Electroliner 1935 One new manager comes in and reorganizes the operating departments into REGIONS. Next new manager comes in and changes the organization to DIVISIONS. Anything to justify their big salery. Does it save money or improve the flow of traffic. Very hard to tell.
Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
It seems to me that the envelope barcoding is no longer used by the Post Office because their character OCR got good enough to recognize any print accurately enough.
There was another fairly brief time that addresses were supposed to be formatted in some weird way that made for fewer errors in automatic sorting. Here too the need for such a thing went away with technical advances...
Credit where credit is due: the PM access was working as of 10:00 Thursday morning.
tree68 Electroliner 1935 Found that WORD 19 no longer contains the envelope barcode feature, so I reinstalled WORD 03.
Electroliner 1935 Found that WORD 19 no longer contains the envelope barcode feature, so I reinstalled WORD 03.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
My only point was that I feel some of the criticism of Kalmbach is not needed. They are a magazine publishing company that provides a forum for subscribers.
They know the issues -- they have said as much. They know things need to be fixed -- they are working on it.
In several postings they have indicated they are as frustrated as the users are.
York1 John
I asked my doctor if I gave up delicious food and all alcohol, would I live longer? He said, "No, but it will seem longer."
Overmodenvelope barcoding is no longer used by the Post Office because their character OCR got good enough to recognize any print accurately enough.
H'mmmmm, perhaps they could teach the magazine how to build a search function that works?
Convicted OneH'mmmmm, perhaps they could teach the magazine how to build a search function that works?
Hell, get me a round-trip ticket to Milwaukee, a rental car and cheap motel for a week and I could probably teach them that. Don't forget, not only did they have it working on several of the original platforms, they had it working -- albeit hokily -- on the present one, not too long ago.
I think this is involved with the back-end changes to accommodate their new 'joint venture provider' in exploiting the resource that Kalmbach management said the various enthusiast communities reading and subscribing to their magazines represented. You may have noticed, as I have, a relatively large increase in e-mail offers from Classic Trains (the 'twelve days of discounts' or whatever it was being particularly annoying) and the return of the full-page modal popups (whether or not popup blocking is enabled on your browser) when loading the site. If the press reports over the last year and a half or so were correct, we're in for far more of this kind of 'relationship management' (or perhaps a bit unkindly, 'monetization' of the communities that still support active forums.
Absolute termination of American Snowmobiler (instead of, say, trying some way to keep its community alive in some Internet-based or online community, like a better version of what Verizon/Oath is about to cripple with Yahoo Groups) seemed to me like a strange action. The avowed sled community just in the group connected with ARTA and the trail conversion plan for the Lake Placid end of the Adirondack Scenic has enough money, and enough technical connection, to keep a fairly-well-featured online version of AS running happily -- they might even have resources to keep the magazlne in production as White River did with a 'certain other publication I cannot name here'.
We already got an answer a couple of years ago: the forums were very low priority in terms of return on tech investment then. I suspect they still are, and the only thing that is changing is more back-end connection to ad serving, stats generation, and third-party marketing opportunities. At least in my opinion, they certainly bend over to chastise, permanently-moderate, or outright ban people whose contributions they don't appreciate, without too much regard for actual 'forum cred' or track record, and I can only imagine what sort of influence had to be applied to people like Ang or Dave Lassen to make them play along with the evolving new party line.
York1My only point was that I feel some of the criticism of Kalmbach is not needed. They are a magazine publishing company that provides a forum for subscribers. They know the issues -- they have said as much. They know things need to be fixed -- they are working on it. In several postings they have indicated they are as frustrated as the users are.
If this were a one time issue, I would agree with you. Having been a member of this forum for 16 years - it is a continuingly recurring happenstance.
Among the number of the forums I participate in - some have been created by the forums user community in contracting with existing forum software providing companies - and those forums, from my user vantage point, have little if any operational issues. I also participate in a forum where a 'major' company as taken that 'solid' software and made it virtually unusable. I don't have the answers - I just report the problems as I see them.
York1They know the issues -- they have said as much. They know things need to be fixed -- they are working on it. In several postings they have indicated they are as frustrated as the users are.
Well I personally do not get around to all the other Kalmbach forums, so I really have no way of knowing what the editors or other moderators are promising over in model railroader, or whatever they call them.
My most recent experience was to read a thread that was locked after only one post with a quip from the moderator dismissing the problem as a "non-issue".
So, I felt it might be worth my (as well as everyone else involved) time to produce a screen shot to document this particular malfunction, thus avoiding any confusion as to whether the complaint pertains to a tangible issue, or simply the product of user ineptness.
Quite to the contrary of the opinion some users seem to have about Kalmbach, I have always found them to strive to produce a quality product, and to welcome constructive feedback geared towards helping them maintain that standard.
That was the purpose of my post....anyway.
BALT and All: Consider this a low-key announcement — We're working on a new website. I cannot offer specifics, but I can say that our current fora and websites are not long for this world.
We're sorry for breakdowns and malfunctions and the harm this causes to your experiences here. We feel bad because we know how much you guys enjoy discussing on the forums, but also because the breakdowns reflect badly on us.
When there's more I can share with readers and customers, you will be among the first to know. -Steve
Steve SweeneyDigital Editor, Hobby
Thanks Steve!
Steve SweeneyBALT and All: Consider this a low-key announcement — We're working on a new website. I cannot offer specifics, but I can say that our current fora and websites are not long for this world. We're sorry for breakdowns and malfunctions and the harm this causes to your experiences here. We feel bad because we know how much you guys enjoy discussing on the forums, but also because the breakdowns reflect badly on us. When there's more I can share with readers and customers, you will be among the first to know. -Steve
All that I am asking - be careful of whatever features the new website has and that they WORK. Is that too much to ask for. I was involved with computer application design and implementation for a Class 1 carrier for a decade. TEST whatever you decide to implement exhaustively - with the tester(s) 'coloring outside the lines. There is nothing that is idiot proof, the only thing the world provides is more inventive idiots.
One forum I participate in, hosted by a much larger company than Kalmbach, took 'production' PhPbb forum software and made it virtually unusable - wouldn't let users stay logged in, if a post contained a 'special characters' the post would not be added to the thread - and many other problems. Over the course of months, most of the problems were resolved, however, the SLOW response time of the site still hasn't been resolved.
Best Wishes for the new site.
One more thing Steve, if you're still looking in.
Make sure, sure, sure the people doing your new website aren't "too smart for their own good." I used to wonder what that meant when I was young. Now that I'm older and look at this high-tech (among other things) world we're living in I see more and more chaos caused by people who aren't as brilliant as they think they are, or who design products to impress each other, user friendliness be damned. I spent my last ten years on the job dealing with that stuff.
See where I'm going here?
Look at that comic strip "Dilbert." The reason Scott Adams can make it so funny is because it's so true.
Steve SweeneyWe're working on a new website.... I can say that our current fora...not long for this world.
I trust this means there will be fora after the new website is completed?
charlie hebdo Steve Sweeney We're working on a new website.... I can say that our current fora...not long for this world. I trust this means there will be fora after the new website is completed?
Steve Sweeney We're working on a new website.... I can say that our current fora...not long for this world.
I for one certainly hope so. I enjoy the various fora and learn a lot from them, I sincerely believe we all do.
That being said, I'm a realist. Company websites aren't a luxury in this day and age, they're a neccessity. But a forum, of whatever type, is a courtesy. Kalmbach doesn't have to provide one.
But I sure hope they do! I'd miss you guys!
Flintlock76But a forum, of whatever type, is a courtesy. Kalmbach doesn't have to provide one.
I just ran a search for "new forum" and came back with 0 results.
Maybe they'll even have flora and fauna.
Lithonia OperatorMaybe they'll even have flora and fauna.
Perhaps so,.....
I also wouldn't be surprised if the word "warbirds" was on the filtered list.
Steve Sweeney . . . I cannot offer specifics, but I can say that our current fora and websites are not long for this world. . . .
That would be depressing.
- PDN.
Lithonia Operator charlie hebdo Steve Sweeney We're working on a new website.... I can say that our current fora...not long for this world. I trust this means there will be fora after the new website is completed? Maybe they'll even have flora and fauna.
Or fora et flauna?
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Paul_D_North_Jr Steve Sweeney . . . I cannot offer specifics, but I can say that our current fora and websites are not long for this world. . . . Does this mean all of the good stuff in the present fora will go away? That would be depressing. - PDN.
Does this mean all of the good stuff in the present fora will go away?
Some of the forums I have been associated with have been able to save existing data as they moved forward to new servers/software. Some didn't. Those that didn't never recovered from the change.
I have not idea of the difficulty involved.
Oddly enough, sometimes I can get the Kalmbach sites to load better if I turn off wifi reception. This is the case on my phone and on my desktop computer.
Go figure.
I assume most of you are now familiar with Telligent error pages and 404 messages.
New marketing paradigm and new marketing partner arrangements mean software changes. Whether we in the 'enthusiasm community' on the bleeding edge of the experience will like it as much as Kalmbach remains to be seen, but we appear to be viewed somewhat like fish in a barrel going forward.
OvermodNew marketing paradigm and new marketing partner arrangements mean software changes.
"Say,...we've noticed that you are running an ad blocker..."
It'll be fine. We all go to zero and start all over again. What's the big deal. ( maybe we can purchase all the 'old' comments on one handy disk)
Many organizations that once provided public message boards have gotten out of them all together. When major league baseball outright ended all their boards I was both shocked and depressed. I hope that Trains doesn't follow suit.
But there are considerable intangible costs in the form of liabilities. So, I am holding my breath.
Part of the fun of these boards is watching how subjects covered in the magazine sometimes shade the course of discussion here. Johnstones comments about Amtrak's allocation of costs being one noteworthy example.
For me, the magazine would lose value without these boards supporting them.
Convicted One Part of the fun of these boards is watching how subjects covered in the magazine sometimes shade the course of discussion here. Johnstones comments about Amtrak's allocation of costs being one noteworthy example. For me, the magazine would lose value without these boards supporting them.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Murphy SidingI've always wondered why I never see articles in Trains Magazine promoting their forums. You'd think it would be an easy way to cross-polinate the branding.
That's a good point! I've subscribed to magazines in the past that did so, and my web persona even managed to make mention in the coveted ink parent component.
Convicted One Part of the fun of these boards is watching how subjects covered in the magazine sometimes shade the course of discussion here. Johnstones comments about Amtrak's allocation of costs being one noteworthy example.
Sometimes I wonder if the fora are testing grounds for future magazine articles...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
I believe that is true, also. But I am not sure if it is because Kalmbach editors assign such or if someone here decides to take it upon themselves to write about it.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.