Do the RR's moitor the forums on Trains Magizine?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bobwilcox

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I saw that!

OS

[bobwilcox]

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[jeaton]

Long before the invention of the internet, and for that matter personal computers, I once made a comment about some company business. It was a positive developement that wasn't a secret and I didn't violate security insider information laws, but it was noted by a member of the press. The company PR guy got the reporter to hold the story. I suspect the PR guy also wanted me fired, but I think the VP in my department nixed that action. So I got lucky.

Now I don't have to worry about saying something that will impact my employment, because I only work for myself. I still use a little caution about the things I will say, as there could be some strang consequences.

Jay

Jay

[csxengineer98]

QUOTE: Originally posted by O.S.

If you want to guarantee you don't get hired by a railroad, or don't get promoted, or don't get a raise, or don't get permission to come on the property, just bad-mouth them on a forum. See what happens!

Or say you're a fan, and you want access to get on a railroad to photograph some new locomotive, or do an article, or something. Try doing that after you've been all over the forums bad-mouthing their management or paint scheme or operations. People don't appreciate being judged by amateurs.

If you work for the railroad, you don't even have to be negative if you start commenting on their practices or success. Just merely attempting to speak for the company, even positively, may be seen as presumptous and overstepping your authority. Basically, if I go beyond "I like working for my railroad," I'm playing with fire. Or, if I'm trying to be helpful to an enthusiast who has an operational or traffic question, my efforts can be construed as giving away proprietary information. My safe course is to point them to the company's website, and stop right there. Even if what I'm saying is something that can be pieced together from trackside observations, I've just confirmed that for your company's competitors, and that makes the information like gold. Even bad-mouthing a company I used to work for is a bad idea; it gives potential new bosses reason to wonder if I'll later say the same thing about them. It shows I let my emotions do my talking, not my brain, which doesn't say anything good about my judgement and control.

And what would be the point of saying anything? It can't possibly help you. But it can definitely hurt you. Look around in here and ask yourself this: How many people do you see that ID themselves as being in the industry that also say what their real name is, and even if they do, look closely to see if they say anything that implies an opinion about their company? Ask yourself if they have any ambition about a promotion into management. I see a lot of people who are protecting their seniority and their job.

I guess the original question asked if there was someone at a railroad detailed to monitor forums. Yes: the PR department! Don't you think that if they see you saying something nasty for about the hundredth time, and you work there, that this information will never find its way to your boss? Or if you're a well-known railfan and you want access to the property, do you imagine they won't remember your name?

And there are plenty of people at railroads who check forums quite regularly to see what's being said about them, and who's saying it: people like me check them. I make the circuit once a week to see if there's any new bad actors to add to my list. And those people wonder why they never get beyond the parking lot ...

very well put.... thats all i can say..covers it all very neatly...
csx engineer

[Anonymous]

If you want to guarantee you don't get hired by a railroad, or don't get promoted, or don't get a raise, or don't get permission to come on the property, just bad-mouth them on a forum. See what happens!

Or say you're a fan, and you want access to get on a railroad to photograph some new locomotive, or do an article, or something. Try doing that after you've been all over the forums bad-mouthing their management or paint scheme or operations. People don't appreciate being judged by amateurs.

If you work for the railroad, you don't even have to be negative if you start commenting on their practices or success. Just merely attempting to speak for the company, even positively, may be seen as presumptous and overstepping your authority. Basically, if I go beyond "I like working for my railroad," I'm playing with fire. Or, if I'm trying to be helpful to an enthusiast who has an operational or traffic question, my efforts can be construed as giving away proprietary information. My safe course is to point them to the company's website, and stop right there. Even if what I'm saying is something that can be pieced together from trackside observations, I've just confirmed that for your company's competitors, and that makes the information like gold. Even bad-mouthing a company I used to work for is a bad idea; it gives potential new bosses reason to wonder if I'll later say the same thing about them. It shows I let my emotions do my talking, not my brain, which doesn't say anything good about my judgement and control.

And what would be the point of saying anything? It can't possibly help you. But it can definitely hurt you. Look around in here and ask yourself this: How many people do you see that ID themselves as being in the industry that also say what their real name is, and even if they do, look closely to see if they say anything that implies an opinion about their company? Ask yourself if they have any ambition about a promotion into management. I see a lot of people who are protecting their seniority and their job.

I guess the original question asked if there was someone at a railroad detailed to monitor forums. Yes: the PR department! Don't you think that if they see you saying something nasty for about the hundredth time, and you work there, that this information will never find its way to your boss? Or if you're a well-known railfan and you want access to the property, do you imagine they won't remember your name?

And there are plenty of people at railroads who check forums quite regularly to see what's being said about them, and who's saying it: people like me check them. I make the circuit once a week to see if there's any new bad actors to add to my list. And those people wonder why they never get beyond the parking lot ...

[kenneo]

Believe us -- O.S., Limitedclear, Ed, me. It's for real.

And the railroads that I was refering to are not Class 1's

[Justicar]

and then there's the space aliens....

[Anonymous]

I think the railroads have better things to do than monitor TRAINS magazine forums. Certainly some of the more inflammatory subjects posted would provoke a PR type to send a conciliatory, diplomatically worded response.

The NSA is a big organization devoted to monitoring foreign communications. Yes, they have computers that will do searches on key words. A human being still has to read and do analysis on those communications. They are short on linguists; they are short on analysts; and most of the stuff they intercept is immediately classified as "burn before reading". So to worry about immediate visits by "agents" of NSA is kind of like worrying about a visit from Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. They don't act on the intelligence they develop; there are no hordes of NSA agents running down Internet leads; and if there were, they would be chasing after foreign citizens, not Americans who could sue them into oblivion.

Erik

[Anonymous]

Yes. But not for the grandiose national-security reasons that some have proposed. It's for mundane reasons: To find out who on the team can't keep their mouth shut, to find out who is bitter and cranky, to look for information someone can use against someone else at the railroad. It doesn't even have to be you that's the target. I've seen one person's quotes used to attack a third party. The person who posted -- let's call him the "stooge" -- used to work for someone who we can call "the boss." The Boss hasn't made a lot of friends at the railroad, because he's ambitious and doesn't let office politics get in his way. The stooge left the railroad, and started bad-mouthing it in forums. He didn't say anything untrue, but it wasn't complimentary, either. Someone else at the railroad -- let's call him the "fink" -- saw the stooge's posts, plucked them out, and forwarded them to a few dozen people at the railroad who were looking for ammunition to use against the boss. Later, the stooge decides he wants to go back to work for the railroad. After getting the runaround from the human resources types, he calls up his old boss, and says, "what's up?" The boss says, "I'd like to help you, but after you said this and that -- which didn't do me any favors -- forget it!

[edblysard]

Go to Google, type in your Trains.Com screen name...and just watch...
Or better yet, type in your real name...

the world is really getting smaller...
Ed[:D]

[tree68]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dehusman

Kennco: Where did you get that "urban legend" about Googling the line only hitting one site?
I tried Union Pacific and UP and got over 10 million hits on each.
I tried Norfolk Southern and NS and got over 10 million hits.
I tried CSXT and got 40,000+ hits.
I tried BNSF and got 400,000 hits.
What railroad were you Googling? Maybe its so small there aren't any other sites?
Dave H.

Railroads aren't the only ones that have restricted "non-corporate" websites. It's not the Google references that count - those will hit any site that refers to the railroad: news, regulatory, personal (like, if you mention a RR on the site about your free-lanced model RR), even city council minutes that mention it. Multiply the size of the railroad by the number of years the web has existed and you can get a lot of hits.

It's the "fan" sites that take the hit. Seems like I've heard of several entertainers that have taken similar action.

[Mikeygaw]

wasn't there someone on here that claimed to be Hunter Harrison or some other railroad bigwig?

[dehusman]

Kennco: Where did you get that "urban legend" about Googling the line only hitting one site?
I tried Union Pacific and UP and got over 10 million hits on each.
I tried Norfolk Southern and NS and got over 10 million hits.
I tried CSXT and got 40,000+ hits.
I tried BNSF and got 400,000 hits.

What railroad were you Googling? Maybe its so small there aren't any other sites?

Dave H.

[GMS-AU]

Understandable that this site might be monitored but really who is going to try to hijack a train and try to run it into a city centre or bomb it even. By experience it should be known that all is needed is a light truck and half a tonne of fertilizer or maybe hide in the trunk of a car and pick of people for sport or just simply part you SUV on a rail line. As an outsider, the US seems to have enough threats from inside the country let alone from outside. I would think the general railfan community would be an asset more than a liability. The government seems happy to pour money into airline security which helps the profits of private companies but seems hesitant to spend anything on the state owned Amtrak. With all of the paranoia that is rampant, maybe the terrorists have already won.

Hmm, maybe my visa maybe canceled now.

G M Simpson

[Junctionfan]

I hope so, and I also hope the governments reads too. It's cheaper than writing a letter to complain.

I just wish I could know for the positive stuff that the railroads and governments heard me and liked the idea and did it.

To whomever monitoring for the President,

Please tell him not to abandon Amtrak just yet.

[kenneo]

As Ed stated, railroad officials do read the forums, but they are not doing so as "spies". At least for the most part. The Justice Department and Homeland Security do moniter and I can name (but will not) certain regulatory (as in Federal and State DOT's) that read the forums as part of their job.

Depending upon your job/position - past or present, what you say can be used against you as a job action or even in a court case. Folks such as Mudchicken, LimitedClear, CSX Engr and myself, to mention just four, keep our identies "secret" for just that very reason and also are cautious about what we say here.

For example, a certain railroad that I know of has managed to have removed all web sites that feature(d) it that it does not control that are fan oriented. They did this legally. To quote a book title -- "Only the Paranoid Survive". Another line has managed to control things to such an extent that GOOGLE will not show any site but its own official one last time I tried it.

The NSA has a copy of any and every message we send or receive. A certain referance to a well known international organization mentioned above can almost guarentee a visit.

[MP57313]

QUOTE: Originally posted by eastside

Well, this is a free public forum, and you have to assume that anything you express here is essentially broadcasted to the public.

That's true. Also, if you use your employer's computer or internet service to access this site (or any other) they could very well be watching your messages. My employer does (it's not a railroad, but it is an occasional shipper) and we get periodic reminders that the computer is a work-related tool and not for employee entertainment.

[Anonymous]

I doubt that anyone high-up on a Class 1 is on hear. I'm sure some people from shortlines are though.

[Anonymous]

Back during the summer I posted a picture of kudzu that had crawled across the rails west of Saluda, and just a few days after I'd posted that picture I saw where it had been sprayed and killed. I'm sure it was just a coincidence, but it does make you wonder...

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by eastside

Well, this is a free public forum, and you have to assume that anything you express here is essentially broadcasted to the public. That includes your neighbor, relatives, police, railroad executives, and Al Qaeda. So if you're truly paranoid, you should avoid places like this or ensure that you handle is anonymous. You'll probably notice, however, that those who get the most respect don't bother to hide their names. Also implicit, and I haven't seen anything to the contrary in the privacy statement, is that the forum owner may use the contributed content.

Thst's why I am doing what im doing. That's why I posted it in the first place. I was just courus.

[eastside]

Well, this is a free public forum, and you have to assume that anything you express here is essentially broadcasted to the public. That includes your neighbor, relatives, police, railroad executives, and Al Qaeda. So if you're truly paranoid, you should avoid places like this or ensure that you handle is anonymous. You'll probably notice, however, that those who get the most respect don't bother to hide their names. Also implicit, and I haven't seen anything to the contrary in the privacy statement, is that the forum owner may use the contributed content.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSF railfan.

Everyday alot of us write topics on the forums that have alot to do with the Railroads in the country.
The Question is?
What is said daily on the forums (Like Trains magazine). Do the American Railroads monitor the forums? Or do they not even care?

Not unless they are railfans.

[Modelcar]

....A good question....and one that I personally have wondered about. Employees of RR are just like all of us and I would suppose with railroading as a subject close to their knowledge many would scan across at times just as a matter of curiosity. Even finding some things interesting.

[Anonymous]

So, the third eschelon is watching us? Where is Sam Fisher?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSFGP38

The NSA monitors all internet traffic, phone calls, emails, im, data transfer via the eschelon net. They are watching.......but I say let'em...... I aint got nothing interesting to say.

Hear, hear...

LC

[BNSFGP38]

The NSA monitors all internet traffic, phone calls, emails, im, data transfer via the eschelon net. They are watching.......but I say let'em...... I aint got nothing interesting to say.

[Anonymous]

CSX Eng is correct. I know people (employees) who have been visited by RR police and Homeland Security personnel and Federal Agents (FBI/U.S. Marshalls) based upon their internet postings...

LC

[csxengineer98]

\they do..they dont make thier pressance known....and becouse of that fact.... i dont post anything that has anything to do with train schedules... and what trains have what as far as freight.... anything that i post is job exeriances and things that if you realy wanted to you can find it published or posted on the net already......i stay out of any area that might end up getting me fired if i give out company information.... that is a big no no..
csx engineer

[Anonymous]

Ok I was just woundering,But thanks anyway.
End of topic.