Why?
Yes, it was obviously a non-railroad topic; however, it was interesting, and there was no arguing or name calling, like there is in some of the railroad-themed threads.
Those of us that participate in these forums sort of get to know each other, and as such we sort of become friends (or antagonists). The Warbirds thread was one of those threads that those of us with similar interests can get together and BS about something OTHER than train stuff. Isn't the camaraderie some of us share even slightly important?
Sure, I realize that if everyone started their own thread regarding their own particular interest, they would soon crowd out the train stuff. Perhaps a separate forum category could be established so those of us that have become kinda friends can go and yak at each other without disturbing those that only wish to discuss railroad stuff.
How do the rest of my fellow forum participants feel about this?
I for one think his decision was not well-considered. The thread has been around almost four years, with over 400 posts. The title clearly identified it as non-railroad. So why now? That is the $64 question.
I think someone became too impressed with their own importance!
Especially since the importance of a internet forum is zero and even less than zero when there is no flame war involved.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I'm with you Zardoz! As such, I sent a PM to Mr. Sweeney respectfully asking "How come?"
I'm not really expecting an answer. Every time I've PM'd a "Trains" staffer I've never gotten an answer. Maybe I can't blame them, who knows how many PM's they get in the course of a day.
On the other hand, just about every time I've sent a message to a "Classic Trains" or "Classic Toy Trains" staffer I have gotten a response.
Anyway, I am disappointed that a discussion of WW1 fighter aircraft that was really beginning to take off (no pun intended) was cut short. It was getting good!
And Zardoz, when you come down to it "Warbirds" was a separate category in it's own right. There it was, no-one was forced to read it or take part in the discussions, just like any other Forum topic.
Hey, there's topics I have no interest in. I just ignore 'em.
I'll tell you what, a thread that lived for one month shy of four years with 414 comments and 21,877 "Views" must have had something going for it!
Yeah but... Surely there are WWI vintage aircraft Forums and aviation in general. ( Wayne--I'm not calling you Shirley)
The Trains Forum should reflect the spirit of the magazine at least somewhat. It's the encroachment of a whole lot of very non Train related items, a lot of nonsense and one upmanship and posturing. Even if the thread or comments were even somewhat connected to Trains then ok. That's a pretty wide berth. However much of the Trains Forum lately has become somewhat nothing more than a Facebook type thing. Thinking it's that very reason that the Historic Warbirds got locked. It's just too much of all the other junk.
I don't blame Kalmbach one bit. If it continues as it has been I would not be surprised to see it cut just as the Astronomy Forum was.
If I received my monthly Trains Magazine and it was mostly this kind of content and maybe 15% actual trains then what's the point.
Its their Forum. It's understandable.
Ok put me in stocks and start throwing the rotten veggies.
MiningmanYeah but... Surely there are WWI vintage aircraft Forums and aviation in general. ( Wayne--I'm not calling you Shirley) The Trains Forum should reflect the spirit of the magazine at least somewhat. It's the encroachment of a whole lot of very non Train related items, a lot of nonsense and one upmanship and posturing. Even if the thread or comments were even somewhat connected to Trains then ok. That's a pretty wide berth. However much of the Trains Forum lately has become somewhat nothing more than a Facebook type thing. Thinking it's that very reason that the Historic Warbirds got locked. It's just too much of all the other junk. I don't blame Kalmbach one bit. If it continues as it has been I would not be surprised to see it cut just as the Astronomy Forum was. If I received my monthly Trains Magazine and it was mostly this kind of content and maybe 15% actual trains then what's the point. Its their Forum. It's understandable. Ok put me in stocks and start throwing the rotten veggies.
Since it was not locked on September 8, 2015 when 'Norm48327' requested it means that 3 years 11 months later is should not be locked.
From Mike:
Miningman Yeah but... Surely there are WWI vintage aircraft Forums and aviation in general. ( Wayne--I'm not calling you Shirley) The Trains Forum should reflect the spirit of the magazine at least somewhat. It's the encroachment of a whole lot of very non Train related items, a lot of nonsense and one upmanship and posturing. Even if the thread or comments were even somewhat connected to Trains then ok. That's a pretty wide berth. However much of the Trains Forum lately has become somewhat nothing more than a Facebook type thing. Thinking it's that very reason that the Historic Warbirds got locked. It's just too much of all the other junk. I don't blame Kalmbach one bit. If it continues as it has been I would not be surprised to see it cut just as the Astronomy Forum was. If I received my monthly Trains Magazine and it was mostly this kind of content and maybe 15% actual trains then what's the point. Its their Forum. It's understandable. Ok put me in stocks and start throwing the rotten veggies.
You could have ignored it. Perhaps someone on here reported the thread? For shame.
No problem Vince, I surely know you're not calling me Shirley!
That's a neat cross-over shot Mike sent us, a nice "rail and air" intersection, kind of like those 737 fuselages on the September "Trains" cover. All that "whoop-ass" for Hitler and Tojo had to get to the embarkation points somehow.
It's ironic, David P. Morgan (David the Great I call him) was an aviation enthusiast himself. I wonder what he'd have to say about the "Warbird" thread being locked?
I respect your opinion Vince, even though I don't necessarily agree with it. "Warbirds" was fun, and we really learned a lot from each other, in more ways than one.
The REAL shame is that Wanswheel's still in exile!
I'd say that people that are interested in trains tend to also have an interest in other forms of transportaion as well. If you were to look in my way overstocked library, you'd see lots of books on trains, airplanes, ships & cars. Could the thread be re-opened if its scope was expanded? Perhaps the title of Historic Warbirds and Trains would fit the bill?
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Murphy Siding I'd say that people that are interested in trains tend to also have an interest in other forms of transportaion as well. If you were to look in my way overstocked library, you'd see lots of books on trains, airplanes, ships & cars. Could the thread be re-opened if its scope was expanded? Perhaps the title of Historic Warbirds and Trains would fit the bill?
Here's a question that you would know the answer to. Moderators look at a thread or post only when someone complains, true?
charlie hebdo Murphy Siding I'd say that people that are interested in trains tend to also have an interest in other forms of transportaion as well. If you were to look in my way overstocked library, you'd see lots of books on trains, airplanes, ships & cars. Could the thread be re-opened if its scope was expanded? Perhaps the title of Historic Warbirds and Trains would fit the bill? Here's a question that you would know the answer to. Moderators look at a thread or post only when someone complains, true?
Plain fact of the matter is boys, I'm not going to lose any sleep over this. Maybe someone complained, maybe someone was told to "Get busy!" and cruise the threads for "anomalies," for lack of a better term. Who knows?
When all is said and done Kalmbach provides the various Forums for different mags as a courtesy, not a right. Their Forums, their rules, however they interpret those rules. In this case I think it was an unfair and unreasonable interpretation considering how much fun everyone was having, but that's the way it is.
By the way, how many of you looked in on those webcams of the EAA Fly-In in Oshkosh and drooled all over your keyboards? Im amazed I didn't short out my lap-top!
The simple fact of the matter is that forum interest has waned, judging by the number of threads that quickly die and lack of participation. Why? There are fewer members than ever. Why? Lack of interesting subjects. Sure it's Kalmbach's free service, but the boredom level here does nothing to boost paid ciculation. Heavy-handed moderation may be •correct• but it loses sight of the bigger goal.
Forum interest has waned all right Charlie. Not a good thing, and I'm at a loss to understand why. Not just on the "Trains" Forum but also on the "Classic Toy Trains" and "Classic Trains" Forums as well.
Have some former frequent posters died off? Maybe, but there's no way to know. Are some people too intimidated to jump in? I hope not. All newcomers whould be welcomed enthusiastically, and should understand "The only dumb question is the one you're afraid to ask!"
I sincerely hope that newcomers aren't intimidated by the frequent posters who seem to dominate the discussions, myself included!* I do think a lot of frequent posters do so in a effort to keep things lively. "Miningman's" doing yeoman work on the "Classic Trains" Forum trying to keep that one alive!
The "Classic Toy Trains" Forum was quite lively until a popular member of the CTT staff was laid off, and then the Forum discussions seemed to come to a grinding halt and have never come back to the level they had before. Cause and effect? who knows?
Anyway, it's disturbing, to say the least.
Anyway, I'd say to any possible poster sitting on the fence "Come on in! Don't be scared or intimidated! If your language skills aren't the best, if your spelling's not what it should be, if you never mastered sentence structure don't worry about it! No-one going to grade you on your contribution and if you have something good to say come on in and say it! A lot of us want to hear it!"
*Maybe I should shut up for a while?
Folks:
I'll be plain. We received a recent complaint about the Warbird thread.
Because it's not a railroad topic, it's against the forum rules and I locked it.
Four years is a good long time for an off-topic post to stick around and under the radar — pun intended. Kuddos to all of you who kept it clean and above board.
And so you know, the editors are NOT out prowling to lock things down or get heavy handed, as one might suggest. No, the way I see it, we're doing the best we can and applying the rules as circumstances present themselves.
I certainly hope you understand.
All the best,
Steve S.
Steve SweeneyDigital Editor, Hobby
Thank you Mr. Steve, I appreciate your honesty.
I can't imagine who complained or why, but it doesn't matter. The complaint was made, and I suppose you had to act on it no matter how personally distasteful it may have been to you.
Again, thanks for the response.
I've been in Europe for the last 3 weeks and all I can say is, "phooey!"
Welcome back 54'! How was it?
Flintlock76Anyway, I'd say to any possible poster sitting on the fence "Come on in! Don't be scared or intimidated! If your language skills aren't the best, if your spelling's not what it should be, if you never mastered sentence structure don't worry about it! No-one going to grade you on your contribution and if you have something good to say come on in and say it! A lot of us want to hear it!"
That's a nice sentiment.
"No-one is going to grade you on your contribution..."
Several days ago a discussion had devolved into a back-and-forth about illegal immigration. A poster stated that they believed illegal immigration suppressed wages and cost the government money.
The following is a direct quote to the person who had posted: "Document what you claimed or stop posting your nativist, right wing agitprop. Perhaps you are a Russian bot?"
Maybe its comments like that which stop people from posting.
York1 John
Superb! If you've never been to the big French train museum in Mulhouse, you must go! There was a Baldwin-built 141R Mikado there that was my favourite- there is so much to see. Also in Mulhouse is the Schlumpf collection of over 400 Bugattis (and others.) In Dresden you can take a commuter train (S-Bahn) to a steam powered narrow gauge railway called the Weisseritztalbahn and you can take a streetcar to another one on the other side of town that takes you to Radebeul, a small town. Both are run by the same company and there are a lot more NG lines south of there near the Czech border.
In Munich, the beer was amazing which was good because it was hotter than hell. In Berlin was a beer festival that was in the eastern part and over a mile long! It was situated on a soviet-era street between 3 subway stops. The streetcar system of Berlin is mainly in the east and north and is awesome as are the streetcar systems of every other city I visited especially Amsterdam where there's more streetcars than automobiles and more bicycles than both.
I drove my 1954 Citroen from Amsterdam to the 100th anniversary of Citroen event near Le Mans, then dropped the car off back in Amsterdam to be shipped home and went by train everywhere else. Nice to drive it on the two-lane roads it was built for. Northern France has 1914-1918 military cemetaries everywhere, all well maintained.
1st class from Berlin to Amsterdam this past Sunday- what a trip- in a 6-person compartment, yes they still have those but no spies were in it. If you've never experienced the railroads of Europe, you owe it to yourself to go! No fooling!
York1, I concur. At any rate immigration, illegal or otherwise is one thing that definately shouldn't be discussed here. Illegal immigration is something that both parties are guilty of ignoring for the past thirty years, for reasons known to themselves. We can't fix it here, and there's no magic button to push to fix it, and it can't be fixed at this point without someone getting hurt. Shame on those who ignored it all these years. Best not to bring it up.
Anyway, politics as pertaining to railroads are just about unavoidable, but people should remember to approach the subject delicately. Politics can turn otherwise normal, reasonable people into werewoves, which is why I hate politics as much as I do. Enough on that.
54', glad you had such a great trip. Maybe I'll manage it one day. I'm such a homebody though!
PS: I just looked at the heading. 21 "Replies, but 408 "Views." Someone's looking in!
It was nice to be able to indulge two of my passions in one place. But, this is Trains' and they can run it any way they like. At the risk of starting it all over again: I once read that the placement of throttles on French WWI aircraft was dictated by that on their locomotives.
Mike
Mike, does that mean they were on the wrong side of the cockpit?
Hey, I watched "The Train" with Burt Lancaster two weeks ago, and Burt was on the wrong side of the cab!
Look at this! I mean really...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_z_9w-Ffmo
PS: The Spitfire's an "Extra Added Attraction!"
One added picture from Mike (WW) you know who.
I have never ever complained to a moderator. I'm a big Live and let live guy. I suspect it was personal against someone but maybe just a nerdy quirky railfan.
However... once again, if I received my monthly issue of Trains and it had 12 pages on WWI warplanes I would wonder ...what the heck is going on.
Mike's contributions in absentia show a very valid connection though and that would be ok.
They build 9,087 P-47's in Farmingdale on Long Island, Mikes home. Amazing.
Can you just imagine being an unseen time traveller for a year or two witnessing the railroads in North America during WWII and seeing all of this.
A full length grand epic movie needs to be made, especially now that we can recreate anything very realistically on the screen, before it's too late and no one cares.
No-one's blaming you Vince, so relax.
Oh WOW! Look at those P-35's in that ad! Those were built when Republic was actually De Seversky Aviation, the name "Republic" came later.
If that's a wartime ad, and I'm guessing it is, Republic's not showing the (then) current P-47's. Of course, why let Adolf know what's coming?
There were P-35's in the Phillipines at the beginning of the war in the Pacific. Obsolescent by that time were no match for the Zeros and were slashed to ribbons. Sad.
I'd love to see another epic WW2 film, but the thing is it'd be all CGI. CGI's amazing now but it's still fake, you can tell. If there's going to be airplanes in the film I want the real things! Using CGI to fill in the background would be permissable though.
Hey, I remember "The Blue Max," "Battle of Britain," and "Tora-Tora-Tora." I'm spoiled!
Flintlock76 Hey, I remember "The Blue Max," "Battle of Britain," and "Tora-Tora-Tora." I'm spoiled!
CSSHEGEWISCH Flintlock76 Hey, I remember "The Blue Max," "Battle of Britain," and "Tora-Tora-Tora." I'm spoiled! I hope that you've seen "Twelve O'Clock High", probably the best one ever made.
Oh, I have, I have. Not just the best aviation war film ever made, but one of the best war films ever made, bar none.
Some of the other great aviation films, in my opinion anyway are, and in no particular order, they're all good...
Wings (1927)
Hell's Angels (1930) Just for the spectacular flying. The back story's dopey.
Dawn Patrol (1938)
Men With Wings (1938)
Dive Bomber (1941)
I'll stop with those. I'd be here all day otherwise.
Did I say "No CGI?" You guys are gonna love this! 100 years ago...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n02RsKVxBqs
Movie about the Railroads role in WWII, not airplanes! Perhaps 5-7 seperate storylines, a grand finale all coming together in Chicago.
I will dangle the Erie as one of the stars for you Wayne. Berks and Pacifics galore. Of course 844 and Big Boy can be used realistically on the UP end. T1's and Q2's rolling out. NYCentral at Buffalo. Empire Builder running 6-7 sections. Rock Island doing its best. Cincinnati and Washington Union madhouses and loco servicing jam packed. Trains going everywhere.. well you get the idea. Tell it like it was.
Miningman Movie about the Railroads role in WWII, not airplanes! Perhaps 5-7 seperate storylines, a grand finale all coming together in Chicago.
That too! And no CGI! With the Big Boy back anything's possible!
Let's see, UP 4014, Milwaukee Road 261, Nickle Plate 765, N&W 611 (have to renumber that one for the film), Reading and Northern 425, Pere Marquette 1225 if the movie takes place around Christmastime...
Did I forget anyone? Most likely, I can't think of everything...
The Erie? That's a problem, no Erie steamers left. Have to re-mark existing Pacifics and Berks. Some nit-pickers would notice but I wouldn't mind.
And no damn stinky, smelly diesels! E or F units! I don't care if they're contemporary with WW2. Their time will come soon enough.
Unless they're hijacked by Nazi spies and saboteurs, then they can be "The Bad Guys!"
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