Can anybody explain the usefulness of the *friend* funtion of the forum?
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Other than serving as an address book of sorts for private messages among friends, I've never had any use for such a feature at message boards.
With forums that use vBulletin software, one way to use the *friend* function is as a shortcut to see all posts that your *friends* have made.
By clicking on your own member name, you navigate to your "profile", which shows your posting activity. And if you have *friends*, the posting activity listing is a combination of all of your *friends* posts. There are "tabs" that allow viewing of just your own activity, or a combination of yours and your *friends* activity.
My guess is that the forum software that this forum is using probably works in a similar manner, but I have not verified that.
Here is a link to this forum's Help section regarding *friends*:
http://cs.trains.com/p/help.aspx#friends
Hmmm. "Won't you be my friend?" Sounds like a line from Hunter Harrison to CSX.
Rader Sidetrack With forums that use vBulletin software, one way to use the *friend* function is as a shortcut to see all posts that your *friends* have made. By clicking on your own member name, you navigate to your "profile", which shows your posting activity. And if you have *friends*, the posting activity listing is a combination of all of your *friends* posts. There are "tabs" that allow viewing of just your own activity, or a combination of yours and your *friends* activity. My guess is that the forum software that this forum is using probably works in a similar manner, but I have not verified that. Here is a link to this forum's Help section regarding *friends*: http://cs.trains.com/p/help.aspx#friends
And Trains could have prevented all the frustrations users of this forum have experienced over the past decade by having adoped vBulletin software in the first place, rather than continually reinventing defective wheels.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I agree that vBulletin is excellent forum software and I am sometimes frustrated with the clunkiness of what Trains is using.
But I suspect that there are other considerations at work in this case. It may be that the Trains print/web paid subscriber database and customer service functions is integrated into the current software. Doing so would probably limit the options for choosing forum software, and may preclude utilizing vBulletin.
From a business standpoint, Kalmbach's primary focus must be to drive revenue to the bottom line, and that dictates what forum software is most suitable for their purpose.
I always thought it was to see if you were popular enough to sit at the cool kids table during lunch.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Vet I always thought it was to see if you were popular enough to sit at the cool kids table during lunch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=598zfdASowY
I was somewhat surprised to discover that I have four "friends" on this "friend" function and only one of them is a familiar name. The rest, I am ashamed to say, I no longer recall at all. But I think it dates back to when things like this Forum were new and different and even sort of "exciting" -- we had "Trains Forum Member" T shirts and we would have get togethers at Galesburg RR Days, various train shows, and elsewhere. Photos would be posted. For the last few years the last hold out of all that has been a little group photo of Forum members at Trainfest in Milwaukee. That group has gotten smaller over the years.
Seemingly the thought was that a true community was being created and thus the Friends feature was a way of keeping track of persons you perhaps exchanged private messages with (in a few cases I sent surplus train stuff to guys who posted that they needed a certain part or whatever).
It is in short a holdover from an idealistic past when the world was fresh and new. But now it is driving me nuts who those other three friends are ,,,,
Dave Nelson
dknelson I was somewhat surprised to discover that I have four "friends" on this "friend" function and only one of them is a familiar name. The rest, I am ashamed to say, I no longer recall at all. But I think it dates back to when things like this Forum were new and different and even sort of "exciting" -- we had "Trains Forum Member" T shirts and we would have get togethers at Galesburg RR Days, various train shows, and elsewhere. Photos would be posted. For the last few years the last hold out of all that has been a little group photo of Forum members at Trainfest in Milwaukee. That group has gotten smaller over the years. Seemingly the thought was that a true community was being created and thus the Friends feature was a way of keeping track of persons you perhaps exchanged private messages with (in a few cases I sent surplus train stuff to guys who posted that they needed a certain part or whatever). It is in short a holdover from an idealistic past when the world was fresh and new. But now it is driving me nuts who those other three friends are ,,,, Dave Nelson
You should be able to click on their names and see what threads they have posted in.
If they have not made any posts in several years they may have gone on to Grand Heavenly Station or maybe to the other end of the line... (or maybe just on to bigger and better things).
If you find some posts from them, maybe those posts will jog a few synapses into place.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Won't you be my neighbor?
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
dknelson For the last few years the last hold out of all that has been a little group photo of Forum members at Trainfest in Milwaukee. That group has gotten smaller over the years.
I thought I have gotten bigger over the years...
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
We need a trains.com forum members get together......
Hmmmmm.....Where to have it?????????
Murray We need a trains.com forum members get together...... Hmmmmm.....Where to have it?????????
Johnny
You could have had it on my sailboat, but I took it out of the water Sunday. Do you want to use the yacht club's facilities? It's just a few blocks from SEPTA's Trenton line Torresdale station.
Patrick Boylan
Free yacht rides, 27' sailboat, zip code 19114 Delaware River, get great Delair bridge photos from the river. Send me a private message
Heh ... well we had a Trains Forum Member get together years ago in Galesburg IL during Railroad Days. Jeaton and I wore our t-shirts if I recall correctly.
Trains magazine had a tent for a display and just as all got to chatting the tent blew down and copies of Trains and Classic Trains went flying through the air as folks scrambled to hold the tent down. I think that was the last time we saw Kalmbach down at Galesburg .... so beware there might be a Forum Members curse of some sort.
Sorry, I can't help it--is there something about the name "Galesburg" that makes it windy?
gardendance You could have had it on my sailboat, but I took it out of the water Sunday.
You could have had it on my sailboat, but I took it out of the water Sunday.
Sounds like the plot for a B- rated horror movie.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
When the monster chases you, always run upstairs.
gardendance When the monster chases you, always run upstairs.
You mean you don't hide behind the wall of chainsaws?
If we do have a forum meet-up/horror movie that takes place on your boat, I hope we can skip the obligatory skinny dipping scene.
*shudders*
zugmann gardendance When the monster chases you, always run upstairs. If we do have a forum meet-up/horror movie that takes place on your boat, I hope we can skip the obligatory skinny dipping scene. *shudders*
30 years ago I would have voted for the skinny dip, but time has not been kind to either of us. I am afraid those days are long in the past.
A feature for kids who need attention.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Any any cute girls in bikinis better stay out of that haunted house!
Back to Johnny's idea: I don't know if the Main Street Cafe could handle a group like ours. By the way, it's no longer our favorite Lombard eatery, having been supplanted by Shannon's Deli. That seems to be the downtown hot-spot now--we always seem to see someone we know there (not counting Paul and Theresa, who do an amazing job of running the place). They are too small at the present time, but will soon be expanding into the storefront next door, giving them room for at least twice as many people. They're even closer to the UP tracks, but that may be a moot point, because the enclosed station platforms being built might obscure all of the trains. Even the talk of summer dining on the roof won't help that, I'm afraid.I have no problems with the annual meeting in Milwaukee; I'm sorry more people don't take the trouble to come up there. We usually make a weekend of it, visiting the quilt museum in Cedarburg on Friday and the show at the Fairgrounds on Saturday (and killing a little time in Duplainville before going to the show). What are the dates this year, Dave? (Gotta get it on the calendar quickly!)
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
CShaveRR Back to Johnny's idea: I don't know if the Main Street Cafe could handle a group like ours. By the way, it's no longer our favorite Lombard eatery, having been supplanted by Shannon's Deli. That seems to be the downtown hot-spot now--we always seem to see someone we know there (not counting Paul and Theresa, who do an amazing job of running the place). They are too small at the present time, but will soon be expanding into the storefront next door, giving them room for at least twice as many people. They're even closer to the UP tracks, but that may be a moot point, because the enclosed station platforms being built might obscure all of the trains. Even the talk of summer dining on the roof won't help that, I'm afraid.I have no problems with the annual meeting in Milwaukee; I'm sorry more people don't take the trouble to come up there. We usually make a weekend of it, visiting the quilt museum in Cedarburg on Friday and the show at the Fairgrounds on Saturday (and killing a little time in Duplainville before going to the show). What are the dates this year, Dave? (Gotta get it on the calendar quickly!)
I've been in Wisconsin...never to Milwaukee though.
That would be an interesting trip.
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