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Posted by edblysard on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 4:02 PM

Oh shoot...we forgot the pack of clowns!

Dave, oh Dave, where are you?

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 4:18 PM

*

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by schlimm on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 4:42 PM

Mookie

 

 
schlimm
In most walks of life, people who cannot tolerate disagreement with their ideas, concepts, interpretations (not their actual experience) are often standing on shaky grounds.

 

This is where you are getting away from what I am looking for (information) and going into the philisophical. If you are going to delve into this on a forum, then it should be as gentlemen - on both sides.  Otherwise, take it to e-mail.  

 

Information?   You call it philosophical (ignoring all the rest of the post); I call it clinical.

A lot of folks come and go on this forum and other social media.  Some stay for longer than a cup of coffee.  Some non-railroaders chose to leave because of very juvenile personal attacks by railroaders and/or their supporters.  Some had thin skins; some simply had had enough and weren't into masochism.  

Part of the problem is and has always been that railroaders seem to think the Trains forum decreed that they have a "special" place.  Nowhere does it say that.

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

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Posted by Convicted One on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 5:05 PM

Mookie
Would you want to participate in a forum about your profession or something that you are truly interested in only to have someone constantly picking it apart?

 

One thing about the internet, people will disagree with just about anything you say, just as an excuse to try and prove they know something useful.  Everybody's ego is on trial when posting in front of a crowd.  Plus...many who are insecure, take disagreement as confrontation, even when the disagreement they feel 'confronted' by is only intended as per the above.

 

A lot of the people who are gone, had acute personality conflicts with other specific members, as I recall.  Those type of people will seek out sparing partners wherever they go, it's just the nature of who they are.

If the only way an individual can find happiness is if all people around them assume a subordinate role, is it fair to blame everyone  unwilling to subordinate themselves for the former's displeasure with them?

Think about that last part, it keys into many of the friction filled relationships I've seen here over the years.

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Posted by edblysard on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 5:50 PM

Murphy Siding
 
edblysard

Oh shoot...we forgot the pack of clowns!

Dave, oh Dave, where are you?

 

 

 

  On the Milwaukee of course.

 With Mike Sol...in the presidents office I am sure.

 

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Posted by M636C on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 6:08 PM

Could I ask that when developing thread titles, people consider:

'

It might be preferable to delete the apostrophe that causes this, replacing it with a space or forgetting it altogether.

Alternatively, could the Forum mechanics make a modification that allows apostrophes in forum titles...

Either way, both the decent and indecent threads are equally affected...

Let's just not use apostrophes in thread titles until the forum software can cope with it...

M636C

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Posted by ValleyX on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 6:14 PM

BaltACD

 

 

If the back and forth BS of this forum causes a 'career' railroader to move on, they didn't learn much about having a thick skin during their railroad career.  You can't have a career in the field elements of railroading, T&E, Signals, MofW without cultivating a thick skin.  If you are thin skinned, your coworkers will eat you for breakfast, let alone lunch an dinner.

 

BaltACD, there was a time I would have agreed wholeheartedly with you but by the time I retired, nearly five years ago now, the culture had changed so much that one had to be wary of what one said because one never knew who might misconstrue, take offense, run to the nearest official, exaggerate, or otherwise wreck remarks made or overheard.  Thick skin had nothing to do with it.  Having said that, I will say that when I started, not quite as long ago as you, but nearly, it was a far different place, populated by a whole group of WWII vets and even men from before that, and those old guys, well, you had to have or had to acquire a thick skin.

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Posted by Mookie on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 7:04 PM

And sometimes a disagreement just becomes too tedious to continue.  Also, if most of the subjects are, for instance, east coast subjects and you live on the west coast, the interest level wanes.  So maybe people (fans and railroad workers) left because there was really nothing to add to any of the conversations.  

Balt - I don't think thick or thin skin should even be part of the conversation.  Polite conversation doesn't require it.

 

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Posted by gardendance on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 7:14 PM

M636C

Let's just not use apostrophes in thread titles until the forum software can cope with it...

It's just tough to remember not to use proper punctuation, especially when it looks fine when composing, and the bad effect only manifests after submitting the post, and then it's too late to fix it. I don't know how to change a title after the thread's created.

Patrick Boylan

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 7:58 PM

*

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by Mookie on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 8:28 PM

Murphy Siding
Edit button, lower right hand corner of your post will do the trick.

 That's it?  We have these vastly interesting postings going on and that's all you can add?  Sigh

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 8:45 PM

edblysard
Myself and some of the other ilk do, on occasion, pop in.
The fact that some people here can't accept the fact that those of us who do this for a living might actually know what we talking about has most of us looking elsewhere. . . . [snipped - PDN.]

Go look at this revived thread, now currently active:
 
"Who names control points?" at:
 
 
God, I miss some of those people (excluding myself, of course).
 
- Paul North. 
"This Fascinating Railroad Business" (title of 1943 book by Robert Selph Henry of the AAR)
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Posted by Uncle Jake on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 9:21 PM
I can't say that I was ever a regular, but I haven't left.
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Posted by jeffhergert on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 2:16 AM

The title of this thread had me worried.  I thought that some unknown webcam on my laptop (that I use at the AFHT motel) had become active. 

For a short while some years back, there were three other co-workers on here.  Two weren't on for very long.  They seemed to have been lost because of one of the forum IT "improvements."  One of them wasn't a big railfan, AFAIK anyway.  The other was, and is, and I was surprised he didn't return.

The fourth guy is still on here, but maybe not as much as he used to be.

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 9:33 AM

*

 

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Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 9:38 AM

Jeff, I certainly appreciate what you and others in, or retired from, the industry have to say--especially when you and they correct me. There are many others, not in the industry, who make valuable contributions (and corrections). 

I do become weary of some of the back and forth that really adds nothing (except, in some cases, humor).

Also, I miss some of our contributors who, for one reason or another, no longer let us know their thoughts.

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Posted by CNW 6000 on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 1:43 PM

zugmann

I don't think you can equate a career (mine is fine, BTW) with a forum.   Two separate things. 

 

It's not a question of being thin-skinned; it's a matter of what value do I get out of this (even if it's jsut entertainment value)?  And that value has not been there in a long while.   Maybe it'll cycle back and be better some day.  Or not.   Not the first forum to go away, and not the first one I stopped posting to.   Mookie is right on with her observation.  Take a look at topics from several years ago to see the active posters that were around then.  We lost a lot of good names for many reasons. Sure we gained a few since, but I don't think it's a balanced equation.

 

As always, that is my opinion. 

 

 

 

 

Well stated Zug.  The value in being here is (or not) is 100% why I've resorted to the occasional lurk for quite some time.

Dan

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Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 4:54 PM

-too tedious to continue-

 

Boy, I'll say.  Some of the biggest whiners I can recall here, seemed to have 'control' obsessions.   There are people who are quite content so long as they are the ones calling the shots. Let someone  else dare behave in a manner which the 'control fixated' person fails to approve of, and they whine and moan  (and likely stomp their feet too, but you can't see that on the internet) as though the world has been turned upside down.

 

Odd thing being, those types of people seldom stop to realize that they have no more right to decide how someone else is supposed to behave on the internet, than others have a right to dictate to them how THEY are  to behave.

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Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 5:02 PM

Common excuse you often hear is "yeah, but at least I act 'normal' when posting, these other idiots are just trying to start trouble".

 

If one has always been a narcissistic control freak, I guess that becomes their "normal" ?.

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Posted by n012944 on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 6:23 PM

BaltACD

 

 
Mookie

Garden - while this is a tongue-in-cheek posting, it has a very serious part to it.  I joined this forum a day or two ago, wanting to learn some of the nuts and bolts of a trade that is very interesting to me.  We had a lot of railroad workers on here.  This has dwindled down to just a handful along with a lot of people that want to push their agenda and put down their words as gospel.  Would you want to participate in a forum about your profession or something that you are truly interested in only to have someone constantly picking it apart?  Consequently, we have lost a lot of good information and posters.

 

If the back and forth BS of this forum causes a 'career' railroader to move on, they didn't learn much about having a thick skin during their railroad career.  You can't have a career in the field elements of railroading, T&E, Signals, MofW without cultivating a thick skin.  If you are thin skinned, your coworkers will eat you for breakfast, let alone lunch an dinner.

 

 

I hate to break this to you, but what I do for work and what I do for fun are different things.  I am around people at work that I would not spend a minute with outside of work, just as I put up with stuff while on the job that would get you an earful from me outside of work.  Apples to oranges.

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Posted by zugmann on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 6:37 PM

Convicted One
Boy, I'll say. Some of the biggest whiners I can recall here, seemed to have 'control' obsessions. There are people who are quite content so long as they are the ones calling the shots.

That's funny.  I've heard plenty of stories of you always whining to the moderators in the past (under your various user names).

Doesn't surprise me any.  Have a good day.

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

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Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 7:24 PM

zugmann
Doesn't surprise me any. Have a good day.

 

The Kleenex is on the table Zug, help yourself. Crying

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Posted by zugmann on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 7:31 PM
You're so kind. I may put you back on my Christmas card list.

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

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Posted by M636C on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 9:29 PM

Thanks to the OP on this thread and the matching one for removing the apostrophe catastrophe...

M636C

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 10:58 PM

*

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by gardendance on Thursday, December 10, 2015 6:29 AM

Let's be clear, this is the matching thread. Mine was the original, imitated but never bettered. Some may say that zuggman's post in Chessiecat's thread was the original and I'm only mocking him. I'll never talk to those folks again.

I see this as just a ploy to get this thread's post count to exceed mine.

Patrick Boylan

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Posted by schlimm on Thursday, December 10, 2015 7:12 AM

Two (and counting) threads about nothing.

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Posted by gardendance on Thursday, December 10, 2015 7:15 AM

They're the best kind. Remember Seinfeld, one of television's most succesful shows, claimed it was a show about nothing. One never goes broke underestimating one's audience's intelligence.

Patrick Boylan

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Posted by schlimm on Thursday, December 10, 2015 7:19 AM

gardendance

They're the best kind. Remember Seinfeld, one of television's most succesful shows, claimed it was a show about nothing. One never goes broke underestimating one's audience's intelligence.

 

Since that was my obvious reference, you've made your own point.  The forums have become rife with threads about (next to) nothing.

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Posted by gardendance on Thursday, December 10, 2015 7:25 AM

I've mentioned before, what's the alternative? Folks have claimed the indecent decent posters have driven the decent posters away, but not mentioned to where. Have they discovered some website in which there are no inconsequential threads? Or do you think they gave up on the internet, or at least social media?

By the way, so far nobody's replied in either the real thread or this imitation to say that they consider themselves to be a decent poster. I like to think that that really means we're actually decent posters, since anyone so lacking in humilty as to say they're a decent poster probably really isn't.

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

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