How do you do it?
I have, on occasion posted "hypotheticals" and whatifs, things that i hope could spur a discussion, and rarely does it work.
Is there a way to start a discussion? Are what if scenerios and the like not interestign to people on this forum. And if it isn't a lack of interest, is there a way to start such discussions?
Just curious
The Beaverton, Fanno Creek & Bull Mountain Railroad
"Ruby Line Service"
You are trying to 'force' the discussion - lenghty discussions happen because they happen - not because they have been foreced.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Makes sense.
So, leave it up to fate, so to speak?
KBCpresident Makes sense. So, leave it up to fate, so to speak?
That's about it. Sometimes a post will be made that has the look of a long-term discussion only to fade out in no time and sink quickly out of sight.
Sometimes a thread will morph from something innocuous into a hotbed of discussion. Oftimes the original "theme" of the thread gets lost in the shuffle.
And every now and then, a thread will have a spark.
A few of the long running threads are such because they're discussing long-running projects, like the two-tracking threads and the web cam threads.
But no one should be discouraged from making a post to ask a question or bring up a recent event/news item/etc. You just never know...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
The record holder has to be K.P. Harrier and his several threads on west coast railroad construction projects - by whatever measure, such as number of posts, number of views, pages, years they've been running, etc.
Note that he posts real-world activities, not hypotheticals and what-ifs. He works hard at it - makes lots of trips to the sites, takes good photos, edits them, does research, and takes a lot of time to write up thorough and clear descriptions of the photos, the operations they depict, the history of the lines involved, and how they all relate to each other, etc. It's altogether the equivalent of several books.
My conclusion is that actual facts and operations are the lifeblood and prime currency for most of us on this forum. As such, they clearly trump idle armchair speculation by such huge margins.
- Paul North.
KBCpresidentSo, leave it up to fate, so to speak?
Or you could name it "Blather Box Spring", and see what happens. ;)
Paul_D_North_Jr Note that he posts real-world activities, not hypotheticals and what-ifs. He works hard at it
Note that he posts real-world activities, not hypotheticals and what-ifs. He works hard at it
I see what you mean here, and I understand why that would be the case. People like to study what's around them. I would say that he also manages to act as a 'News anchor' or sorts, providing updates on events most of us don't have access to. Above all, he's a very good photographer. I'm subscribed to his Cajon Pass post myself. That being said, in the past few weeks, there isn't a lot of discussion, its mostly him.
As such, they clearly trump idle armchair speculation by such huge margins.
You certainly wouldn't be the first to suggest that this sort of thing is idle, but I see it as an aspect of the industry that we can't observe. We never got to see SPSF in play, fo rinstance. I can't believe I'm the only one who has given this any thought.
What's really neat, though, is when a person asks a question, gets his answer, and that's it. Two posts, no room for discussion. The end.(Trouble is, those get lost in a hurry.)
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)
ouibejamn Or you could name it "Blather Box Spring", and see what happens. ;)
How do the chatterbox spring posts avoid getting flaged by moderators? one of the forum rules is to stay on topic (which I assume means railroad related) and those posts seem to have little to do with trains....
Therer was a request made a long time ago to allow some "social interaction" to cut down on the "Hey I see you are posting again, how's the wife and kids" replies. There have been a couple of on-going threads just for that purpose... though I am not sure why there is more than one... maybe to separate disparate personalities a bit? The reason there is a new one for each season is that they get long and at one time it seemed that extremely long threads caused problems on the Trains dot com servers. Dunno if that was really true but the idea stuck and so there are the seasonal restarts of the off topic discussions.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
KBCpresident ouibejamn Or you could name it "Blather Box Spring", and see what happens. ;) How do the chatterbox spring posts avoid getting flagged by moderators? one of the forum rules is to stay on topic (which I assume means railroad related) and those posts seem to have little to do with trains....
ouibejamn Or you could name it "Blather Box Spring", and see what happens. ;) How do the chatterbox spring posts avoid getting flagged by moderators? one of the forum rules is to stay on topic (which I assume means railroad related) and those posts seem to have little to do with trains....
How do the chatterbox spring posts avoid getting flagged by moderators? one of the forum rules is to stay on topic (which I assume means railroad related) and those posts seem to have little to do with trains....
The various iterations of the Diner/Lounge/Chatterbox were started, as has been mentioned, as a place for friendly interaction between the participants in the Forum. Other specialized forums (including several other Kalmbach forums) have similar threads for the same purpose. The idea was actually run by the admins and approved.
We've heard about wins and losses and mundane details of life, and we've gotten to know each other that much better for it.
There have been those whose principal participation in the forum has been in such threads, but that number is small.
Some folks feel the forum should be "pure," just about railroading, but there have been some great friendships forged in those off-topic threads.
At the risk of sounding snarky, the same "rule" applies to such threads that applies to railroad-related threads - if you're not interested, don't bother reading or posting.
As an aside - the reason there is a "Chatterbox - Spring" is because the admins wanted to keep those threads down in size. So a new one gets started every quarter.
Off topic discussions in the Chatterbox (formerly, The Flat Wheel Cafe)? I thought it had a topic: Friendship among people who enjoy trains.
Johnny
KBCpresidentI have, on occasion posted "hypotheticals" and whatifs, things that i hope could spur a discussion, and rarely does it work.
This particular forum seems to revolve around current events moreso than anything else. There is a classic trains forum that may? be more receptive and willing to engage in what-if posts. (I don't usually go there, so I don't know for sure).
There's also the heavy hitters on here. When you see certain people posting to threads, you know there is going to be some decent discussion going on. Then there's me: I just babble on without making much sense most days.
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
K.P's "Sunset Route Two-Tracking Updates" - http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/120779.aspx?page=213 - is now 7 years old, and as of a few minutes ago shows as having 213 pages, 6,369 posts and 1,273,319 views = average of 200 views per post !
Although K.P.'s posts dominate it (as well they should), there are some other frequent contributors - MikeF90 with his 'pinned' Google Map links this past Monday, desertdog, and others (no offense or slight intended if I omitted anyone).
ouibejamn KBCpresident So, leave it up to fate, so to speak? Or you could name it "Blather Box Spring", and see what happens. ;)
KBCpresident So, leave it up to fate, so to speak?
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Think we can we stretch it out to equal K.P.'s threads?
KBCpresident How do you do it? I have, on occasion posted "hypotheticals" and whatifs, things that i hope could spur a discussion, and rarely does it work. Is there a way to start a discussion? Are what if scenerios and the like not interestign to people on this forum. And if it isn't a lack of interest, is there a way to start such discussions? Just curious
Just a thought looking back at some of the Threads you have started;
A number of them involve "alternate history" scenarios where certain mergers;for instance, never occured..
In some cases perhaps you would have had more responses if you posted them on the "Classic Trains" forum?
Just a thought..
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
ouibejamnI notice that some discussions become repetitive after about thirty- some replies. A sort of rehashing of what's already been said. That may account for some threads to seemingly go on forever. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :)
Methinks some of that comes from "but I have a great idea and you folks aren't buying it, so I'll say it again...."
tree68 ouibejamn I notice that some discussions become repetitive after about thirty- some replies. A sort of rehashing of what's already been said. That may account for some threads to seemingly go on forever. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :) Methinks some of that comes from "but I have a great idea and you folks aren't buying it, so I'll say it again...."
ouibejamn I notice that some discussions become repetitive after about thirty- some replies. A sort of rehashing of what's already been said. That may account for some threads to seemingly go on forever. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :)
K.P.'s threads are continually informative; at times other posters add their observations; we are welcome to ask questions--and K.P .answers as he is able.
wanswheelWhat if lots of replies were more than several. Would it be possible to go off-topic?
I again propose the rule my father used for discussions of steam technology.
1) The original poster gets to decide whether or not the thread can 'drift' to other subjects. He or she can signal this directly, or by posting with a message that says to please return to the topic, or by posting new details that steer the discussion back onto topic.
2) If the original poster wants to stay strictly on topic, the "official" policy is applied by the moderators if the thread is drifted (the 'drifters' are contacted and warned; the moderators can remove them (they used to be able to modify them, but no longer); etc. In this situation if there is no further on-topic posting, the thread gently dies.
Where the fun has come in is when the original posting is a 'troll' of some kind, and the original poster announces a desire to keep from drifting. The 'right' answer to this is, as WOPR said, 'not to play'. There have been attempts in the past (which I, personally, admire) to signal awareness of the troll by "changing the subject" -- classically, to a discussion of root beer. Those coming late to the party see a beverage discussion and know the original topic was 'loaded'. The problem with this approach, of course, is that it gets used for other purposes, for example when a clique disagrees with a particular poster and argues with everything they try to say (rightly or wrongly). So I regretfully concur with the opinion that 'we not do that anymore'.
2) if the OP doesn't object to drift, it goes where it wants to. The biggest problem with this is that, while very valuable insights and discussions may evolve out of threads, they still have the original title. Newbies seeking information, and folks trying to research older discussions, are now in the unenviable position of having to wonder if the particular needle they're looking for might be not in the expected haystack, but in a junkyard, catacomb, Toledo, or French twist (to quote four 'unexpected' places to look among a distressingly large number of patently unpredictable loci)...
3) This suggests my recommended approach if the thread deserves a drift -- start a new topic (referencing the old thread), with a clear subject and title, and let the discussion flower on-topic in its on-topic thread.
4) I also have to mention one other little issue, involving those 'Shari Lewis' kinds of thread. I think it is bad form to complain about how an original poster continues his own thread. If you don't like it, stop reading it! Stop commenting on it! Leave it alone to fall naturally past the second-page moribundity threshold! Sure, the Constitution gives you free speech rights to bully anyone you want on a forum. Sure, it gives 'posses' the ability to essentially spam threads with multiple negative posts ... look at any Web comments or blogs that are critical of, say, Amway or Scientology to see the technique in well-oiled action. If you see obnoxious 'yes, but-ism' in one of your threads, go ahead and bully it out. But don't do it to the guy who introduced the topic to have a discussion on it at great and numbing length and detail -- and probably to hash out his point of view rather than happily embracing everyone else's. He has free speech rights, too, and I think ought to be extended some author's privilege.
DeggestyK.P.'s threads are continually informative; at times other posters add their observations; we are welcome to ask questions--and K.P .answers as he is able.
Agreed.
Current events and controversy get more replies than very specific questions do.. i.e. What should be done about grafitti will illicit more discussion than a question about who manufactured the blastpipes of NYC's Niagara locomotives (hmmm... anyone know?)..
Ulrich... What should be done about graffiti will elicit more discussion than a question about who manufactured the blastpipes of NYC's Niagara locomotives (hmmm... anyone know?)..
Well, as far as I know, Alco fabricated the Niagara exhaust systems, including the tracts, stand, nozzles, petticoat pipe, and stack, in-house. This thread had some very good information about the general design, I think (I have not read it carefully through yet).
I have far less to say on any 'specific' things to be done about graffiti. But there are certainly some here who will...
[Sorry -- I couldn't resist the temptation to give a literal answer to your point!]
Wizlish1) The original poster gets to decide whether or not the thread can 'drift' to other subjects. He or she can signal this directly, or by posting with a message that says to please return to the topic, or by posting new details that steer the discussion back onto topic. 2) If the original poster wants to stay strictly on topic, the "official" policy is applied by the moderators if the thread is drifted (the 'drifters' are contacted and warned; the moderators can remove them (they used to be able to modify them, but no longer); etc. In this situation if there is no further on-topic posting, the thread gently dies.
With the exception of mass off-topic bombing of threads by people who want the thread (kind of a reverse trolling) locked, why not just let a thread go wherever members' posts take it?
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
schlimm Wizlish 1) The original poster gets to decide whether or not the thread can 'drift' to other subjects. He or she can signal this directly, or by posting with a message that says to please return to the topic, or by posting new details that steer the discussion back onto topic. 2) If the original poster wants to stay strictly on topic, the "official" policy is applied by the moderators if the thread is drifted (the 'drifters' are contacted and warned; the moderators can remove them (they used to be able to modify them, but no longer); etc. In this situation if there is no further on-topic posting, the thread gently dies. With the exception of mass off-topic bombing of threads by people who want the thread (kind of a reverse trolling) locked, why not just let a thread go wherever members' posts take it?
Wizlish 1) The original poster gets to decide whether or not the thread can 'drift' to other subjects. He or she can signal this directly, or by posting with a message that says to please return to the topic, or by posting new details that steer the discussion back onto topic. 2) If the original poster wants to stay strictly on topic, the "official" policy is applied by the moderators if the thread is drifted (the 'drifters' are contacted and warned; the moderators can remove them (they used to be able to modify them, but no longer); etc. In this situation if there is no further on-topic posting, the thread gently dies.
I am the OP and I aprove this message
as for graffitti, perhaps a large logo of the victim railroad painted on the grafittiers wall would drive the message home? Of course that isn't the noble thing to do...
I have no objection to that with my own posts, and in the past haven't troubled myself much about doing that with other people's posts. But there are people who are concerned with not having their thread 'drifted' (especially if their question or point hasn't been addressed or answered yet), and I think it is fair, given the Forum's existing policy on not 'drifting' threads, to allow an OP to request 'strict enforcement' of that policy with respect to a thread he or she has started.
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