Re: warning to all forum readers...

[loathar]

Sorry. I gave him a second chance. He's not getting a third from me. I ain't the kids dad. I hope he just stays away.

[tstage]

Sorry. I gave him a second chance. He's not getting a third from me. I ain't the kids dad...

Loathar,

You're right....but you and I ARE a role model.  Maybe that's what UPChuck needs at this point in his life.  I don't know.  It's your choice though.

Tom

[CPRail modeler]

CPRail,

In the wee hours of Thursday AM, UPChuck initially stated that he was leaving the forum.  After some public discourse and a bit of hard nose father-to-son lecturing by a few of us, he changed his mind.  The thread apparently was deleted late Thursday AM by Bergie and I haven't seen UPChuck since.

I think we need to purpose to:

1. Continue to keep a brotherly eye on UPChuck,
2. Encourage him in his modeling endeavors,
3. Allow him to "grow up" and mature as a young man,
4. Be lovingly stern with him when he does fall back into his old habits and ways, AND...
5. Lay off (stop) deridding him at every opportunity.

We need to build this young man up rather than continually tear him down.

Tom

so what your saying is lay off the guy? have you read some of his threads? search "UnionPacificChuck" on this site and maybe you will see what i am talking about. i even search to see if he is online or not. i wish he would respond so we all have confimination that he is still here. maybe to say hi? he even said he was going to sell his Northern (whatever that is). either:

1) he is really quiting the forums and

2) this is just a publicity thing so he can make people feel sorry for him.

i am just stating that he may be around somewhere.

NOTE: not trying to be mean (again).

[DingySP]

Oh puhleeze...

The only point of this post is to start a ruckus. 

 

[jasperofzeal]

How many times has this boy cried wolf?  Or in his case "scratch built E2", "challenger" and what not to deceive a lot of folks here?  Once a liar always a liar in my book.  Sure maybe one day he'll stop, and it's going to be the day when a bailiff tells him: "do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."  Even then, it's no guarantee that he'll be truthful.

[Anonymous]

I am new here but why start a post just to start things up?

[DingySP]

I'm new here too...

But the answer to your question is: kids

[tstage]

CPRail,

In the wee hours of Thursday AM, UPChuck initially stated that he was leaving the forum.  After some public discourse and a bit of hard nose father-to-son lecturing by a few of us, he changed his mind.  The thread apparently was deleted late Thursday AM by Bergie and I haven't seen UPChuck since.

I think we need to purpose to:

1. Continue to keep a brotherly eye on UPChuck,
2. Encourage him in his modeling endeavors,
3. Allow him to "grow up" and mature as a young man,
4. Be lovingly stern with him when he does fall back into his old habits and ways, AND...
5. Lay off (stop) deridding him at every opportunity.

We need to build this young man up rather than continually tear him down.

Tom

so what your saying is lay off the guy? have you read some of his threads? search "UnionPacificChuck" on this site and maybe you will see what i am talking about.

CPRail,

No.  Reread points 1 through 5.  When you have finished doing that, reread them again.  What I'm saying is: Take a proactive and productive approach to dealing with UPChuck instead of looking for every opportunity to verbally and publicly take a punch at him. 

It's almost uncanny that there are a certain number of forum members who surprisingly only seem to show up and post when UPChuck comments about something.  When he does, they pounce on him like a pack of hungry dogs and seem to find much enjoyment and glee in stirring him into a frenzy.  CPRail, I'm NOT saying you are one of them.  I'm merely stating an observation that I've been making during this whole ordeal.

I'm VERY aware of UPChuck's (UPNut, etc.) past antics and failures over the last couple of months here on this forum.  I'm also aware that he has a previous track record on other venues, like the Bachmann forum.  What I don't care for is the incessant railing on the kid every chance some get.  I see this as just another way of taking a shot at UPChuck.

As I said in the thread on Thursday, tearing something down (destruction) is easy.  Building something up (construction) is much more difficult and takes more effort...but the end results are worth it.  Keep in mind the old verse:

"He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone."

Tom

[steemtrayn]

If you are so annoyed by his posts, you can always just skip over them and read something else. I, on the other hand, find the whole thing amusing.

[MilwaukeeRoad]

I'm new here too...

But the answer to your question is: kids

Why because I'm a kid I can't be good modeler?

A good communicator?

A good information source?

Stop discriminating us, for our age.

I respect you older guys because you are wiser and have more experience (most anyways).

Who knows, I could even know more than you.

So, stop right there.

[DingySP]

I'm new here too...

But the answer to your question is: kids

Why because I'm a kid I can't be good modeler?

A good communicator?

A good information source?

Stop discriminating us, for our age.

I respect you older guys because you are wiser and have more experience (most anyways).

Who knows, I could even know more than you.

So, stop right there.

Well, my post was directed at the OP, not you. Do you think this was started for any reason other than to start a fight?

[twcenterprises]

Where is the "Delete Thread" button?  Oh, wait, I'm not a moderator...... sorry, never mind.

Brad 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Anybody can be destructive. Try being constructive for a change. I read UPChuck's posts and however I felt about them was how I replied. If I thought he was lying I didn't give it the time of day. On the other hand, if I thought he had a good question, I gave advice accordingly. The ONLY TIME I called him an outright liar was when he posted a pic of one of Yardbird's loco's and claimed it as his own. Additionally, I never took a swipe at him just to be spiteful or hateful.

[Anonymous]

What is going on? Why is everybody so mad at UPChuck?

I've been busy all week, I guess I missed a lot. 

[Anonymous]

What is going on? Why is everybody so mad at UPChuck?

I've been busy all week, I guess I missed a lot. 

Oh, nothing much. Just a few lies, some truth and a little bit of fatherly advice from some on these forums followed by the Moderator's Deletion.

Some apparently want the drama to never end.

[pcarrell]

Tom (tstage),

Thank you for being the voice of reason in this difficult situation.  It's not always easy to give another chance to someone and to be there for them, especially when they sometimes don't respond in a positive way.  I applaude your attitude and support all that you've said.

I've not had the pleasure of meeting the gentleman in question myself, but should that happen, I hope to model the same attitudes that you have here.

I should hope that we would all hold such grace for one another.

Thank You!

[bighead]

I'm new here too...

But the answer to your question is: kids

Why because I'm a kid I can't be good modeler?

A good communicator?

A good information source?

Stop discriminating us, for our age.

I respect you older guys because you are wiser and have more experience (most anyways).

Who knows, I could even know more than you.

So, stop right there.

  I AGREE! everyone thinks because were "younger" we arn't as responasbile can't do things right can't listen! well we can't pefectly because were kids but there are some of us out there who are good kids and it's just not fair to generalize (sp?) like that

-jake

 

[DingySP]

Sorry Jake.

I was referring to the kid who started this thread, not to kids in general.

[Anonymous]

I think part of the perception of young people can been seen in how some young people post in these forums.  The posts are composed of many, many spelling mistakes (not that I am perfect, but I try to have correct spelling), run-on sentence fragments and unclear ideas.

Trying to 'decode' these posts can be difficult at times and unfortunately responses tend to reflect this difficulty.

I hate to generalize, but this seems to be the norm for younger persons (and of course, there are exceptions). 

David B

Part of the problem is the loss of proper english writing classes.

In the internet age, proper english had rotted to:

LOL, OMG!, BYOB, BBL etc...

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Quit passing the buck to teachers. Good teaching starts at home.

[selector]

You guys are running in sixteen different directions.  Tom is saying, if he will permit me to paraphrase, "Address the behaviour, not the person doing it."  If you find what this clearly troubled young fellow says to be objectionable, then deal with what is objectionable, but don't deride the person.  It is un-Christian (if you feel that pertains), unethical, and just bad logic.

Also, modeling good behaviour involves addressing the issues, not taking the argument to the person...as in an ad hominem. 

Thirdly, many folks, from the ages of about 8-58 are using text messaging in increasing numbers, and that form of communication is expensive.  So, they use an alternative to fully grammatical and fully spelled text...not out of ignorance or disrespect, but because it is efficient.  If you want him to understand that you find it difficult to communicate with him because his cryptic text is too problematic for you...say as much.  Let him do what he feels is necessary to engage you.  If he declines, you can also decline to have anything more to do with him.  But the attacks here, frankly, are puerile and do nothing for the forum.  They also do him not one bit of good.  If you do it to beat him down, then it says much more about you than it does about him, in my opinion.

[stokesda]

~yawn~

There's been too much philosophizing, criticism, over-analysis ad nauseum, etc on this forum in the past couple of months, IMHO. (For those of you who are not IM-savvy, that means "in my humble opinion"... I think. I'm not exactly IM savvy myself ).

Life is too short. I'm going back to my trains (or at least daydreaming about them for the moment).

mmmmm..... traaaains....

Now, where's that thread on ballasting I was looking for...

[Anonymous]

I'm away from these particular forums for several months, and I return to the same nonsense that I left from.

[simon1966]

Being one of the largest and most visible of the MRR forums on the web this place will always attract trolls and folks determined to stamp their particular brand of behaviour of others.  We would all do well to simply ignore these individuals.  Threads like this simply give them the attention they desire.  Better to let them fade into oblivion, they are not worth the effort.

[SteamFreak]

It's clear that the original poster has been trying to goad and cajole UPChuck into further flame wars, based on this thread and his comments in others. If he's this bored with summer vacation already, perhaps he needs Mom & Dad to plan something constructive, like 3 months of boot camp.

CPRail, GROW UP!

[Anonymous]

I'm new here too...

But the answer to your question is: kids

Why because I'm a kid I can't be good modeler?

A good communicator?

A good information source?

Stop discriminating us, for our age.

I respect you older guys because you are wiser and have more experience (most anyways).

Who knows, I could even know more than you.

So, stop right there.

I agree. I have found everybody great here, I'm probably one of the youngest members here; 13, and I have never been insulted or anything.

[Midnight Railroader]

Who knows, I could even know more than you.

Or maybe you don't. And suggesting you do negates your previous line about respect.

[Midnight Railroader]

Fact-Teachers are underpayed.

Fact: Everyone says they are underpaid.

[Anonymous]

Hrmmm....

Im actually really happy that some younger people are on here. Yep, they are young. Who cares? I was young once. I miss it. The model railroading hobby isnt anywhere near as popular among teens or young adults now because of video games, cable tv, etc. as it once was. The fact that several of the posts on here are from younger people is kind of encouraging!

A couple of things to consider, before trying to run anyone away, especially younger modelers.

Kids have money. Money attracts businesses. Businesses make us model trains to play with! Thomas and Friends is a way to attract young children to trains (and a great one it is, lead paint and all) But when they are past the Thomas age, and want to move on to something more realistic...where do they go? Ahh, the internet! And many will probably find their way to a forum with as many posts and users as this one. How would you have responded when you first got into modeling, if all the people you encountered were extremely rude and critical? I used to LOVE antique cars. After a few years in that hobby, and dealing with every form of scumbag and ripoff artist and jerk that came along with it, i sold my 1968 Buick and never looked back.

Lying, claiming to know it all, etc...yeah, i can remember doing that. Im 30, so it wasnt so long ago for me i suppose, so maybe my memory is clearer. I dunno. I have no problem pointing out that you caught someone in a lie, but starting a post just to hack the kid down is kinda...wrong.

[MilwaukeeRoad]

I think part of the perception of young people can been seen in how some young people post in these forums.  The posts are composed of many, many spelling mistakes (not that I am perfect, but I try to have correct spelling), run-on sentence fragments and unclear ideas.

Trying to 'decode' these posts can be difficult at times and unfortunately responses tend to reflect this difficulty.

As an example.....(sorry Jake)

"I AGREE! everyone thinks because were "younger" we arn't as responasbile can't do things right can't listen! well we can't pefectly because were kids but there are some of us out there who are good kids and it's just not fair to generalize (sp?) like that"

I had to read his post 3 times to make sure I understood what he meant.  But his post just seems like he didn't care how it was written.  He didn't take time to make sure his ideas were clear.  Hence, why I posted.

I hate to generalize, but this seems to be the norm for younger persons (and of course, there are exceptions). 

As per UPchuck, he is a dead horse.  Do we really need to keep kicking?

David B

I have better grammar than you.