selector Every person who starts a thread 'own's that thread, and is responsible for managing it. If that person finds it being 'polluted' with trivial, distracting, combative, and otherwise unhelpful responses, it is up to that person to ask, civilly, for the discussion to be limited to certain constraints.
Every person who starts a thread 'own's that thread, and is responsible for managing it. If that person finds it being 'polluted' with trivial, distracting, combative, and otherwise unhelpful responses, it is up to that person to ask, civilly, for the discussion to be limited to certain constraints.
I need to disagree with this. That is why we have actual moderators...they signed up for it so let them do the dirty work.
I am not, and never will be, a moderator on any board. Life is too short for that. I would rather be modeling!
Chuck - Modeling in HO scale and anything narrow gauge
selector Appeal to that good will from time to time, or use a pm and ask the person to stop posting to your thread. Then go to the mods.
If it goes that far then the moderators should have already intervene and ended the back and forth after all that's their job to police discussions and not the OP job..
Of course troll type questions and topics should be locked and/or deleted long before the flames build.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
If a fight breaks out, and it serves to limit further participation except for gawkers who have nothing better to do, there is always recourse to the moderators. Also, a pm to the person who seems to be persisting in taking the discussion afield can often help.
Point is, like anything else worthwhile and valuable, it takes effort and time. This forum isn't like starting up a layout and watching the train run around a long wide main...it takes some 'operational' commitment. but it also takes some good will. Appeal to that good will from time to time, or use a pm and ask the person to stop posting to your thread. Then go to the mods.
Crandell
Perspective is a funny thing.
Everything posted on these forums is open to comment, and everyone has their own opinion about the topic that was posted. If someone doesn't want a discussion that might reveal opinions at variance with their own, they should refrain from posting and keep their opinion private.
I find it mildly humorous that some folks who decry the intolerant attitudes of others seem to have a rather large chip on their shoulders, so display a very strong level of intolerance themselves.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Those who have responded before me have said it well. This forum is a source of advice and information, without peer, from those with experience. At times, it is also the stomping ground for over-developed and unrestrained egos.
Tolerance and respect, brothers and sisters.
Wilton.
I had 2 first thoughts about the original post.
1. This is likely to be lively and for the interest of peace, just not post it.
2. There really are only a few who normally get going on things, but they're passionate and love their hobby.
These kind of forums have a wide variety of participants and those participants cause a reputation for a forum to develop. I hope this one has an overall reputation of being helpful.
Richard
The biggest problem with forums is the written word and its interpretation by the reader and there are those that has thin skin and thinks a normal discussion is argumentative because a different point of views is given..
What to do?
Fully understand not everybody is going to give the same point of view on a given subject and take what is said as a point of view.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As far as books vs. the internet I found there's more information on the net then any one book can supply and that's not including the tutorial videos on youtube.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As far as modeling advice the replies will depend on one's experience on the subject and that experience will vary from modeler to modeler..
NP2626Many times when we have posted a thread here on the Model Railroader Forums, it seems as though the original thought just doesn't get through. Some folks seem to only be interested in arguing about everything. I have to constantly read over what I've said to attempt to make sure I've dotted all my Eyes and crossed all my Tees.
There are also people here whose hobby it is to count rivets.
If a thought does not get through, and that is easy to do, it may be that something was not clear to the readers. Remember, regardless of how well you frame your question, each reader will see something different. That is why we have precise words to express what we mean, and even then there are differences in what we call things in model railroading, and what railroaders call things in their own world.
If someone 'corrects" you, let it slide. Either they are trying to be helpful, or maybe trying to be funny (and that is the domain of a LION), or they are just trying to clarify something. Or it could simply be that they are truly off in a different world.
Let it slide, let it slide. Do not take things like that to heart. When you post, you are going to get some weird answers along with the good ones. Most people do not mean to be hurtful, and some (like the LION) have a short attention span and are easily distracted into posting something entirely different on a thread that you may have started.
Remember, that even though may have started a thread on one topic, it may drift (likely will drift) and the response that irks you might not be in response to you at all, but rather in response to someone else in the thread.
THIS FORUM does not keep good track of who is replying to whom: It lists the replies in the order that they were received. It would be a very good practice to click the reply button on the post to which you are responding, and then to highlight the text that you are responding to and click the "Quote" link. It will quote only those lines that you have highlighted, and then we can all see who is replying to what.
But while that would be nice, Such will never be the uniform way of responding to people. If you have an issue with something that someone had said, make a polite private message to them for if it may be the case that they did not understand you, it is also likely that you in turn did not understand them. Several people called out the LION (if you an imagine that) on the use of the LION and of the third person, and I have always responded kindly to them and have thus increased our mutual understanding.
Methinks it works quite well, but it is a public forum, and you must expect things to take unexpected terns. (Cats like taking terns)
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
NP2626
Many people do not like unsolicited advice. I am occasionally guilty of givind such advice. That being said, I also prequalify my statements by saying that it is and that I respectfully give such advice and that is strictly my opinion and they can take it and do with it what they want. I do believe that some of us do come across as being critical or crass when offering such opinion or advice. It just takes a small bit of tact.
to be honest I could barely understand the how to wire MRR book that I purchased a while back, I was going to post a build thread for my new layout but after reading some of the responses in the Layout building section it's not gonna happen.
as for some of the responses on this forum, I feel I see it more often than I should but then I remember it could be worse.
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
I agree with you. I have been finding the same thing lately.
The down side of this is that new modelers are not going to get the correct information when they ask a question because I am not going to butt heads with other answers.
AND, the new folks think they can get EVERYTHING over the Internet, when all of the good answers are in books.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
Many times when we have posted a thread here on the Model Railroader Forums, it seems as though the original thought just doesn't get through. Some folks seem to only be interested in arguing about everything. I have to constantly read over what I've said to attempt to make sure I've dotted all my Eyes and crossed all my Tees. It appears to me that there are some who have no tolerance for different points of view and think that we're all supposed to think like they do. I thought I was born in the United States, where I have the freedom to choose what I want to think about things.
This is a hobby, something I think most of us do for fun. Instead of their being so much controversy, you would think, due to this common interest, we'd be more tolerant!
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/