Receiving and giving.
Whether it be ideas, criticism, encouragement, advice, anecdotes, humour, links to obscure materials and how-to videos....this place is a gold mine. I just wish their search feature were worth more than a pinch of you-know-what. It's hit 'n miss for so many of us.
I frequent at least five other sites on a daily basis. Most are slower paced with less activity, but they still offer strong membership and all the advantages.
I joined this forum 11 years ago. I come to talk trains. I'm generally not interested in the non-train-focused discussion that seems to pop up here fairly often but here I am.
What keeps me coming back is interesting model train focused discussion where I can share what knowledge I have and also learn new things from others.
This forum seems to have an awful lot of non-train focused topics, sort of like this one. What would be ideal for this forum is to create a section for basically non-train related discussion, more suited to a "crew lounge/off-topic" area.
Many forums have crew lounge to confine the non-train focused stuff which makes it easier for members to find discussion of most interest them and avoids sifting through those that are not; the result is train discussion isn't watered with non-train stuff. That would be a big improvement here IMO. MR are you listening?
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I have been a member of this forum for about 18 months now. This is the only Model Railroading forum that I participate with.
I am curious as to why the regulars are here, what made people join, and what keeps everyone coming back.
I have been active on board gaming/wargaming forums all over the web for 20+ years as the hero/general “Duke Georgal of Entralgia”. Activity on these various forums is almost required to participate in that hobby. You need to find people for opponents and events to play at, rules interpretations are discussed as a community, and we all share our fun (or funny) battle reports. Discussions of strategy or historical accuracy are also always lively.
Model Railroading is an entirely different type of hobby. You can be a lone wolf and go completely off the grid and do whatever you want. No one else’s interpretations or personality matter one bit in how we enjoy this hobby. You do not need any interpersonal interaction to be a Model Railroader, so all the Model Railroading forums meant absolutely nothing to me.
Then, about 20 months ago, I ripped my “spare bedroom” HO layout out of the house. I then went through a violent purge cycle and threw away about 75% of my model railroading stuff. Anything I thought was holding back my creativity or slowing my progress towards achieving my goals was disposed of. All incomplete projects were stripped of usable parts and tossed away.
This created a void in enthusiasm. The purge was phase one of a two year (looks like it will take 3 years) house remodel project that will finally result in me finally having a dedicated and proper train room. I could see that without a layout my Model Railroading activity would decline.
My plan was, and still is, to spend the time without a layout building a new freight car fleet of about 150-200 cars. The plan was also to collect everything needed to complete construction of the new layout.
So… why did I join this forum? Simple… to keep my enthusiasm alive. I know that without the enjoyment of a layout I will have to get encouragement and comradery among my fellow modelers.
“Weekend Photo Fun” is exactly what I needed. This little thread every week does more to keep me “on track” than anything else I could have asked for.
Then “Show Me Something” opened up a whole new world for me. Using my wargaming terrain supplies and a good camera I have a fun sub-hobby that keeps my creativity alive.
All the other discussions are great for me as well. Even though what I am doing with the STRATTON & GILLETTE has so little to do with what anyone else is doing, I have a great time bouncing ideas around. There has been a surprising amount of good input, and I have even changed plans here and there after listening to other points of view.
What keeps me coming back is honestly the moderation. Steve Otte does a magnificent job of keeping everything in order around here. The wargaming forums all become full of acid and toxicity way too frequently, and what Steve does keeps all that away from this setting. I can easily do without all the nonsense and prefer just to talk about models and hobbies. I have seen how bad a hobby forum and community can become when things are left unchecked, and it is ugly.
So, why are you in here and what keeps you around? I was a model railroader for 30+ years without these forums, but I do not know if I would have made it through the last two without them.
-Kevin
Living the dream.