Well, I'm not surprised this happened, but the thread that talked about how this "New site stinks, stinks, stinks has been deleted. You can search for it, and results showing synopses are returned, but when you click on any of the posts a 404 Not Found page comes up. IMO there were some valid concerns brought up in that thread that I guess Kalmbach doesn't want to deal with.
de N2MPU Jack
Proud NRA Life Member and supporter of the 2nd. Amendment
God, guns, and rock and roll!
Modeling the NYC/NYNH&H in HO and CPRail/D&H in N
I'm REALLY surprised it lasted as long as it did. If I was Kalmbach, I would have yanked it immediately.
I would venture to say that, just because the thread has been removed, it doesn't mean that the management at Kalmbach is ignoring the concrens voiced there.
Alot goes on behind the scenes that we never see. (And that's a good thing! )
I've noticed that threads like the one you are talking about tend to have a limited "shelf life". In the first couple of pages most of the real concerns get presented. The remainder of the pages end up with people repeating themselves over and over or people sniping at one another and generally making fools of themselves. (been there, done that! )
I don't expect Kalmbach to scrape the new forum because some people have problems with it, but I do believe they will do their best to "make it work".
-George
"And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their father's magic carpet made of steel..."
loatharI'm REALLY surprised it lasted as long as it did. If I was Kalmbach, I would have yanked it immediately.
PA&ERRThe remainder of the pages end up with people repeating themselves over and over or people sniping at one another and generally making fools of themselves. (been there, done that! )
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
If I was Kalmbach I'd grow up!
Luckily, I don't have to...
It's just the way things work in the republic of Kalmbach. Honestly I have never run across this sort of anal censorship at any other forum I have ever frequented. Anytime a thread runs toward anything negative pertaining to Kalmbach or any of their endeavors it has a VERY short life. Mention a competitor and get deleted or edited. It just makes them look small and petty.
C'mon, there's a "Bug Reports" sticky up at the top. If there are legitimate problems, that's the place to post them. The people working on the issues will check that. I wouldn't expect them to scroll through pages of rants looking for the occasional bits of real information.
I'm still mystified by the constantly-changing picture sizes, but I can live with that, and even laugh at it. So, sound two blasts of your whistle and move forward.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
BlueHillsCPRt's just the way things work in the republic of Kalmbach. Honestly I have never run across this sort of anal censorship at any other forum I have ever frequented. Anytime a thread runs toward anything negative pertaining to Kalmbach or any of their endeavors it has a VERY short life. Mention a competitor and get deleted or edited. It just makes them look small and petty.
For the people who are continually complaining about every aspect of the new site without trying to help get things right, I am sure Kalmbach will gladly refund every penny that you have ever paid to use the forums. Jamie
CLICK HERE FOR THE CSX DIXIE LINE BLOG
BlueHillsCPR loatharI'm REALLY surprised it lasted as long as it did. If I was Kalmbach, I would have yanked it immediately. If I was Kalmbach I'd grow up! Luckily, I don't have to... It's just the way things work in the republic of Kalmbach. Honestly I have never run across this sort of anal censorship at any other forum I have ever frequented. Anytime a thread runs toward anything negative pertaining to Kalmbach or any of their endeavors it has a VERY short life. Mention a competitor and get deleted or edited. It just makes them look small and petty.
I've seen WAY worse cencorship on other forums. (and less on others.) I agree about this thread not lasting long either...
I have dial-up, so things have always been a little slow. But this new site is much slower than the old one to load. So slow in fact, that I just click on one or two interesting threads, and get out of here. I rarely bother to reply anymore, because it just takes too long. Let's see now. How do I get back to the main menu. Awww nuts, I'm outta here.
FWIW, I haven't read anything objectionable here...merely opinions, and like I have myself, we all have navels, too. I enjoy this forum for its diversity, including the opinions of those who don't care much for the place.
Reminds me of a line we used to joke about in the military. It was a spoof on the leadership of young officer candidates, or evenly newly commissioned ones, and the comment found in their annual formal evaluation about their leadership: "His men follow him only out of idle curiousity." Maybe that's what's at play here.
If anyone is having difficulty still, please send a message, either a PM to Bergie, or an email to Customer Services, and explain the nature of your problem. If asking it out in the open doesn't get you much help, a more directed question will very likely have your matter addressed effectively.
I am having problems myself. Two times now my preview of a reply has disappeared when I return to it after going to retrieve an image or third party text. It used to be that I could back-page to the preview and insert what I wanted to. Now, I get the blank text box and have to retype everything. I also get some threads expanding, usually with a graphic or an image in one of the responses. I also find the site a lot slower than previously.
I am quite certain that Wade and his team continue to deal with the various problems as they can. This must be quite a challenge when considering that Kalmbach hosts another 12 or thirteen major forums, at least one other of which recently migrated to this format.
-Crandell
I obviously stop at a lot of forums you don't, or you stop at forums I don't, but there are several railroad/model railroad forums that won't tolerate it, along with forums in other media. I think Kalmbach is very tolerant, but fun is fun, and junk is junk.
Bob
jackn2mpuIMO there were some valid concerns brought up in that thread that I guess Kalmbach doesn't want to deal with.
On the contrary, Jack. Go to the top of the page in General Discussion and click onto the Bug reports about new forum software thread. If you have a particular issue or bug to report, post it there. Wade and company have been dealing with the reported bugs. However, they can't fix 'em if they don't know about 'em.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I seem to recall being told that threads which have been excised from the publicly-accessible areas of the forum are available in a webmaster-accessible archive. That indicates to me that the legitimate concerns and valid suggestions have been noted and are available for reference.
Can't say of my own knowledge, but if I were running that archive, a lot of, "Smoke and heat, but no ham or tobacco," would be removed and consigned to the recycle bin, leaving only the useful posts.
We end users don't need to know what the webmaster, maintainers and moderators can see, or what use they make of it. Our only valid concern is with whether or not the visible result is worthwhile. In my not particularly humble opinion, it is.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
BlueHillsCPRIf I was Kalmbach I'd grow up!
NO! I refuse to grow up. Trains are about many things, but 'growing up' isn't one of them. The model railroad is perhaps the greatest toy ever invented, and I'm just not going to stop playing with it because I've got an IRA, some gray hairs and only a handful of years left until retirement.
Grow up? Bah!
jackn2mpu Well, I'm not surprised this happened, but the thread that talked about how this "New site stinks, stinks, stinks has been deleted. You can search for it, and results showing synopses are returned, but when you click on any of the posts a 404 Not Found page comes up. IMO there were some valid concerns brought up in that thread that I guess Kalmbach doesn't want to deal with.
Yep, it's Kalmbach's site, that's for sure. No question about that and neither is anybody so far questioning Kalmbacks right to change it and do what ever they want with it - again, it's their site.
But why do you suppose they offer this facility, (this is a retorical question)? Might I suggest that perhaps it's because it helps deliver users of this forum to Kalmbach's various advertisers.
It's important that we never loose sight of the business imperitives that drive, Kalmbach. This is in the same way that most businesses work they exist to produce a profit and a return to their shareholders. Kalmbach is no different in this respect to any other large outfit. If it were otherwise, they would not have survived all these years and been as successful as they are - they are very good at what they do. However, I do believe that Kalmbach, perhaps more than many other outfits, is successful because it understands it's customer base and is repectful of it.
Do we pay for this site - well not directly, no - not in the sense that the the users of this forum are sent a bill at the end of each month or whatever. But we do pay to use this facility when we buy a subscription to one or more of Kalmach's magazines or the books they publish and when we buy from businesses who advertise their products and services in MRR etc. Very little in this world is for free. As consumers, we always have to pay.
Now, having said all that and whether I'm percieved as being either correct or incorrect, Kalmbach, while they are undoubtably exercising their proprietorial right to withdraw some posting or other, there is a very fine line to cross as to whether this is in fact censorship and withdrawing a post where people have exercised their freedom to say, within the bounds of common decency, what thay think without those thoughts being percieved by Kalmbach as unacceptable because they just don't like the message.
Cheers
Bruce
citylimits, there is a very fine line to cross as to whether this is ... withdrawing a post where people have exercised their freedom to say, within the bounds of common decency, what thay think without those thoughts being percieved by Kalmbach as unacceptable because they just don't like the message.
The thread's title did cross over the line of common decency --- it was downright insulting. It could have been worded a teensy bit more tactfully IMHO.
-Ken in Maryland (B&O modeler, former CSX modeler)