OGR Forum Refugee Roll Call

[Anonymous]

There is no need to write IMO. You wrote it and your name is beside it. Who else's opinion would people expect it to be? [}:)][}:)] Otherwise the post seems a little egocentric. Just a teeny, little bit. [:D][:D][:D]

Bill

[Anonymous]

dlagrua
Sure its your opinion, no debate there--and you clearly have a low regard for certain of your fellow O-gaugers. Obviously you have the right to hold that opinion but I don't agree with bad-mouthing others in the hobby including people with whom I disagree!.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Leonard

dlagrua
Sure its your opinion, no debate there--and you clearly have a low regard for certain of your fellow O-gaugers. Obviously you have the right to hold that opinion but I don't agree with bad-mouthing others in the hobby including people with whom I disagree!.

and this post certainly expresses your opinion. I disagree with the prejudiced accessment of my post as expressed above. It seems strange how you are so quick to judge others for their opinion and have not bothered to respond to the points in my post.

[Anonymous]

OK boys, behave now.[C):-)]

[Anonymous]

OGR forum = [censored]

[Anonymous]

I'd like to point out that Kalmbach is a much larger organization, with many more magazines, books, and employees than OGR. This is only one of a family of forums operated by Kalmbach. Rich Melvin & his partners only own one magazine. You can't compare the revenue streams of the two companies; it's like comparing the revenue of Staples to a mom & pop office supply store.

The fact remains: none of us know what OGR or Kalmbach pays to allow us the privilege to post on their forums. I respectfully submit that any conclusions that OGR is trying to turn their forum into a profit center are not based on facts, since none of us know just what all of the fact are. Especially when you consider that even though posting is still free over there, people have already left & aren't going back. Where is the profit going to come from?

Everyone has the right to spend their money as they see fit. If you and others no longer wi***o use the OGR forum, that is your right. For those of us who have decided to pay the fee, that is our right as well. Can we all respect each other & drop the nastiness?

Tony

[Anonymous]

1) stop.

2) go back and read the last post from Tony "vitabile".

3) take a deep breath.

4) we are still talking about toy trains right? it is a hobby still isn't it?

[Anonymous]

[#welcome]

OGR=[censored]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by vitabile

I'd like to point out that Kalmbach is a much larger organization, with many more magazines, books, and employees than OGR. This is only one of a family of forums operated by Kalmbach. Rich Melvin & his partners only own one magazine. You can't compare the revenue streams of the two companies; it's like comparing the revenue of Staples to a mom & pop office supply store.

The fact remains: none of us know what OGR or Kalmbach pays to allow us the privilege to post on their forums. I respectfully submit that any conclusions that OGR is trying to turn their forum into a profit center are not based on facts, since none of us know just what all of the fact are. Especially when you consider that even though posting is still free over there, people have already left & aren't going back. Where is the profit going to come from?

Everyone has the right to spend their money as they see fit. If you and others no longer wi***o use the OGR forum, that is your right. For those of us who have decided to pay the fee, that is our right as well. Can we all respect each other & drop the nastiness?

Tony

Tony: I very much respect your opinion but would like to offer a few counterpoints.
1. Webspace is not that expensive. A website is inexpensive to operate and maintain. Anyone could sponsor a forum for $25 to $100 a month. This small sum can be recovered by selling very minimal advertising.
2. If a forum is not trying to charge a $18 fee to turn a profit then what is the fee for? Perhaps to pay the salary of the moderator for time censoring posts that disagree with his philosophy? I believe that that other forum saw how many people were on it and said: well if 10-20% of the members stay that's quite a score- simple and easy cash in my pocket.
3. Spending money as one see's fit. It's certainly your right to spend your money as you see fit. If you feel that it's a good buy to purchase something that ALL other forums provide FREE then just get out your checkbook and send in your money today.!! Don't hessitate, they are going fast and there are only a limited number of memberships left!!!!! -LOL

[FJ and G]

diagrua,

I hope you are not right. That would be highway robbery.

To settle this matter, I would like to a detailed breakdown of the costs and how OGR plans to utilize the money. I'm sure that all of it is going into their website and not into anyone's pockets, but then again I may be naive.

BTW, I'm still hopeful that Rover and Spirit will encounter Martians.

dav

[FJ and G]

speaking of OGR refugees, it would be nice to see more of your posts; don't be bashful. The CTT site doesn't seem to be moving all that quickly. Maybe when the payments machine on OGR kicks in we will see more?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dlagrua

QUOTE: Originally posted by vitabile

I'd like to point out that Kalmbach is a much larger organization, with many more magazines, books, and employees than OGR. This is only one of a family of forums operated by Kalmbach. Rich Melvin & his partners only own one magazine. You can't compare the revenue streams of the two companies; it's like comparing the revenue of Staples to a mom & pop office supply store.

The fact remains: none of us know what OGR or Kalmbach pays to allow us the privilege to post on their forums. I respectfully submit that any conclusions that OGR is trying to turn their forum into a profit center are not based on facts, since none of us know just what all of the fact are. Especially when you consider that even though posting is still free over there, people have already left & aren't going back. Where is the profit going to come from?

Everyone has the right to spend their money as they see fit. If you and others no longer wi***o use the OGR forum, that is your right. For those of us who have decided to pay the fee, that is our right as well. Can we all respect each other & drop the nastiness?

Tony

Tony: I very much respect your opinion but would like to offer a few counterpoints.
1. Webspace is not that expensive. A website is inexpensive to operate and maintain. Anyone could sponsor a forum for $25 to $100 a month. This small sum can be recovered by selling very minimal advertising.
2. If a forum is not trying to charge a $18 fee to turn a profit then what is the fee for? Perhaps to pay the salary of the moderator for time censoring posts that disagree with his philosophy? I believe that that other forum saw how many people were on it and said: well if 10-20% of the members stay that's quite a score- simple and easy cash in my pocket.
3. Spending money as one see's fit. It's certainly your right to spend your money as you see fit. If you feel that it's a good buy to purchase something that ALL other forums provide FREE then just get out your checkbook and send in your money today.!! Don't hessitate, they are going fast and there are only a limited number of memberships left!!!!! -LOL

dlagrua:

I have pointed this out in another post on this thread. The major cost for a forum of OGR's size is not the hard disk space required to contain the postings. That is indeed cheap. The major cost to a forum with OGR's activity level is the bandwidth required to transmit the data from that database to each of the users' browsers.

Rich Melvin indicated OGR has served up on average over 60 Gigabytes of data per month for the last 6 months That data was spread out over 130 million pages. If you do the math out, assuming the load was perfectly balanced over a 24 hour period (which it really isn't), that's the equivalent of 50 users being served a web page every second. It's also the equivalent of almost 25KB of data being transmitted every second.

That kind of traffic costs money to support. Your average high-end desktop PC couldn't hope to keep up with that kind of traffic. And OGR's service is hosted by an outside vendor, which means they get a bill every month. And you know that the service provider is going to make a profit.

As for whether or not these numbers are accurate, if you glance at the "who's online now" bar at the top of the OGR forum page, you'll note that there are often over 70 people online at any one time. The numbers above certainly seem to bear out given the evidence of the "who's online now" bar.

The $18 a year charge, I believe, is intended to defray the costs, but not turn a profit. I also believe that part of the purpose of the fee is to weed out the people who do not want to pay it & so reduce the size of the above mentioned bill.

I sincerely doubt the bills will stay at their current level, but still, $0.05 a day from every user left, most of whom will be active participants posting on a regular basis, probably isn't going to cover the whole bill. OGR is not in the business of running a forum; they're in the business of publishing a magazine.

Regarding the matter of my checkbook, I have indeed paid the fee already. If you read my post carefully, you would note that I used the phrase "those of us who have already paid the fee."

And further, I believe I will be getting something that I won't be getting free on other forums: a source of information on toy trains & TMCC & other things that interest me in the form of the other people who have paid the fee & are staying on OGR. It's the people who make the forum, not the cost.

One last thing: even if I am wrong & OGR is trying to make a profit off of theif forum, why is that such a bad thing? Tell me, why do so many people have cable or satellite TV when they can put an antenna on their roof & get the same thing for free? Do you even know someone who still watches TV off of the free airwaves?

Tony

[Anonymous]

David:

Actually, the Mars rovers are named "Opportunity" and "Spirit." And, in my opinion, at least, if they do encounter any Martians, it'll be in the form of bacteria fossils.

Tony

[FJ and G]

I agree that for $18 you will be getting a lot of good interaction from those highly talented members, the vast majority who have chosen to remain on OGR. I just wi***hat many of them would also post of the "free" sites. You probably know who I'm talking about: those who have great knowledge about DCS, LEDs and other electronics, as well as a certain author.

1. My own reasons for not paying the fee are that once all of the sites charge fees, we won't have the "free access" and change of ideas that we now have. I just feel it is the wrong road to take.

2. Furthermore, as a subscriber to OGR, I think it should be a free subscriber benefit. That would tie sales of their magazine to this free service.

Anyway, Tony, I understand and respect yours and others' reasons for paying the fee. But reasons #1 and #2 are my own.

I'll keep my eyes out for bacteria fossiles in the photos from space, and the possibility that intelligent life has constructed some toy trains on Mars.

[Anonymous]

David:

Alas, I have no more pull convincing others how to spend their time or money than I do with the members on this forum. I'm quite willing to let everyone make their own choices. And do it without disparaging them.

There was a movie about Mars that came out a couple of years ago. I believe Gary Sinese was in it. He's an actor I happen to like, partly because of the bizarre resemblance I felt he had to Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull when he played "Leutenant Dan" in Forrest Gump. In any event, the movie ddn't do well, but I caught the end of it on cable once.

Warning: IF you want to see this movie, stop reading now.

In the part I saw, the astronauts walk into the "giant mars face", which turns out to be real, and they watch a holographic movie. The movie shows a green Mars being struck by a comet or asteroid & going up in flames. Then it shows a fleet of space ships leaving Mars & landing on Earth.

So, according to this movie, WE are the Martians.

Tony

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

Just came over from the OGR forum to see who was here. Looks like a lot of OGR users are now signed up here at CTT.

Looks like there are some good trends here....so I'll just take some time and look around.

[Anonymous]

Tony:
Thank you for your kind and courteous reply. Perhaps we still disagree a bit on the philosophy at the other forum, what it costs to run it, and of course the $18 fee. However, I do not disagree on your right to spend your hard earned money any way that you wish. I hope that you do not fault my logic in my main point ;of not paying for something that all other forums provide free.
I've tried to address this topic perhaps with some sharp criticism and a bit of "off color humor". The bottom line is that this is a great hobby with nice folks from all over. I hope to make some posts later today which will share some of my scratch building work. It's time to start talking model railroad stuff again.

[Anonymous]

with Dave V., Tony, and dlagrua here who needs to post?
i'll just scroll and read along [^]

[Anonymous]

I'm going to watch both forums for awhile. Do I agree with the $18 fee, no. If you get the magazine the website access should be free. But in the fast paced, low priced, wal-mart mentality world we live in, each business must decide what is best for THEM, not necessarily their customers.

[Anonymous]

Not a refugee...I'll continue to visit OGR..but I'm NOT paying $18 to post...

Moodyman (AKA hooch on OGR)

[Anonymous]

dlagrua:

Hey, we can agree to disagree. As I said, you're entitled to your opinion & to spend your money as you see fit.

No problem at all.

Tony

[Anonymous]

All OGR refugees are welcomed here! No censorship or $18.00 FEES!
[#welcome][#welcome][#welcome][#welcome]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by goodtogreat

Refugee!
Entered CTT witness protection program and changed name too![}:)]

[:D]Very funny! I'll probably spend more time here using my name & take my chances with the OGR hit men.

[Anonymous]

Good to see you all!

pax[C):-)]

[Anonymous]

Tony,

Your March 26 post asks if anyone still just gets broadcast TV. We do!

I decided long ago when our first daughter arrived in 1980 that 6 channels would be hard enough to manage with a growing family, not to mention 50 or 100. It's paid off and I don't regret it. I even know a guy in our church who doesn't have a TV, period. He just borrows one whenever Alabama plays on TV. I do know a lot more people, though, who have cable.

I'm not saying cable TV or pay train forums are evil. They just don't fit my priorities. And there are a few good shows on broadcast channels!

[Anonymous]

John:

You ever hear the story of the guy who wanted to buy a TV, but heard that color was coming out in a few years. So he decided to wait.

Then, after color TVs came out, he heard that there was something else new coming down the pike, so he decided to wait for that.

At the end of the story, it's 30 years later and the guy still hasn't got a TV. And his friends are probably sick of him coming over to watch their TV.

This story has nothing to do with train forums or cable vs broadcast TV, but it IS a funny one.

Tony

[NYC Fan]

Tony,

That story sounds too much like my Father! He hasn't gotten cable TV, a cell phone, or a computer....all for similar reasons you describe above.

Skip

[Buckeye Riveter]

My orginal post was so upsetting to Mr. Pease, (see below) that I decided to erase part of it so it wouldn't cause any problems.

Oh, and one last thing I almost forgot...[#welcome][#welcome][#welcome]
Welcome one and all, and please except my thanks in advance for all of the knowledge you bring to this forum.

[Anonymous]

This horse is DEAD! Why are you all still beating it?[tdn]

[Buckeye Riveter]

Good point, Mr. Pease. I'll try to refrain from asking too many questions in the future that are so upsetting. [:(][:(][:(][:(][:(]

As to one of your previously posted questions which may or may not have been directed at me, I'll be more than happy to answer it. Yes, I did have an IV bottle strapped to my arm about 9 weeks ago and I didn't need to get up to eat, but I had to carry it to the john. Horribly painful surgery, but I made it by the grace of God.

Yes, I do have a train layout. You are welcome to come and see it sometime if you can find Roger's Corners.

Yes, I still work in construction and once a year get to go fishing for walleye, pike and smallies.

I hope I am not beating that horse anymore. I was hoping to get to the Derby this year, but with the sugery I won't be able to make it. In the event, that you feel I'm still beating that horse, just say so.