Model Railroader Forums

[Anonymous]

I don't know if anyone else has the same concern, but I find it hard to find the topics in the MR Forum. The reason is that I think we have too few, and the ones we have are overpoplulated.

There are only four forums and they have the following usage to today:

• General discussion - 24,894 topics
• Where's the MR 70th Anniversary Boxcar - 61 topics
• Layouts and layout building - 6,335 topics
• Prototype info for the modeller - 1,832 topics

I suggest that we should add several forums to replace the "Layout and layout building" forum. Something like this:

• Track work
• Benchwork
• Locomotives
• Rolling stock
• DCC and Wiring
• Scenery, Buildings, Vehicles and People
• Signalling
• Layout Photos
• Track Plans
• MR Software

Leave the other three as is. The "General Discussion" would inevitably be rationalised to some extent if people go to the more specific area.

I think it would be easier to find things of current interest if the forums were divided along those lines. Am I being over organised? Let me know if you agree or disagree.

[Anonymous]

A few more suggestions:

- One just for polls, so those who have nothing constructive to add can continue to create polls.

- One for "How do I post photos"

- One for "How do I make decals"

The forums are supposed to be rearranged or changed in the near future, but I wouldn't get my hopes up too far that any such changes would occur. Can't hurt to ask I guess.

Bob Boudreau

[accord1959]

Agree, a more direct index is needed.

[Ibflattop]

I also agree with Fundy and Accord but, Have a "Ban" on the polls because they just eat up bandwith and are useless.
I would also have a "For Sale or Trade" section added. This section is where individuals could post their items that they would want to get rid of or make extra so they could buy more trains. (It wouldnt be for the Commerical HobbyShops thou.) Just the private sector. Kevin

[jbloch]

I see your points and pretty much agree. The idea of the "Search the forums" at the top of the page is to allow you to find a specific topic--I 've found this at times to be helpful and at others not.

In recc. a different forum for the polls, I guess that would be okay, too, but I haven't found the number of topics on the forums to be so numerous that this is really that much of an issue.

Bush: your idea of dividing the layout forum into the subcategories you listed probably would be helpful--again, using the search window at the top of the page doesn't always allow one to find a particular category consistently--same issue as with google I guess.

Jim

I

[Anonymous]

Good idea, I agree sometimes it's very difficult to find what you're looking for, even in the entire Trains.com web site. It should make searching easier.
However, there will always be some folks that will post in the wrong forum.

[Anonymous]

It seems a pretty positive initial bunch of replies.

I suppose my next question is along the lines: "if enough of us want this, how do we make it happen??

[egmurphy]

Well I for one would prefer that they not subdivide the forum, at least certainly not into the number of different subforums as you have initially proposed. To me, that just means having to jump to that many more forums to see what has been posted recently. I visit here frequently enough that scanning through one or two pages can usually let me see if there is anything that is of interest to me.

Some change to the forum structure, sure. I think, for example, that the idea of the 70th Anniversary Boxcar has probably run its course and could be dropped. Maybe replace it with a DCC forum. But to subdivide into numerous very limited forums is probably just inviting people to simply continue posting in the General Discussion forum.

Oh, and by the way, there already is an "MR Software" forum here, it's called "Train Simulation Software", here's the link:
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=292


Obviously just my opinion, your mileage may vary,

Ed

[reklein]

I like the for sale or trade section.

[spidge]

Hey, if I am in a room having a discusion with other modelers and someone neardy hears a point of interest and chimes in, great. I feel the more people see all the posts the more often you will get feedback. If you only go into a particular section but never any other you will miss out.
Just think of it like this, if you dont like the choices dont click on it.

[chutton01]

Add my vote to no on overspecialization. Indeed, multiple NOs!!
Movie style: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

When you divide too much, you get much less cross-traffic, more searching, more headaches, and ultimately less information. (You can see this on railroad.net, where several forums get a lot of traffic, and dozens of others get nads - 1 post a week if they are lucky) Thumbs down [V]

Now, if you want a seperate forum for sale/trade section, then yes! that's definitely unique enough to warrent it's own forum - and yes, lets nuke the 70th anniversy boxcar forum (to make way for the 80th Anniversy scrap gondola)

OK, I will accept IF you can do it like Usenet - post to several topics at once (of course, now you get lots o' duplication in the forums)..

Fundy, your suggestions about 'How do I post photos' or make decals - do you mean a FAQ section, or perhaps a forum with stickys (in a forum named something like 'how to do common tasks' or 'Baseline information' or 'New to Model Railroads - Check this out?') - cause that's a good idea - or were you just funning with us.

Polling:
People who want to poll must first issue a request to poll; if the MR chief editior agrees to the gravity of the poll situation, he then will release the polling codes from the poll 'football' so that two 3 star or above members can turn their 2 keys simulateously to launch the poll.
Alternatively, all polls should be exiled to some other board like cuteoverload or fark or adorablabunnies or something with weird japanese videos...

Ah, who am I kidding - not much will change anyway...

[AltonFan]

I think further subdivision and organization of the forums is a good idea, but, if anyone has noticed, there are still a lot of misplaced posts in general discussion that would be more appropriate for other already established forums. (And in the more railfan-oriented threads over in the Classic Trains and Trains forums, they still get a lot of questions about model railroad topics.)

Another issue is thread discipline. On another message board I frequented, if a person started a thread about a topic that was already under discussion, the moderators posted a link to the appropriate thread, and then deleted the redundant thread after a few days. That forum also had a forum for "Dead Horses" for threads about contentious issues that had been discussed so thouroughly that nothing could be really added, and over which everyone was getting testy because nobody was about to change his mind. They also had a forum strictly for flame wars so that people who had problems with each other could flame each other without disrupting the rest of the message boards.

How many threads do we need on "What's your favorite scale, steam locomotive, railroad, etc."?

Also, in my years of participating in message boards, I've found that the best ones were those that were heavily moderated according to a strict set of policies, and where there were probably less than a hundred regular participants at any given time. The best moderated boards I knew of had a small team of administrators who supervised a number of volunteer moderators in each forum, who were empowered to enforce the rules. (I doubt the MR staff will want to go this route. Also, the volunteer moderators had to read every word that was posted, whether they were interested in a particular thread or not.)

Finally, I wonder how the age spread of participants effects the discourse here. Most message boards in which I have participated were populated by adults. Here, we have everyone from pre-teens to old-timers who grew up when steam ruled the high iron, and diesels were rare novelties. I am not saying that we should shut out the kids, but the needs of a thirteen year old just discovering the wonderful world of railroading are going to be different than those of a fellow who has been in the hobby since he came back from World War II. I would recommend that every member's profile should have to show an age grouping, but this would create other problems.

While having more more specialized forums may be helpful, unless some of these other issues are addressed, they really won't change anything.

[Anonymous]

Obviously, MR has it setup how they have it setup because it's the way they want it.

I like how the forum is setup. If there were more categories, I wouldn't read the forum nearly as much, because then it becomes a headache. This forum isn't a reference library. It's a place for MRR'ers to hang out.

I also don't see what the big deal is about the polls. Are they wasting precious time or something? This hobby is fun, that's all it is (well, some people make money from it, of course), but one could argue all of the hobby is a waste of time.

The polls are as interesting to me as many other topics. I've never started one myself, but have enjoyed many of them.

This forum feels very casual to me, just as the magazine does (well, except for some of Tony K's columns which can serve to stress me out that I don't take the hobby seriously enough!)

I think it should stay the way it is. If anything, they should blast the boxcar and layout building section - since all the layout questions are just as general as anything else.

I also like the scales being mixed - just like the magazine - keeps you up on what the "other guys" are doing.

[modelalaska]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bush9245

I don't know if anyone else has the same concern, but I find it hard to find the topics in the MR Forum. The reason is that I think we have too few, and the ones we have are overpoplulated.

There are only four forums and they have the following usage to today:

• General discussion - 24,894 topics
• Where's the MR 70th Anniversary Boxcar - 61 topics
• Layouts and layout building - 6,335 topics
• Prototype info for the modeller - 1,832 topics

I suggest that we should add several forums to replace the "Layout and layout building" forum. Something like this:

• Track work
• Benchwork
• Locomotives
• Rolling stock
• DCC and Wiring
• Scenery, Buildings, Vehicles and People
• Signalling
• Layout Photos
• Track Plans
• MR Software

Leave the other three as is. The "General Discussion" would inevitably be rationalised to some extent if people go to the more specific area.

I think it would be easier to find things of current interest if the forums were divided along those lines. Am I being over organised? Let me know if you agree or disagree.

I agree! As it is, I only visit General.
Peter

[Anonymous]

I don't think we need any more MR forums. I don't have time to visit 6 different forums on MR. However, I've seen a lot of threads in the General Discussion forum that should've been posted in the layouts & layout building forum. More forums will only make things more complicated.

[AltonFan]

I would say the two biggest problems here are the lack of thread discipline, and the large number of participants. One of the reasons I don't come here often is that on any given day, there are no fewer than three pages of new posts. And this situation is the same, even if I check in three times a day, several hours apart.

I don't think anything can or should be done about the number of participants. And I doubt MR has the resources or the desire to enforce meaningful thread discipline.

[David_Telesha]

NO!

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!

That last thing we need is the forum to be split up!

People have a hard enough time posting in the wrong forums ALREADY! And it'll make my browsing LESS enjoyable going to each forum looking for topics.

What the forum needs is a better search engine!

Don't split it up!

[Walter Clot]

I like going to the general forum and scan the topics for interest. Once in a while I'll check the layout construction forum. Perhaps if the "search the forums" could be based on one key word it would help.

[Don Gibson]

I ONCE coducted a poll - on 'ending polls'.

I lost.

[howmus]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bush9245


I suppose my next question is along the lines: "if enough of us want this, how do we make it happen??

Answer...... you don't. We are only guests here. The forum is set the way the people at Model Railroader want it. That is life. Sorry! There are many other model railroad forums out there. many are set up just as you suggest. This forum, although a pain sometimes, still gets a lot more traffic than most of the others. As has been said, here most everyone posts in the "General" forum, because it get many times the traffic and answers that the "layouts and layout building" gets. In another forum that I am a member of, the moderators will move a post from one place to another if it is not posted in the correct forum. I know that there are changes to these forums just around the corner, so hold on and see what you get.

[Anonymous]

I like the idea

[AltonFan]

The problem is not the search engine, which I doubt newer users approach when they first arrive. The problem is not the number of forums on this board. The problem is the large amount of traffic, and the light-handed moderation that allows the multiplication of threads on the same or similar subjects. It will take as much time to plow through 150 posts in one big forum, or scattered amongst ten, or twenty, or seventy-five smaller forums. And none of it will matter if someone doesn't shut down repeat threads, direct users to the appropriate forum for their quetions, or tell users that they cannot post their layout construction question in the general forum because they are unhappy with the response in the layout construction forum.

[Anonymous]

To all of those people who say that MR can run these the way thwy want well i think of it like this. We are bombarded with ads, which is how we pay for the forums. in my book that makes us MR customers. Now what is the first rule of marketing?

answer: The customer is always right- Even when they are wrong.

Next children in the forum. I as a 13 year old think that as this forum is on the World wide web i as part of the world should have just as much right to be here as you. Just because i am young doesn't mean that i am not entilted to be here.

these are just my views, and are only the views of one 213,558th of all forum members.

alexander

[Anonymous]

A good range of opinions have been offered, so that is a good sign.

Perhaps my original suggestion would break it down too far. However, I am still of the opinion that the two big forums: "General Discussion" and "Layout and Layout Building" are too all encompassing.

I see today a member who had a topic in "Layout and Layout Building" was advised by someone that he might get more answers on "General Disvcussion". So the topic originator put it on that forum as well. He now has the same topic in two places.

I suggest that one reason people have difficulty placing a topic in the appropriate forum is that the scope of the forums is too broad and vague.

One side issue that came up is an age limit. I think it was only on the lower side, at least initially. Count me strongly against that one for the following reasons:

• We should be encouraging young folk into the hobby.
• People who have some experience can pass the benefit on to those starting out.
• Self interest - I am approaching an age that might be considered over the hill. First they will ban youngsters, then they will ban old fogeys like me.

I wonder if anyone from MR would pick up on this thread?

[AntonioFP45]

Lot of input here.

Perhaps I'm the oddball, but I really like the casual relaxing atmosphere of this forum. For finding topics, I find it very easy just to click on "Advance on top of the page and do a search by subject or key words. This is how I've found several topics fromt the past when modelers chime in asking if anyone remembers "such-and-such" topic. [%-)]

When I first joined this forum, I used to go back and forth between the General Disc. and Layouts group. I now stay with the General Discussion. IMHO, there is an outstanding wealth of excellent, well detailed info as well as good discussions from intelligent people.
[:)][:D][8D]

Even at my age I'm always learning something new thanks to this forum. My recent discovery of those Rio Grande- Penn Central F units comes to mind. [:p] The link had been posted by another forum member talking about E units.

I like the forum as is except for one aspect: I would like to see the stars go "bye-bye". A close friend of mine and his wife tease me constantly about my star count.

My thinking: "STARS?! WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN STARS!" [soapbox][:p]

I do have a lot of posts and all I can do is hope that they've been helpful to fellow modelers.

[:D][8D][C):-)][C=:-)]

[cmrproducts]

I am on a bunch of other forums that have specializes topic sections and there are very few responders to the topics (just the usual people that always have something to say to anyone’s topic).

With this forum the topics change fast and it keeps my interest where the OTHER forums the same questions that was ask weeks ago is still the lead topic. You can only beat a topic to death only so long.

I f YOU do not like the way MRR forums are run TRY the others and you will then be happy?!

BOB H – Clarion, PA

[Pruitt]

I like things just as they are.

[Anonymous]

I'm all for breaking it down just a little more. I've watched this forum for years even before becoming a member and I've noticed that there is an increase in useless posts. More so then at any other forum I go to. Some of which are littered on the first two pages alone right now. I rarely post here any more due to that fact. I sometimes find the time at work to scan through the pages here but never at home as finding much useful here is difficult at best sometimes and posting a question can be fruitless at times. Within an hour or so it will be on page 3 or 4 with only a few views being bumped by threads that can be ridiculous. This forum I think could use some changes but it will never happen. So I will sign out after this and go back to lurking and post any questions else where. Maybe I'll check this forum again tomorrow if I find time.

[sledgehammer]

My vote is to leave it alone. I can find things here easly. I have been on some of the other sites and they have too many forums. I will agree with post benchwork stuff on the benchwork forums. As for the general discussion forums, it is a general discussion witch in my opinion covers everything.

I will also agree to get rid of the 70 th anniversey forums its done. It needs to change to something usefull. maybe make it the polls forum that way if you want to look at them you can and if you don't you don't.

[Anonymous]

I think the forums fine, but could use a tune up. The 70th aniversary thing's run it's course, maybe sub-divide layout building into two catagories ,benchwork,track laying, wiring, including dcc on one and scenery on the other. Or maybe change the boxcar thing to a "FAQ" type format,so you could check there before posting something that's been done.The one thing I'd like to see done is having forum control the use of repeating other peoples pictures in same post, they're already posted,why do people need to repeat them and then say cool??
just some random thoughts...Mike