator. The only thing is would they want to be a moderator? That's the thing.

[gabe]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

QUOTE: Originally posted by gabe

Somehow, the post got deleted; but, I could have solved this whole problem for the price of a subscription to a second-class railroad magazine.

The person who (I think solely) is responsible for all this muck and is prompting these suggestions said he was not going to pay for the price of applying and drop his Trains subscription for a subscription of one of Trains’ competitors.

I told him I would personally buy him a subscription if he agrees to stop posting. He sent me an e-mail saying he would be interested, now his post has been deleted and I haven't heard anything.

Pity, I would have gladly bought him two subscriptions to his desired magazine to put all of this behind us and to move on.

Gabe

Hey Gabe - I have gotten e-mail from someone who wanted me to cease posting. (Did you know trains is just for railroad employees?) So can we talk? Trains and Classic Trains - renewals are coming up pretty soon! Negotiations can begin immediately.

Mookie

I would buy you a subscription to keep you on here not to get rid of you.

Gabe

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Junctionfan

I There are a good few folk out there who would do an honest job of being an impartial moderator.

I cannot think of a single member here who has not displayed partiality to their own POV , nor one who does not have their own "inside circle" of friends And typically, when it comes to backing up ones special pals, that where 'member mods" become problematic.

Hey, I wouldn't mind more mods if they were magazine staffers, having ones paycheck hanging over your head is a great motivator to remain objective. Absent that, partiality is an inevitability.

[espeefoamer]

This is my favorite railroad forum. I think it is the best one around,and I will stay as long as it is free.I refuse to pay money for a forum. It would be a shame to see this go to a pay forum just because a very few goofballs ruin it for the rest of us[:(!].

[Junctionfan]

If we have more moderators, and are active (show up in moderator colours), the trolls and flamers will be discouraged from causing mischief. There are a good few folk out there who would do an honest job of being an impartial moderator.

Who would volunteer to help moderate this great forum?

[cherokee woman]

I hope Bergie keeps it free; if he doesn't, I won't be on here.

[Anonymous]

That's why I don't come on here that much! But don't get me wrong. This "is" still a great place for me to get the latest updates! I still do like Trains forums!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by kevinstheRRman

WOW

I dissapear for 4 weeks because i have exams comming and i need to practice self control, and this place is worse off then a de-railed freight train!

WOW!....

Hey Kevin hope the exams are going well.

I have been away from the site for four months and see some familiar posters and some familiar problems, but it is still interesting, informative and educational.

Jeff

PS Kevin, I heard it has been a bit cool up your way the last couple of weeks? Are you keeping warm enough?

[Anonymous]

WOW

I dissapear for 4 weeks because i have exams comming and i need to practice self control, and this place is worse off then a de-railed freight train!

WOW!

So let's see who's packed it in, and what loseres are now posting here.

Yesh, I noticed a difference when I walked through that front door, And yes, My front page used to be trains.com Aswell, But then Firfox wouldn't let me load the page because of all the Ads on it.

So I switched to google aswell.

It's sop boaring, but it loads in secondes, no ADS.

So let me think one second for this paying idea.. hmm.. crap,.

Now why... let's compare Yahoo To Hotmail, shall we?

Yahoo, 250 MB free E-mail space, while for a whil;e Hotmail was offering 2MB of free space.

TWO FULL MEGABYTES!! can you believe that, so people swarmed over to Yahoo.

Then Hotmail upped the anti or anty, however that goes, and look- Everyone swarms back..

Now, i'm no buisness man, What happens if yahoo charges 5 bucks a year, while hotmail charges 0 dollars a year? where do the people go?

To the freebie Like railroadforums.com, or pay 5 bucks to the trains.com.

You wouldn't cathc me paying a blasted cent, it would be one of those 3.99 American/ 399.00 CDN deals, much like the magazine scam.. I mean legitamte prices.

Besides, if i had to pay, i'd expect a lot of the rules to formed around my ideas, And most of you, wouldn't like that.

But for someone like me who argues at K-mart because they charged me 72 cents too much for LED Christmas lights, I wouldn't be willing to put up much.

I'll take the free any day.

You know, I see the moderator Icon down Below, yet there isn't one moderator.

I've joined two other forums recently, and was made moderator in BOTH OF THOSE in less then a week.

It gives me a lot of respect for what Erik does and the decisions he has to make.

However this forum is going down hill fatser then a run away freight train on a 5% grade.

It's a shame; i loves theis forum; it used to be my home.

I hate fakers, eevrything I have said about myself is real, and I have been pushing these people who hide behind PATHETIC names to 'fess up, but that doesn't seem to happen.

Sorry, I ain't paying no fee, And This forum needs a revamp, and i'll spell it out: QUICKLY!

[jjlamkin]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

I thought you could gain a little by reading this post I just dropped on the Classic Toy Trains forum:

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=26436

[V] Bergie

Bergie,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, I am with you 100%. No one should have to hide behind an alias! I definitely would not want to be on your naughty Christmas list.
I actually had 2 lunches from Avanti's last week (gondola's)!

Regards,
Jim

[Modelcar]

...We hope all the decent accommodating friends, railroaders and anyone else in that catagory remain and continues to contribute....That is, if Bergie keeps our format free and clean to use.

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Old Timer

I'm a long-time subscriber to Trains, MR, and CT. And I've done my part in feeding the trolls, on occasion; I tend to take people, and questions, at face value.

My bad luck. I've gone from checking up every couple of days to weekly. Doesn't take long to sift through the - uh - stuff.

I've also had a few weeks working for railroad paychecks. Over the years, I've run just about everything but a track tamper. So I might yet have a thing or two to contribute.

But if this becomes a pay-for-play forum, I'll just go back to reading my magazines.

Old Timer

Old Timer - I, for one, am glad you are on here. Since you can always shed some light on some old time memories. I use some antiquated terminology every so often and I bet you understand me just fine!

Mook

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by gabe

Somehow, the post got deleted; but, I could have solved this whole problem for the price of a subscription to a second-class railroad magazine.

The person who (I think solely) is responsible for all this muck and is prompting these suggestions said he was not going to pay for the price of applying and drop his Trains subscription for a subscription of one of Trains’ competitors.

I told him I would personally buy him a subscription if he agrees to stop posting. He sent me an e-mail saying he would be interested, now his post has been deleted and I haven't heard anything.

Pity, I would have gladly bought him two subscriptions to his desired magazine to put all of this behind us and to move on.

Gabe

Hey Gabe - I have gotten e-mail from someone who wanted me to cease posting. (Did you know trains is just for railroad employees?) So can we talk? Trains and Classic Trains - renewals are coming up pretty soon! Negotiations can begin immediately.

Mookie

[Anonymous]

I'm a long-time subscriber to Trains, MR, and CT. And I've done my part in feeding the trolls, on occasion; I tend to take people, and questions, at face value.

My bad luck. I've gone from checking up every couple of days to weekly. Doesn't take long to sift through the - uh - stuff.

I've also had a few weeks working for railroad paychecks. Over the years, I've run just about everything but a track tamper. So I might yet have a thing or two to contribute.

But if this becomes a pay-for-play forum, I'll just go back to reading my magazines.

Old Timer

[vsmith]

QUOTE: Originally posted by gabe

Somehow, the post got deleted; but, I could have solved this whole problem for the price of a subscription to a second-class railroad magazine.

The person who (I think solely) is responsible for all this muck and is prompting these suggestions said he was not going to pay for the price of applying and drop his Trains subscription for a subscription of one of Trains’ competitors.

I told him I would personally buy him a subscription if he agrees to stop posting. He sent me an e-mail saying he would be interested, now his post has been deleted and I haven't heard anything.

Pity, I would have gladly bought him two subscriptions to his desired magazine to put all of this behind us and to move on.

Gabe

Just so you know , I did a member search and it appears our rather nutty friend from Cleveland is no longer on the active members listing, Bergie must of had enough of his antic's too... because not only is he gone but ALL of his topics have also been flushed.

Personally I'll stick to my own policy, dont like the topic or the poster, dont reply.

Trolls are like Sharks, if they dont get fed, they leave.

[dehusman]

Having a "pay for use" will not end off color remarks or flamewars or inappropriate posts, other than to weed out the few causual spammers. It will weed out the multiple ID folks. It will not stop the people using bogus e-mail ID's.

If you want to stop people from using bogus e-mail addresses, have a two step registration, where they apply, the system sends them a registration code and they reply with that code to register. If the e-mail address is bogus, they never recieve the code word and they never complete the registration.

The only thing that will stop flame wars and inappropriate posts is agressive moderating, which is tough for a site with a combined posting of several thousand a day.
Quick and dirty solution, run post through a "content filter" and if it has select derrogatory terms in it, drop it in a queue for the moderator to review.
With the ability to imbed pictures in the text of a post and people using that capability for taglines in their signatures, I don't see any way of controlling inappropriate pictures other than moderation or eliminating the ability to imbed pictures without moderator review(which would cut down on the physical length of the posts tremendously.)
I would personally like to see some cap on the number of lines of text that can be quoted. It is very irritating for people to continuously quote an entire thread, sometimes 3 or four exhanges, only to add one or two lines of new comment at the end.

Dave H.

[gabe]

Somehow, the post got deleted; but, I could have solved this whole problem for the price of a subscription to a second-class railroad magazine.

The person who (I think solely) is responsible for all this muck and is prompting these suggestions said he was not going to pay for the price of applying and drop his Trains subscription for a subscription of one of Trains’ competitors.

I told him I would personally buy him a subscription if he agrees to stop posting. He sent me an e-mail saying he would be interested, now his post has been deleted and I haven't heard anything.

Pity, I would have gladly bought him two subscriptions to his desired magazine to put all of this behind us and to move on.

Gabe

[jchnhtfd]

Hmm... sticky. In general, I tend to agree with those who suggest that the best approach is for folks to ignore the occasional nitwits -- and certainly not to reply to them. I really would rather not have to pay... although this is one of the few (like: very few!) web sites for which I would pay as part of the registration, if I had to, as in general I find it so informative and interesting. The idea of having it tied in to a Kalmbach magazine subscription might work, too.

Please don't encourage volunteer moderators! Very bad idea! However, having said that, I recognise that being a moderator, particularly of a very active forum like this one, is, if not a full-time job, a very demanding one -- and my hat is surely off to Bergie for the work he does for us! This is one of the arguments for requiring a fee; someone has to pay the piper...

[MP57313]

I enjoy this site, and would appreciate being able to continue using my "free" email address as a reference. I use Hotmail, and it has greatly improved its spam-screening ability.

I agree with the general theme of the comments above...that is, ignore the rude posts...and alert the moderator about any really awful ones.

{FWIW I also belong to TO, where you pay-to-play. As has been mentioned above that does not prevent rudeness or callous remarks over there. What I like about TO is that the fee helps pay for server space, and you can attach jpeg images to threads to tell a story. The images work like email enclosures (you do not need to have the images posted on an internet site).

MP

[Modelcar]

...Again, my opinion is for Bergie to seriously monitor the ongoings on here and when someone prints off color, or obnoxious writings, out of the mainstream language, bomb throwing utterances...simply warn that writer once, and the next time it occurs, pull the plug on that writer. The "writer" then can discuss the situation with Bergie priviately on email and settle the issue and the forum can go on and operate in a normal fashion.

[csxengineer98]

this place goes pay-per-view...im outa here... and you lost someone that has real railroad experiance that he is willing to share for free....even with some of the bull that pops up here form time to time...im willing to put up with a little bickering form time to time to keep it a free sight... i understand that im just as guilty once in a while for being a hot head...but i also do contribut a lot of usefull info to eveyone in here.... besides... going pay-per-view might eliminat some of it..but the hard core trouble makers wouldnt care..... i live the the policy that is....if you dont like it... dont read it..look at it...or listen to it... that always seems to work the best in the long run..insted of trying to force regulat.. things most of the time work out on thier own.... i know at times someone of a higher power needs to step in..but thats why i said most of the time....
well..just my thougths..
csx engineer

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Puckdropper

Sterling1,

If you feel the forum needs more moderation, then ask members you respect and trust to do the moderation job.

"Member Moderators" is REALLY a bad idea... It invariably devolves into a "good ol boy" network that's fun for a few, but substantially less fun for many others.

Plus, having to be a moderator actually makes forum participation "less fun" for the individual in the long run,...been there done that. For one, the portion of the members who are willing to kiss up to you for influance, no longer tell you the way they really think , for fear of offending you (and ruining their gig) For another, if you are actually intent upon doing the job properly, you have to remain mindful at all times that opinions you express have a direct reflection upon the official entity (in this case Kalmbach), putting you in the position that some of your own opinions are better left unexpressed