Kevin.
I hear you. I live in a northern vacation area. Let's just say, it's quicker to drive to the hobby shop during a blinding snowstorm than a nice sunny day. My job was 20.3 miles from my house. Average time in the early morning 25 minutes. After work average an hour to two.
A couple of hobby forums is the extent of my social media. I lost a son partly because of FB and Twitter BS. They should be called unsocial media. To me they are a rotting festering disease that will accelerate the collapse of decent society.
Just my opinion.
Pete.
I'm going to offer some more simplistic answers:
1. Over on some other forums there have at times been some very contentious posts and disagreements. The net result is that some really fine modelers at times have gotten angry or hurt and have simply left those forums, leaving a smaller number of members, who at times it seems are very hard to please. Every time a certain manufacturer's name is mentioned we see a rehash of people hating them because of a decision they made, rightly or wrongly justified, it doesn't matter--some people just never ever let it go, and it becomes tiresome to read all the time, and some people just have moved on as a result. (I'm not going to sit here and say I'm perfect either, because I'm not.)
2. My participation on these forums has waned for a few reasons. In some cases, I get tired of explaining or trying to explain answers to the same questions (where they pertain to real world civil/railroad engineering: horizontal and/or vertical curvature, grades, superelevation, spiral curves, how bridges are built, angles between bridge spans on a curve, etc.) so now I just let others explain those topics.
In other cases, there is one well known member of these forums, who imo always has to have the last word, and he's always right in his mind, and pretty much everything I ever say is just plain wrong, and he likes to constantly talk about his layout and how he does things on his layout or with his roster, to the extent that he's implying everything I do in this hobby or any opinion I hold is just plain wrong, because I don't do anything "his way" but instead I have my own ideas. I get tired and beaten down from even dealing with him, and on some topics, once I see that he is on the thread, I am out, done. So I am much more reticent to say anything, period. He gets too hostile too fast, and I simply HATE dealing with him in any way. Even when I have tried to offer my opnion nicely and state up front that I know some people will not agree with it, it gets turned into an argument anyway, and at that point the thread is dead and most others just drop out of it.
Imo people similar to this one individual are negatively affecting multiple online train forums. Many people don't like to read arguments or argumentative topics.
Newbies ask questions they legitimately need answers to--without perhaps knowing that others have faced the same issue, or they don't know how to search the topic properly to find the answers they need. Maybe they just don't know any better. Kudos to the folks who try to help them out.
Respectfully submitted--
John
SeeYou190This is a concept I just cannot wrap my head around? What fool would venture outdoors during the warm months? That is when you should stay inside in the A/C and enjoy modeling.
it was interesting to learn how covid affects the south in the summer when everyone is inside and the north in the winter when everyone is inside
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
richhotrainDems fightin' words, Kevin
richhotrainBy April 11th, I had to get out of there because it was already hot and humid.
I am looking so forward to the seasonal residents leaving. Unfortunaltely the Northern cold snap and the perfect weather we have right now is making them stay.
2020/2021 was the lock-down Winter, and we did not have them come down. This Winter has taken a lot of getting used to.
Also, working retail and dealing with seasonal residents has been an unexpected experience. I could go on for days and days.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
tstage I think social media has had an impact on the forum and its participation since I joined here in 2003. It has drawn some folks away and brought others here who primarily are more interested in posting to social-like threads and little else. Course, that's their preogative. We all have our own various & sundry reasons for participating here on the forum. Tom
I think social media has had an impact on the forum and its participation since I joined here in 2003. It has drawn some folks away and brought others here who primarily are more interested in posting to social-like threads and little else. Course, that's their preogative. We all have our own various & sundry reasons for participating here on the forum.
Tom
Darn it Tom, you beat me to it.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
Well part of the problem is facebook. Everyone uses it and if you don't like the rules of the group, you just start your own. I can't even think of how many train modeling groups there are.Plus it's easier to post photos and videos as you don't have to know archiac codes, and find a 3rd party hosting site.
But in terms of QUALITY post, I respect the advice here. There are a ton of friendly, reliable faces with good advice. Plus this forum is easily searchable.
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
SeeYou190 richhotrain Everybody heads outdoors with their free time as the warmer weather takes over. This is a concept I just cannot wrap my head around? What fool would venture outdoors during the warm months? That is when you should stay inside in the A/C and enjoy modeling. Go outside in the Winter months when the weather is perfect like a normal person.
richhotrain Everybody heads outdoors with their free time as the warmer weather takes over.
This is a concept I just cannot wrap my head around? What fool would venture outdoors during the warm months? That is when you should stay inside in the A/C and enjoy modeling.
Go outside in the Winter months when the weather is perfect like a normal person.
A pretty good portion of the country is homebound during the winter when it is freezing cold, snowy, and dark outside as early as 4 PM. So, model railroading takes on renewed interest each November.
I hear ya on Florida. I spent my first winter down in Fort Myers after I retired. By April 11th, I had to get out of there because it was already hot and humid. But speaking of fools, you would be one to live in Forida year around. Same for states like Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Rich
Alton Junction
I can see a few reasons for it. I was on here when the other alternatives were largely the yahoo groups. There were some others as well. Today much has migrated to Facebook groups. I would say one major factor is ease of use. Copy and paste a photo and you are done. Here you have to add a photo to a hosting site then link to it. In this mr does not have a unique issue in ease of use. Others have varying issue with it such as reducing the photos size or putting it in an album and then linking it. It is a lot simpler to copy and paste which fb facilitates. The groups in Facebook have grown at a much greater rate. I am the moderator in the Colorado and Southern narrow gauge FB group and I have been shocked at how the group has grown. It is over three times as large as other C&S groups (and I belong and will post in most of them.) That being said I do like this group I just do not post as many photos here.
Hello. It has been almost 12 years since I did any modeling. The Lord has blessed with the resources to begin again, well except that one thing - never enough time.
I'll have a dedicated space in a couple of months. I started looking and was surprised at the lack of materials available. I was modeling MKT in Texas in the 50's.
Looks I'll have to switch to another road name serving Taylor, Smithville, Houston area.
But I'll stop complaining - just happy to start back up again. I feel the zeal when I first started in 2008 :-)
Many of those who used to post even as recently as 2015 have gone to that Great Station. I'm continually amazed when I dig into archival threads going back only six or eight years to see names of members where I went, 'Dang, I remember that person!' But they haven't posted in at least four or five years.
I have been on this forum for 17 years. That's a terribly loooonng time for people over the age of about 50, and a lot of us will have succumbed to something and simply slipped away.
Also, I'm on about six different forums; they're all cyclic and they're all generally quite a bit lower in volume over the past couple of years. The hobby went underground since the start of COVID, as did many activities, and a goodly number of the practitioners have died for a number of reasons. I can't say why their numbers haven't been replaced nearly steadily by newcomers. Maybe it's because the hobby went underground..............
SeeYou190 rrebell I am not talking about way off but like when the pandemic hit, we were not allowed to talk about it even though it affected most people in some way or another. I remember we had a thread dedicated to the pandemic that Steve allowed with a couple of common-sense basic rules attached. The thread continued for months, but then it went political, and it was (righfully) locked and gone. -Kevin
rrebell
I remember we had a thread dedicated to the pandemic that Steve allowed with a couple of common-sense basic rules attached.
The thread continued for months, but then it went political, and it was (righfully) locked and gone.
There is a similar thread Steve has allowed regarding Ukraine.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
rrebell I am not talking about way off but like when the pandemic hit, we were not allowed to talk about it even though it affected most people in some way or another.
If you are not allowed to go off topic like in a real conversaion, the forum will die, just the way it is. This is why Facebook works. I am not talking about way off but like when the so called pandemic hit, we were not allowed to talk about it even though it affected most people in some way or another. This forum was never seen as a resourse for MR but just an accomadation.
It has been a couple of years since we had very many new members stick around after one or two posts.
Hopefully that will change, and new people will stick around longer now.
Things are certainly improving lately. Hopefully the new mood will attract new participants. New people fuel the topics and discussions.
Since I have been able to post again for the last couple of weeks, the forum seems to be running smoother. Less glitches and moving quicker.
richhotrainEverybody heads outdoors with their free time as the warmer weather takes over.
-Kevin (Florida Man)
We have also entered the slower time of the year for model railroading. I have been a member since September 2004, and every year the highest level of activity seems to begin in November, reach a peak in February, a slight decline in March, and then the activity level really drops between April and October. Everybody heads outdoors with their free time as the warmer weather takes over.
wrench567When I took a sabbatical a decade ago these forums were hopping and very busy. It wouldn't be too long when a post would end up on the second page. Now it seems days can go by without too much activity. ... What can we do to increase the participation?
Well Pete the thing is the whole idea of having a group of model railroading counterparts to discuss things with was still new and different and very welcome, and we had laundry lists of topics we wanted to post and get views on. Now it is old hat. And it is rare to find (or think up) a truly new topic being posted; most are in one way or another a re-hash so the activity level for comment is low. If you have a question you might search for prior threads first rather than just post it like the old days.
It's sort of like having a regularly scheduled breakfast or lunch with retired buddies. Once everyone has heard everybody else's carefully memorized jokes and stories, there can be long silences.
Another thing about the earlier days of these forums is that the age range was very wide. Younger hobbyists probably came to prefer other forms of social media.
These are just my theories. I don't think more polls are the solution.
Dave Nelson
We've had the Covid nightmare over the last couple of years. This has interrupted our normal supply of trains and layout-building materials. It's seriously curtailed train club activities, and train shows are just now beginning to recover. Sadly, it's even taken forum members from us.
Yesterday, I tried to respond to another post, and was denied by the infamous 403 error. This seems to be symptomatic for the general state of this forum in particular. Our hosts are nice enough to give us this space, but they really are not maintaining it well.
I, personally, am getting on in years, like many others. I have to go over to the Diner thread every month to check the RIP listing and make sure I'm not on it.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
When I took a sabbatical a decade ago these forums were hopping and very busy. It wouldn't be too long when a post would end up on the second page. Now it seems days can go by without too much activity. I would hate to have our host pull the plug. I feel that this platform is a great resource with very valuable information not only in technical support but also inspiration. Some would say priceless. There are a lot of what I would call master modelers who share their knowledge and techniques freely.
What can we do to increase the participation? How about a monthly poll for modeler of the month? Any other ideas?