Atlas Forum

[Anonymous]

I'll go back to the Atlas Forum, as well as hang out here. I agree with the rest of you though; the polls are kind of annoying. Plus, you can also find me at Trainorders, even though traffic over there has slowed to a shadow of it's former self.




-John Zuna

[Anonymous]

As a newby, I really appreciated the photos on Atlas, especially Sunday Night Photos. You can really get some great ideas. There aren't nearly as many photos on this forum and you usually have to go somewhere else to see them.

[CBQ_Guy]

Someone mentioned how slow this Forum is to load, and I've noticed that too...and I've got broadband cable Internet service! I'm not saying this Forum is s-l-o-w, but many times it seems somewhat less than brisk, shall we say. Just enough to become irritating to me.

Also, what has turned me off to a LOT of the other Forums I have visited, is that they are split up into WAY too many categories. It would seem to me to be awfully time consuming to have to look into each one to see if anything of interest is even in them. I like it here and Atlas where I can quickly scroll through each page in a couple main categories, and glance at a topic's subject line. Same reason I receive Digest versions of all my Yahoo Group's messages.

[Anonymous]

I agree with Larry....Brakie if you like. I stopped visiting Atlas before the shutdown.

Also:
The Atlas forum has way too many malcontents, rivetcounters, and know-it-alls for my taste.
They aren't needed here.[xx(]
And Paul3 types who like to pick apart other folks' posts, and respond with snotty comments, one paragraph at a time.[B)] ...VERY Atlas of you, Paul3.
They aren't needed here, either.

I sometimes miss a bit of the jousting with my favorite targets over at Atlas, (like shermanhill, smudgeloco, and Paul3 ), but not enough for me to go back there any more.

Don Gibson has a very valid point too...this forum tends to be excessively redundant and juvenile.[:o)]
I just spend way less time with forums any more.
regards
Mike Robertson
(was Mike R, and Blue Train at different times with Atlas)

[Paul3]

robmik wrote:

QUOTE: And Paul3 types who like to pick apart other folks' posts, and respond with snotty comments, one paragraph at a time. ...VERY Atlas of you, Paul3.
They aren't needed here, either.

And personal attacks are very "Blue Train" of you, Mike Robertson.

Actually, my quoting of people, then typing my reply, is very much like a newsgroup post. It's considered good netiquette to quote the person you are responding to, credit whom you are posting, snip out the irrelevant parts of the post, and post your reply to the quoted message immediately below it. I'm sorry if my being polite is a problem for you, but I'm not about to change just to please you.

Besides, my multi-quote post in question on this thread was actually in response to four different posters. I suppose next time I could quote their entire message in four different posts just to pump my post count, or I could simply not quote any of it and let other posters scroll through 30 some-odd posts looking for clues as to what I was talking about. Finally, I could decide not to post at all, which would no doubt please you. Sorry to say, but none of the above is about to happen any time soon.

QUOTE: I sometimes miss a bit of the jousting with my favorite targets over at Atlas, (like shermanhill, smudgeloco, and Paul3 ), but not enough for me to go back there any more.

Gee, thanks. I always thought the point of forums and groups was to discuss and debate the subject matter at hand, not to joust with "targets". Silly me.

QUOTE: Don Gibson has a very valid point too...this forum tends to be excessively redundant and juvenile.

Now that is something we agree on (bet you never thought I'd say that). [:D]

Paul A. Cutler III
*****************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
*****************

[Anonymous]

Among the Atlas features I think has been over looked is it is broken down into the three
scales & DCC not to mention again it's much faster to open up their pages. Even at 1.25 Mig
this site stalls on me . For anybody on dial up, it must be like waiting for a 55 car fright train to pass.

[dave9999]

Page 2 and counting, mostly with people knocking a FREE forum (no charge to join or post).

Now with that said, a lot of you "Atlas folks" showed up over here when that forum shut down, and now you want to pick this forum apart. Well I don't get it.

This forum has been the way it is before you came and will remain the same if you leave. I am able to open a topic (especially one of those silly poll topics) and simply chuckle to myself and shake my head. I then close it and move on to something with some substance.

I admit that there is some juvenile content here, but I suspect that is because there are some juveniles here. And going back to the forum being free, they have as much right to be here and post silly topics and polls as the next guy. Yes it can get annoying, but that is the "price we pay" for a free forum. If you want to discuss model railroading without all the nonsense, pick up the phone, email, or write a good old fashioned letter to someone you enjoy talking with. Then you can have a conversation without swimming through all the BS.

And Paul3, I broke this down into paragraphs so it will make it easier if you choose to respond. [;)][:D][:-^] Dave

[Anonymous]

well with all that's happened this summer, i'm not sure if i'll be modeling much in the near future anyways, But i do miss my home. the atlas forums were the best, just can't get the same feel on this or any others forum (although this was the first forum i signed up on).

Hopefully it'll be up, i miss the gang, lot's of good people scattered about now. to bad brakie's disgruntled, i hate disgruntled brakemen [:P], hopefully he'll get some good coffee and come back home too, when it's rebuilt.

Jay

[bcammack]

Well, we certainly wouldn't want to presume that our generous hosts are interested in having the best forum possible for their "customers". Better to presume that they are certain that they have the best forum in the world and aren't interested in the perceived positive and negative attributes of their's or competing forums. After all, if it's all ready perfect, then that discussion must be criticism! [}:)]

[dharmon]

I mentioned before that each of the forums has it's own unique character. This one does to have a tendancy to be more juvenile at times, but then again, as Dave pointed out, many of the posters are juveniles.......not just adults acting juvenile [;)].

There are many fine forums out there, Atlas being one of them. But few of them as are accomodating to the the younger crowds as they are here. Not to say that they are not welcome at Atlas or other places, but the level of discussion and the heated discussions tend to intimidate newer or younger folks.

Since the shut down of the Atlas foums, those folks that primarliy posted there have migrated to the other sites. But a common thread that seems to be prevalent is ..."How much I miss Atlas", or "this place is fine, but Atlas is better" or downright bashing the the new forum because it's not Atlas. No one is forcing you to be here or any of the forums and IMHO it's kind of insulting to the hosts. I'm not trying to pick a fight with the Atlas regulars, as I post and enjoy the Altas forums as much as anyone. When I'm there I play by Atlas' rules, here by MR's, etc.....and I don't use one to to beat up the other. As a user of several, I see them as complimentary not competion.

As far as moderation goes. I don't think everyone can be pleased. Bergie and Co, try to let this forum police itself, in most of the time it does. Atlas and others are much quicker to intervene. The price of the freedom though, is having to seperate the wheat from the chaff.

If you don't like it here. Don't post here.

[Paul3]

dave9999 wrote:

QUOTE: Page 2 and counting, mostly with people knocking a FREE forum (no charge to join or post).

Now with that said, a lot of you "Atlas folks" showed up over here when that forum shut down, and now you want to pick this forum apart. Well I don't get it.

To be fair, I also complained about both of the old Trains.com forums and waaay back, I know I didn't like the limited nature of the original "post your comments online" part of modelrailroader.com (back then in the mid-90's, Andy Sperandeo would post a question every month and people would write their response; but there was no discussion really, only opinions).

I figured that Model Railroader and Trains should have the best web forum around because they have the widest draw in the business. Finally, after years of difficult forum use, MR & T upgraded their software to something acceptable, but it is still not the best, yet. Hopefully comments like mine will lead to a faster loading and better discussion forum for all. Because if nobody complained, how would anything get better?

QUOTE: This forum has been the way it is before you came and will remain the same if you leave.

Actually, I was here long before it became like this. While the MR & T forums have come a long way, I hope that they will get even better.

BTW, I don't think Atlas is the "best" forum/group, either. The newsgroup rec.models.railroad is free, uncensored, unmoderated, and doesn't get shut down for summer vacation. [:)] Most people are scared off by the "wild west" nature of it (which is understandable, it can get pretty rough), so one has to go where the discussion is. Atlas, MR, and T are some of those places.

dharmon wrote:

QUOTE: If you don't like it here. Don't post here.

I never said I didn't like it here, I just like other places more than this one.

And hey, on a completely different note, I spent two days this past weekend hanging out with "Siderod" (Andrew Reid) from the Atlas N-scale forum. Seems he is the cousin of a friend of mine, and he was down here in the USA visiting the family. Since my friend is also in my RR club, we spent a couple days railfanning here in New England. Nice kid for an N-scaler. [:D][;)]

Paul A. Cutler III
*****************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
*****************

[dharmon]

Paul,

The comments weren't directed at you or any one person in particular. It was based on comments made in threads here and other forums. I'm all for folks expressing opinions, but just as I (as you I'm sure) get tired of endless polls, I also get get weary of "blah, blah blah..I can't wait til Atlas is back up." And it's not just here. Again, not directed at anyone in particular, but my opinion would be take each forum for what it is, or not. That's all.