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so called humor: decent posters, will the posts of another poster drive you away? Locked

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Posted by n012944 on Sunday, December 6, 2015 4:37 PM

gardendance

Somebody recently posted that another trains.com user's posts are going to drive the few remaining decent posters away. If you're a decent poster, could you please let us know if you're on the verge of getting driven away?

 

It already has for me.  10 years ago this forum was at least a once a day stop, with posts from me most days.  I now stop by once every couple of weeks.  Between the "ya but", certain posters hate for anyone who works for the railroad, or the ramblings of whatever Ohiorivertrail's screen name is this week make it not worth the stop.

 

I know that is not what you asked, as I am no longer a "decent poster", however just my My 2 Cents.

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Posted by dknelson on Sunday, December 6, 2015 6:48 PM

Before I retired I practiced corporate law for 36 years.  On a regular basis I dealt with those whose actual paid occupation was to goad and provoke and insult and do everything and anything possible in the hopes that I would react in an ill-advised manner.  I would also say that I dealt every day with highly skilled individuals whose job it was to zealously advance the interests of their clients, so very real and very intense confrontation and heated argument was on the agenda every day.

The worst of the annoying posters and trolls on the internet including these Forums were and are amateurs compared to the folks I refer to.  I cannot imagine anyone's postings here getting to me to the extent I would take my bat and ball and go home.

Having said that, please don't try! 

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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, December 6, 2015 10:59 PM

CShaveRR
Interesting that you mentioned K.P.'s Sunset Route thread, Larry.  

And I hope K.P. isn't in any way offended.  As noted, that particular thread (among others) simply don't interest me.

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Posted by gardendance on Monday, December 7, 2015 5:22 AM

Convicted One

 

 
gardendance
Somebody recently posted that another trains.com user's posts are going to drive the few remaining decent posters away.

 

 

 That sounds like a rather trollish comment to begin with. Obviously they were trying to provoke a reaction. You fed the troll by falling for it.

 

Can you be clearer, what is it that you think was the trollish comment, chessiecat's "need to delete my post" thread or zugmann's "he'll make the decent posters go away" reply? Or both? There's nothing to say that a thread, or bridge, can't have more than 1 troll.

I feel not all troll food is the same, and I hope my response, to ask others if they agree with the "decent posters will go away" fear is a low calorie healthy choice.

I like to think that troll can mean fishing, looking to goad people into informative discussion. Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes.

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Posted by gardendance on Monday, December 7, 2015 5:35 AM

n012944

It already has for me.  10 years ago this forum was at least a once a day stop, with posts from me most days.  I now stop by once every couple of weeks.  Between the "ya but", certain posters hate for anyone who works for the railroad, or the ramblings of whatever Ohiorivertrail's screen name is this week make it not worth the stop.

 

I know that is not what you asked, as I am no longer a "decent poster", however just my My 2 Cents.

 

You may not consider yourself a decent poster, but I think yours was a decent post.

Why do "ya but", I assume you mean Euclid's, and Ohiorivertrail's posts bother you so much that they might make you quit, even for a little while? If they bothered me that much I'd just ignore their posts, I don't think there are so many of them, and ones like them, that they get in the way of the decent posts. And they aren't obviously directing their posts to me, I'm more bothered when I comment to tell folks that they don't bother me and get a response directed to me that says I'm an idiot.

Also what's the alternative, other than leaving the internet completely? There's another railroad related internet social medium that I did quit about 2 years ago because the "you're an idiot, you're the only one who loves the trolls" comments got too much for me, and I haven't found that trains.com is much different.

Patrick Boylan

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Posted by zugmann on Monday, December 7, 2015 6:23 AM

gardendance
I'm more bothered when I comment to tell folks that they don't bother me and get a response directed to me that says I'm an idiot.

Why are you letting the post bother you?   Take your own advice and ignore it.

 

Nobody has to post here.  I've posted here for a long time because I wanted to and found it enjoyable.  It's not as fun anymore and I don't participate like I used to. I know you don't care, and maybe nobody else on here cares either.  So be it.  It's no skin off my back to stop contributing.  I'm sure the forum will be better off.    I'm not going to bother if this thing is just another facebook-esque forum with such thought-provoking posts like "I shoudn't drink and post" and other crap that has nothing to do with the forum subject at hand.  Defend it all you want, I don't care. So maybe in the end his posts are going to just drive me away.  Oh well.

 

That's my opinion. 

 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by Ulrich on Monday, December 7, 2015 6:50 AM

Not sure if I'm a decent poster, but I'm not on the verge of being driven away. I generally read more than I post. With so much bad stuff going on in the world its nice to come to a place where people want to talk about trains..  I don't take issue with people who disagree with me, nor do I allow myself to get offended by what others say. It's all good.

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Posted by dakotafred on Monday, December 7, 2015 7:08 AM

Ulrich

Not sure if I'm a decent poster, but I'm not on the verge of being driven away. I generally read more than I post. With so much bad stuff going on in the world its nice to come to a place where people want to talk about trains..  I don't take issue with people who disagree with me, nor do I allow myself to get offended by what others say. It's all good.

 
Says it all for me. The cranks and trolls reveal themselves over time and can simply be ignored. Why let them decide for us whether we go or stay?
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Posted by schlimm on Monday, December 7, 2015 8:20 AM

zugmann

 

 
gardendance
I'm more bothered when I comment to tell folks that they don't bother me and get a response directed to me that says I'm an idiot.

 

Why are you letting the post bother you?   Take your own advice and ignore it.

 

Nobody has to post here.  I've posted here for a long time because I wanted to and found it enjoyable.  It's not as fun anymore and I don't participate like I used to. I know you don't care, and maybe nobody else on here cares either.  So be it.  It's no skin off my back to stop contributing.  I'm sure the forum will be better off.    I'm not going to bother if this thing is just another facebook-esque forum with such thought-provoking posts like "I shoudn't drink and post" and other crap that has nothing to do with the forum subject at hand.  Defend it all you want, I don't care. So maybe in the end his posts are going to just drive me away.  Oh well.

 

That's my opinion. 

 

 

He is not just a troll.   

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Posted by Euclid on Monday, December 7, 2015 8:51 AM
This thread seems to be the county seat of innuendo.  Nobody is ever driven off of a forum by other members. It is impossible.  Everyone has a choice as to whether to stay or leave.  Being driven off this forum is always an injury claimed by someone still on the forum in reference to someone who has left.  There is no way that the charge can be refuted except by the person who was allegedly driven off, and that person is not available to testify as to why they left.  It is a means of guilt tripping individuals still on the forum by accusing them of injuring the entire forum by depriving it of virtuous members.   
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Posted by tree68 on Monday, December 7, 2015 8:54 AM

Euclid
It is a means of guilt tripping individuals still on the forum by accusing them of injuring the entire forum by depriving it of virtuous members. 

There's usually plenty of evidence leading up to those virtuous member's departures.  Not to mention PM's which do outline why people quit participating.

Besides, why would you want to give a troll a reason to gloat?

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Posted by schlimm on Monday, December 7, 2015 9:07 AM

Euclid
This thread seems to be the county seat of innuendo.  Nobody is ever driven off of a forum by other members. It is impossible.  Everyone has a choice as to whether to stay or leave.  Being driven off this forum is always an injury claimed by someone still on the forum in reference to someone who has left.  There is no way that the charge can be refuted except by the person who was allegedly driven off, and that person is not available to testify as to why they left.  It is a means of guilt tripping individuals still on the forum by accusing them of injuring the entire forum by depriving it of virtuous members.   
 

I recall a member who made a rather dramatic exit (a farewell forever style departure, deleting all his posts) only to return a month later.

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Posted by Euclid on Monday, December 7, 2015 9:14 AM
I should clarify that in cases where a virtuous member can be shown to claim to have been driven off the forum, that direct claim is no more credible than when it is made indirectly by a current member on behalf of the one driven off.  It is the same motive either way.  It’s just one more clever way of blaming someone on the forum for not agreeing with you.  Nobody can be “driven off.”    
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Posted by tree68 on Monday, December 7, 2015 10:35 AM

Euclid
It’s just one more clever way of blaming someone on the forum for not agreeing with you.

That kinda depends.  If a poster is not a firefighter, but insist on telling me (a firefighter for nearly 40 years) that something I'm saying just has to be wrong because they don't understand it, or otherwise have no knowledge of it, or are just being contrary, why should I be forced to agree with them?

And when they go on the attack to prove that their misguided concept is correct, yeah - I can understand why someone would say the heck with it.

 

 

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Norm48327 on Monday, December 7, 2015 11:25 AM

schlimm
I recall a member who made a rather dramatic exit (a farewell forever style departure, deleting all his posts) only to return a month later.

"I remember it well" as the lyrics to an old song once said. New name, same old drivel.

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Posted by wanswheel on Monday, December 7, 2015 12:09 PM

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Posted by Euclid on Monday, December 7, 2015 12:23 PM

schlimm
 
Euclid
This thread seems to be the county seat of innuendo.  Nobody is ever driven off of a forum by other members. It is impossible.  Everyone has a choice as to whether to stay or leave.  Being driven off this forum is always an injury claimed by someone still on the forum in reference to someone who has left.  There is no way that the charge can be refuted except by the person who was allegedly driven off, and that person is not available to testify as to why they left.  It is a means of guilt tripping individuals still on the forum by accusing them of injuring the entire forum by depriving it of virtuous members.   
 

 

 

I recall a member who made a rather dramatic exit (a farewell forever style departure, deleting all his posts) only to return a month later.

 

Who are you referring to?  I don't recall anyone who fits that description. Please clarify. 

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Posted by carnej1 on Monday, December 7, 2015 12:29 PM

I know this is off topic but here's a link to a cool video of a Vintage Bucyrus-Erie 22 B power shovel loading an old Euclid off road rock truck:

https://youtu.be/l9cJQYiT2bs

 

 

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Posted by Norm48327 on Monday, December 7, 2015 12:35 PM

carnej1
I know this is off topic but here's a link to a coll video of a Vintage Bucyrus-Erie 22 B power shovel loading an old Euclid off road rock truck:

Couldn't have said it better, but it'll go over someone's head.  Confused  Reading comprehension class begins in five minutes. Bang Head

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Posted by Euclid on Monday, December 7, 2015 12:53 PM
I have always liked dozers and other earthmoving equipment.  Here is a Euclid dozer (built by GM Euclid Division) powered by two GM 671, 2-cycle diesel engines with Roots blowers.  It was a pretty futuristic looking for a dozer, but this was from the 1950s when the world wanted to be “modern.”
Designers always say they want cars to look like they are moving when they are standing still.  I always felt that bulldozers should look like they are standing sill when they are moving.  But this Euclid model looks amazingly aerodynamic for a dozer.
But I chose the names here of Euclid and Bucyrus not on the basis of their connection to equipment, but just because they sound like they could be a first name or a last name.  They are good names for cats (felines.)    
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Posted by Norm48327 on Monday, December 7, 2015 2:19 PM

Couldn't you have liked rainbow flags and unicorns instead?

Norm


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Posted by Euclid on Monday, December 7, 2015 2:31 PM
 
Here is the Cat D11 which has the appearance of looking like it is standing still while it is moving.
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, December 7, 2015 5:49 PM

Here is an interesting site:

http://divco.org/

 

 

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Posted by Norm48327 on Monday, December 7, 2015 6:51 PM

Norm


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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, December 7, 2015 9:31 PM
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Posted by DSchmitt on Monday, December 7, 2015 10:05 PM

F3A

1st link = Garbage truck

I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.

I don't have a leg to stand on.

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Posted by gardendance on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 5:31 AM

I didn't mean to say that the Enterprise should be hauling garbage, I meant to say that it should be hauled away as garbage.

dknelson

 

Before I retired I practiced corporate law for 36 years.  On a regular basis I dealt with those whose actual paid occupation was to goad and provoke and insult and do 

 

everything and anything possible in the hopes that I would react in an ill-advised manner.  I would also say that I dealt every day with highly skilled individuals 

 

whose job it was to zealously advance the interests of their clients, so very real and very intense confrontation and heated argument was on the agenda every day.

 

The worst of the annoying posters and trolls on the internet including these Forums were and are amateurs compared to the folks I refer to.  I cannot imagine anyone's 

 

postings here getting to me to the extent I would take my bat and ball and go home.

 

Having said that, please don't try! 

 

Dave Nelson

 

 

Were the people paid to goad and provoke and insult you the same as the highly skilled people who zealously advanced their clients' interests?

I assume when you say 'amateur' you mean something other than 'paid' vs 'unpaid'. One hopes that the annoying posters and trolls here don't get paid for what they do. 

Conspiracy theorists might try to say that some trolls are paid. Isn't it possible the 'I fear they'll drive decent folks away' people are wrong, and some high priced internet consultant has figured that sites with troll controversy get more hits than those with staid, polite, intelligent discussions? Does reality TV get more viewers than PBS?

zugmann

 

 

 

 

gardendance

I'm more bothered when I comment to tell folks that they don't bother me and get a response directed to me that says I'm an idiot.

 

 

 

Why are you letting the post bother you?   Take your own advice and ignore it.

Nobody has to post here.  I've posted here for a long time because I wanted to and found it enjoyable.  It's not as fun anymore and I don't participate like I used to. 

I know you don't care, and maybe nobody else on here cares either.  So be it.  It's no skin off my back to stop contributing.  I'm sure the forum will be better off.   

I'm not going to bother if this thing is just another facebook-esque forum with such thought-provoking posts like "I shoudn't drink and post" and other crap that has nothing to do with the forum subject at hand.  Defend it all you want, I don't care. So maybe in the end his posts are going to just drive me away.  Oh well.

That's my opinion. 

I generally do take my own advice, I get slightly bothered, I ignore the posts, then pretty much forget about them. As I've tried to mention already, I did let myself get bothered enough in the past to leave one website, of course to its great loss an detriment, I'm sure I really hurt them, but trains.com's not much different from that other site, so 'take my ball and go home' doesn't work for me. I don't think I'm letting the "you're an idiot" posts bother me much, just more than any of Chessicat's posts, or anyone else whose posts are not actual insults.

Once again though you've mentioned 'defend' him. I don't think I'm defending him. I've said it before, I don't like him. I didn't like him much before I met him, I like him far less since I've met him. I just don't think his irritation could lead to the decent poster dearth you fear, but I'm aksing for others' opinions about if they feel it would make them leave.

Euclid

 

Nobody is ever driven off of a forum by other members. It is impossible.  Everyone has a choice as to whether to stay or leave.

 

I feel you're splitting hairs, there's no diffence between "I decided not to participate because I didn't like this other guy's posts" and "this other guy's posts made me quit".

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Posted by Euclid on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 9:58 AM
gardendance

 

 
Euclid

 

Nobody is ever driven off of a forum by other members. It is impossible. Everyone has a choice as to whether to stay or leave.

 

 

 
Those hairs do split clearly if you think about it.  There is no difference between your two examples of explanations for leaving the forum, yet neither one amounts to be “driven off” the forum.  The poster in your example decided by his/her own free will to leave the forum no matter what he/she cites as the reason.   
 
If you have the power to stay, you cannot be driven off.
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Posted by carnej1 on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 11:15 AM

Euclid
I have always liked dozers and other earthmoving equipment.  Here is a Euclid dozer (built by GM Euclid Division) powered by two GM 671, 2-cycle diesel engines with Roots blowers.  It was a pretty futuristic looking for a dozer, but this was from the 1950s when the world wanted to be “modern.”
Designers always say they want cars to look like they are moving when they are standing still.  I always felt that bulldozers should look like they are standing sill when they are moving.  But this Euclid model looks amazingly aerodynamic for a dozer.
But I chose the names here of Euclid and Bucyrus not on the basis of their connection to equipment, but just because they sound like they could be a first name or a last name.  They are good names for cats (felines.)    
 

I didn't get to vote on the naming of our two cats; they were on the premises before I arrived...I've always thought "Skid Steer (Bob..)"  or "Diesel Power"(get it?) would be apropos feline monikers..

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Posted by Convicted One on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 4:52 PM

gardendance
Can you be clearer, what is it that you think was the trollish comment,

 

I am quite certain that the individual I am speaking of knows full well that I was talking about them. If you do NOT have 100% certainty that I was talking about you, then there is a very good chance that I was talking about someone else.

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