Trains.com FORUM WAY TOO SLOW

[Anonymous]

This forum is getting to the point of being unusable, due to the slow speed of all functions.
No, it is not my computer, or my service provider...all of the other 5 forums I participate in are way faster, up to 3 times faster, and most of them are far busier than this one.
I shouldn't complain about a free forum like this, but it would provide better service to the hobby and be a better referral to Kalmbach's other products, if it could be at least as fast as the other forums out there.
regards / Mike Robertson

[Anonymous]

This forum is very slow and not very "user friendly", hopefully these problems will be addressed in the near future as I do enjoy visiting this forum.

[Anonymous]

Mike,
I have lobbied here and in the Atlas forum for improvements to this forum. The short answer appears to be that the "one" in power has this forum on the bottom of his priority list. This isn't an MR issue but a Kalmbach issue - in other words, the guy in Kalmbach is higher than the guy in MR.

You would think that a forum created and run by the foremost train mag in North America would want a very good forum, since they are in the information and print business, which includes the internet. I think the higher ups don't spend time on the net, other than for business purposes, etc; in other words, they don't have a life. So they don't realize how influential and important forums can be for us "common" folk.

You can't do a search, or look at archived threads here. Going from reply to reply is slow and kluttzy. The number of threads you can see "ever" is limited. That's the bad news; however, the good news is that the Atlas forum, the original forum, was worse than this but it has improved each time they revised their forum engines (or what ever you call them).

[Anonymous]

In addition to slow, I would also like to see some way of identifying my last entry on a thread. Right now, most thread indexes only show a date and time. Some of the thread indexes have the author's name along with the date and time which make it easier for the author to check for responses to a most recent post. I have asked in the past, on line and by e-mail, how to get my name included on the thread index. I haven't received a response nor does my name appear in the index next to my posts.

Your right Mike. This page does run very slow. I like to have it running while I am at my desk so I can check topics from time to time. I will usually toggle a topic, then alt./tab over to a document I am working on and then check back on the forum to see if the page is up yet. Sometimes it is, most of the time it isn't yet.

Ken, D&J Railroad, Stafford, VA

[Anonymous]

Agreed. This is amongst the slowest forums I've visited. Are there any other good model railroading forums?

[Anonymous]

I agree, I visit a lot of sites, and I see that this one is one of the slowest. Particularly annoying is the lack of a quick return to the main forum list. If you post anything, you either have to "back-pedal" through the topic, or return to the top of the forum. I, as well, have a fast computer. But when I'm on this site, I might as well have a $20.00 "garage sale special", and an antique modem.
I DO however like this site. I just think it needs to have an infusion of some of our subscribers funds. I hold long term subscriptions to both TRAINS, and CLASSIC TRAINS magazines. But with every new issue, I just see more advertisments, and less "meat". Yup, sure, there are some really rich folks in Wisconsin....
Courtesy of you and I..

[Anonymous]

I have two.

Trainorders.com

the Atlas forum. The traffic on these two forums is at least 5 times more than here. Also I forgot, there is a forum on the Yahoo groups called RAILROADmodeler. It is run by Jim Six. Most of the big names in model railroading post there. At last count there were 1440 members. Hope this helps. Tim

[Anonymous]

It's a real shame. This is really a poor choice of software for an online forum. There's no way to add individual titles to your replies to a topic (Name/Date is not very informative!). There's no way to get all the messages in a topic at once (for those with a broadband connection, an option that says - show me everything in this topic at once - is a real timesaver!) Everything you try to do brings up a whole new web page.

As an example of message boards that work well, I'd suggest taking a look at www.wheresgeorge.com and www.userfriendly.org. They are NOT model railroading message boards: hopefully the content there won't offend anybody who goes to look. My point is just that the way those boards work is much better than this one!

Meanwhile, here is a trick I use to make this board work faster. From the top-level list of topics in a forum, I use the RIGHT-CLICK, "Open In New Window" selection in Internet Explorer to dive into a particular topic. That way, my browser keeps a copy of the topic list in the original window, so I don't have to hit the Back button and download it all over again when I'm done reading the topic.

Hope this helps.
Stan

[Anonymous]

Yes there isa 100% Better Forum for all your Needs Trains,Rairoading Model Railroading Ho,N,Z and Etc its called
www.railroadforums.com
You Must register adn then they have a Chatroom too and Railcam Sites and Etc Hope to see ya all there.i have been there for a while now see ya in the Chatroom Sometime Boys

[Anonymous]

Try RR-L. (www.railroad-line.com) There are prototype forums, modeling forums, a photography forum, a very active finescale forum, a reference and research forum, and much more.

It is no coincidence, I think, that several of the more popular forums, including Atlas, RR-L, and RRF, all use Snitz Forum software. It's fast and user friendly. I find it very interesting that MR's sister publication Finescale Modeler also uses Snitz Forum software, while this one just chugs along with the same slow, user unfriendly format.

I can remember reading statements here around 15-18 months ago that new software was being looked into for this forum. Wonder what happened to that?

[Anonymous]

I haven't found this forum to be any slower than any other ones I participate in. I have a cable internet connection and this forum is almost instant.

Scott

[Anonymous]

I never come here anymore for several reasons
#1 Very Slow
#2 top modelers are not here they are elsewhere
#3 answers happen within minutes at other forums,here you may not get an answer
#4 Search capabilities here are nonexistant,you have to ask a question or spend hours looking for an answer that you need right now.

Vbulletin is a great forum engine and Kalmbach should look into it.
Other Forums Include
Atlas
www.thegauge.com
www.trainboard.com
These are the boards with the top modelers in north america.You have a question,do a search and you will find multiple replies.
I dont know what kalmbach is up too, but Hundman is breathing down your neck and will be the new top dog if you dont get your act together.I see a marketing director being fired in the near future!!

[Anonymous]

I have the luxury of an almost "state of the art" server. This forum is very slow for an organization that touts itself as the industry publication leader. I enjoy coming to the Trains site after work, but avoid the discussion lists like the plague because they're so time consuming. It's time for Kalmbach to catch up.
for what it's worth...Andrew

[Anonymous]

The same complaints were made on the Trains side of the forum, last Sept/Oct. Someone (I forgot who) posted that "SHORTLY" after the first of the year, the forums were to be stylized like they have in their Finescale Modeler mag. Well the year is almost half over. WHERE'S THE BEEF??

[Bergie]

I know you've heard it before, but this time it's for real. New forums are indeed on their way to Trains.com. Actually, our Online Publishing manager just came to my office to talk about our new forums (which they're currently working on). Thanks for your patience as we finally make this long-awaited improvement.

Erik Bergstrom
Content & Business Manager
Trains.com

[Anonymous]

i hope you are right, because i find myself going less and less to this forum for all the reasons mentioned above. lets see what happens guys.

[Anonymous]

WHAT IS THE "BIG" rush??????,eveyone is in be hurry ,to go no-where.......

[Anonymous]

I recently visited the Atlas forum and liked a lot of what I saw. I liked the idea that when you click on a topic all the replies are there. You don't have to keep going back to open the next reply. I also like the fact that you are able to post stuff like pictures and diagrams. I also noticed on some postings that people included links to other sites that you can actually click on and so to that site.
I have not visited any other model railroading forums except these two and perhaps there are better ones but I think this one can be improved and perhaps have some of the features that the Atlas site has. Bob