Rene, I was thinking it might be interesting to assign "rank" to a member of the forum, based on the number of postings he or she has made over the years. This is something that is commonly done in military forums and it is fun to watch the membership gain rank as they participate.
For a RR forum such as this new members would begin their "careers" as the lowest paid "Gandy-Dancer" on the RR. Slowly, by participation in the forum, they would gain rank, or promotions, from one position to the next until they reach the top, say, Secretary, Department of Transportion (Normally reserved for the forum moderator)
Has this every been explored? I think it would add a little additional interest to the forum membership and it would also encourage participation.
Just think of all the positions there are on a RR and you have some feel for the number of titles that could be set up and awarded to members. Eash position would have a range assigned to it that coresponds with the number of postings a person has made. If Gandy-dancer is the lowest then to move up to the next level, what ever that may be, would require X amount of postings in the forum.
RR Rank is not entended to reflect on ones knowledge of the hobby, although it could, but rather to simply serve as an indicator of that particular member's envolvement in the forum.
Anyway just an idea. Any comments?
Another Garden Railway forum in the UK does this, and all the "wannabees" keep dropping one word messages, to each and every thread, usually something like "great model", "good" or similar, but each posting rates as as a step up the ladder, so I am not in favour of this approach.
My two cents worth, Danny Sheehan in Oz.
Until recently there was a star system in place on the forum and as Danny said, there were "star hunters" that had nothing to add but just wanted to up the post count with a bunch of nonesense. I have no respect for an "engineer" rank on the forum with 5,000 posts but had nothing to say in any of them.
Personaly I don't really care, I'm happy to be a coal shoveler or oiler. Perhaps there is another way that would control the quality of posts, but I don't see how it could be enforced.
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
As usual i agree with every thing Jack and Danny have to say.
What is more i take personal offence at what SRS had to say; i reagrd it as the start of a plot to get foreigners off the forum, in particular Australians.
I do believe it is aimed purely at Americans as they are the only ones who would know what the Term Gandy Dancer means.
Rgds ian
Have fun with your trains
OK OK. I got the message - It was just an idea. Didn't realize something like this had been done in the past. I do understand there are some out there who might take advantage of the "system" just to see how far up the ladder they could go. It's a sad fact I guess. I for one would never do it and I don't think any of the "regulars" I've met on this forum would either
Iandor, can't belive you've never heard the term "Gandy-dancer" before. What do they teach you in school down there any way?
According to Mr. Webster, you do know who he is don't you, a Gandy-dancer is "a seasonal laborer working on a RR section gang."
Happy RR all -
Ian, you've railed and ranted quite often about American slang, railroad and non, on the various forums. As one who uses a lot of OZzy-isms, it's quite like the pot calling the kettle black; unfortunately, I don't know if that's an English or Norwegian saying (I learned it from my Mother) or what, but my kids understood it.
As Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt (wife of Franklin D., longest serving US president, ever) said, "You can't be insulted without your permission."
Art: One who has had the pleasure of knowing and working with a number of pleasant Australians who shared their unique sayings with me. I particularly liked 'eggnishner' (phonetic spelling).
Yes Art you are quite right but i only do it in self defence.
Iam truly concerned about my countries culture being overrun by Americanisms. We have had the many incideneces of Australians dying, because of unknkowing people dialling 911 for emergency and not being able to get a reply or any help and they get this idea from American TV shows. Here in Australia emergency is 000.
My grandchildren watch just about all American shows on TV and they are pronouncing many words like Americans and not like Australians and i don't like it and neither would you under the same circumstances.
Look at what has happened to your poor old Amerinds and try comparing Hawiians with Maoris, almost identical people 100 years ago; now Hawiian culture is nearly gone, whereas the Maoris are very distinct and colourful people still and i think New Zealnd is a better place for it. I have seen this first hand as i have visted both Hawaii and New Zealand many times.
If you think this is a resonable way to proceed, well i do not.
Regards Ian
I quit watching TV about a year ago so I'd have more time with trains and the hound. My only complaint with this and other forums is that it seems whenever someone posts a link, they post an indirect link that you have to do a lot of hunting for to find the link they want you to go to. With only so much time and so many posts, it makes it a bit frustrating.
BTW, I feel like an idiot when people chat all day about a particular TV show or movie or movie star that I know nothing about.
Iget my news from newspapers and NPR radio while working. Gets it's retro
Regarding Australia, I think Western Australian beer is the best in that country, better than in other parts.
It's the end result of globalization, cross culturalism and a flattening of local colors. Ian, it's not just Australia that is suffering from this, in the USA there is now scant difference between our geographical areas (North, South and Mid West for the most part) that even 25 years ago was like going to a different country when you crossed state lines. Now there is a McDonalds and WalMart everywhere so it makes no difference if you are in Idaho or Georgia.
We have a pastor of a local church, he was born and raised here in the USA, but went to Australia for 3 months and now uses a fake Australian accent. Others are now copying Australian lingo and habits (thanks to Steve Irwin et al) but have no understanding of them.
Whether or not you agree with it, it is happening, it is a natural growth of the culture. Where it leads I don't know, but we don't always progress in the way we want.
Ian, you're starting to sound like DeGaulle; and you see what a world power his isolationism turned his beloved Isle de France into? It is indeed an island of it's own that is largely ignored by the rest of the world because it is irrelevant!
Sheer distance has tended to isolate the peoples of Anzac over the years, but modern communications and travel means are whittling away at that isolation. I will not postulate as to the good of it; but it is indeed a fact of life that you have to learn to deal with and not get all touchy about. At least you guys aren't drowning in illegal immigrants who refuse to learn the language, play by the rules, and be productive citizens like we are!
Capt Bob is quite right about globalization; but something akin to that started here in the USA right after radio was born and spread like wild fire after coast to coast TV came on line.
Prior to that time, the regional accents throughout the country were quite different. Gradually the 'Chicago' or mid-West accent took over. There's a vast difference between the East Texas and West Texas accents, and the locals insist on mispronouncing the words of their childhood; their children who watch network TV may have a slightly different accent.
I was born just 92 miles south of Chicago but my parents pronounced the letter W as dubya just like President George Bush does. Mirror was meer; drawer was drau-ah; and wash was warsh. My younger brother said 'warsh' up to the day he died; he tried to change but the habit was just too ingrained.
My children don't mispronounce these words, in large part because that's not the way they hear them on TV or in school, but also because I have tried to pronounce them correctly.
Now back on topic; I don't like the idea of displaying the number of posts added to or threads started as it tends to incite contests, running up the total, etc.
Art
iandor wrote:I do believe it is aimed purely at Americans as they are the only ones who would know what the Term Gandy Dancer means.
http://dbromage.omni.com.au/slang.html
Later,
K
Yes well when i use a word that i think may not be understood by all i try to give an alternative afterward in brackets to help. After all the idea of writing anything is to communicate and if people are not familiar with a word or words that you use; you have failed to communicate properly.
I am from Sydney and many words are Sydney words and even other Aussies would be uncertain of what those words means so why use them?
Rgds Ian
Relating to accents, someone just sent me this test relating to American accents:
Click Here: Check out "What American accent do you have?"
It correctly identified mine as Philadelphia/South Jersey.
Bill, not a bad quiz. It identified me as most likely 'midlands', closely followed by 'northeast'.
I moved out of the Chicago area at 25, spent 14 years in New Mexico, 2 in California, 26 in upper New York state, 2 in Boca Raton, Florida, and almost 11 here in ya-all Texasl.
So the quiz pegged me nicely but you do have to answer the questions accurately. I have dropped a lot of Illiinois-isms along the way and must have picked up some Northeastern ones unconciously (sometimes I think I spend my entire life unconcious!!). But I sure don't say the capital (Albany) of New York as OH-b'nee as NooYawkers do.
Long Live Esperanto!!! Art
vsmith wrote:We had starts, they got dropped when the forum switched formats, too many people posting just to rack up numbers. -I dont think anyone really misses them, and I should know, I had as many starts as you could get, didnt really mean anything.
Vic is exactly right. Too many folks would just post non-sensical things just to add to their ranking.
Rene Schweitzer
Classic Toy Trains/Garden Railways/Model Railroader
Rene S wrote: vsmith wrote: We had starts, they got dropped when the forum switched formats, too many people posting just to rack up numbers. -I dont think anyone really misses them, and I should know, I had as many starts as you could get, didnt really mean anything. Vic is exactly right. Too many folks would just post non-sensical things just to add to their ranking.
vsmith wrote: We had starts, they got dropped when the forum switched formats, too many people posting just to rack up numbers. -I dont think anyone really misses them, and I should know, I had as many starts as you could get, didnt really mean anything.
Rank don't mean anything in real world! Just look around (or remember back to the old days) and see how many people screwed yeah and they had no rank. Ranking aint squat.
Would like to see us get a "link" for urls in the top box (the chain link part)
William
Bill, great little quizz. Thanks for sharing that with us. Mine came out "defintely southern."
(which pleases me bunches!)
Good little test. It identified me as being from Boston or possibly from New Hampshire or Maine. I've lived in Connecticut for over 30 years so I guess my Cleveland, OH accent has been erased.
Again poor Ian has been left out of the fun.
Walt
Bill; where did you get that quiz from, i would like to contact them and offer my results; confusing to say the least. However i do see some sense in it. I would like to see Kim do the same test and see how he goes. In retrospect it must be heading in the rifght direction though. What do thers think ?
I am an Australian livbing in SE Queenslandand, i have a distinct Sydney style of talking, rather than an accent as such. Anyway i came out as from Inland North, almost a full North easter or from Philly.
Interesting huh.
Maybe we can have a "coffee shop thread" No, that was a disaster along with the star ratings. Maybe we can not post on a post when we don't like what was posted? Like what I just did. Look Ma, I gotta 'nuther star! How has my post added to any knowledge? It didn't, but I'm one up on my post count.
We tend to drift off topic often on this forum, when that happens the thread dies a natural death and we move on.
Gotta run, time to clean track, run some trains, and winterize the garden.
iandor wrote:As usual i agree with every thing Jack and Danny have to say.What is more i take personal offence at what SRS had to say; i reagrd it as the start of a plot to get foreigners off the forum, in particular Australians. I do believe it is aimed purely at Americans as they are the only ones who would know what the Term Gandy Dancer means.Rgds ian
Ian, you are showing (again) your ignorance. Gandy-dancer was commonly used in SAR as a term for fettler, also frequently quoted in the Commonwealth Railways archives as a name for gangers. It is also widely known among ALL modellers who have ever picked up a book or reference that dealt with railways outside of your small sphere.
Read first, open mouth second. Why do you have to paint us Downunderers as bigotted idiots? Learn that with the internet this is a small globe. Any word-expression you don't understand is as close as Google for an explanation. I reckon it's time you pulled your head in.
Snoq. Pass, Go back and read the thread, it wasn'r hijacked; it took a logical bend about verbage and it's usages.
YO! ~ Bill C, The test very accurately got my "Sout Joisey" ( and since you will know whereof I speak, "Wilewood") origins and the fact that I have lived all my 66+ years in the Delaware Valley, on one side of the "crick" or the other, despite my close contact with folk from all over the world in my many years afloat.
Forget the post count, there have been folk ejected from some of these train fora for that very reason. Others who used various aliases to project nonsense, and some who thought that they might someday get some reward by boosting a post count have also been removed.
I abhorred the coffee shop thread when it was here!
I kinda like it the way it is, and as TJ said, it will die a natural death when nobody comes up with a new angle or something else to add to a subject. It tends to be self - policing in that when someone gets just too out of line, someone makes some caustic remark that tends to ground everybody; and you will usually find that to be the last posting on that subject.
SRS 4501 wrote: OK OK. I got the message - It was just an idea. Didn't realize something like this had been done in the past. I do understand there are some out there who might take advantage of the "system" just to see how far up the ladder they could go. It's a sad fact I guess. I for one would never do it and I don't think any of the "regulars" I've met on this forum would either
I think its time for this thread to die, don't you? You don't want postings to be tied to Forum Rank, that is OK by me. It was just an idea to spark some interest in the forum and I do belive it did just that.....................
Unfortunately, once started threads are like Frankenstein's Monster; they refuse to die!
The originator's have even tried to change the name of a thread to no avail. Their creation keeps on going, and going, and going. Just like the battery bunny and even IT changed trademarks!!
Now watch, this addition will either breathe new life into this thread or, perhaps, give it the kiss of DEATH.
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