Lifeblood of the industry (coffee of course)

[tree68]

Convicted One

WHELP, nothing left in this thread pertaining to trains. time to nuke it!!

 

So?  It wandered away from the original topic.  Even completely railroad threads do that.  It'll die on it's own, unless folks insist on keeping it alive by whining about how it's not on topic.

 

I'm far less concerned with threads like this than some others I can think of...

[Norm48327]

Convicted One

A specious ploy any third grader should be able to see through.

[Convicted One]

tree68

So?

 

I'm just fascinated by dual standards I guess, especially from sources of authority.

 

My e-mail box was recently flooded with Pms from  people I never solicited any comment from  at all,...mostly pertaining to Angela's assuring them that she was "not picking on anyone". And that threads categorically not pertaining to trains would be locked or deleted.

 

It likely would have never caught my attention except there were so many of them, and seemingly in conflict with what really seems to be the case.

I don't particulary sympathize with either of the antagonists that the previous flap was centered on, but i like dual standards even less than  I liked either one of them. Call me old fashioned.

 

[Convicted One]

\

Norm48327

 

 

 

Thanks, I knew SOMEONE would agree with me.

[Mookie]

Ok - I don't want to start a thread and have the usual 3 people answer me and then it dies, so I will post here:  I am female. (Duh!) I love trains - not scale ones - I like the big, real ones that will run over you in a heartbeat if you get in their way.  I love to watch them work, love to study all their details when they are sitting, love nothing more than to "railroad" talk with the people that work with trains, find every aspect of trains interesting - some items more than others - so, for you who like to analyze or have some insight into this - 

Why?  

Now I have given you all something that you can tear apart and give an opinion on. And it is all about trains!  

[Semper Vaporo]

@ Convicted One: I think a reason you might see a double-standard here is that the moderators do not necessarily read every thread. To get a non-RR related thread locked/deleted would require some one to click the "alert" icon down in the corner and complain.

If no one has done so on this thread it is probably just floating along, fat, dumb and happy, because the moderators have not been attracted to it. 

It at least has RR related subject line.  I figure if it was "What kind of coffee do you like when in a bus, airplane or traveling by car" it could be caught by a moderator without someone complaining.

Secondarily, as long as there are no vehement arguments and it is just an amicable chat, then what little RR content there is in it can carry it as being RR related even though there has been some deviation from being strictly RR related.

[Norm48327]

SV,

Perhaps the mods are reading the thread in hopes of finding a better cup of coffee.

[Murphy Siding]

Convicted One

Call me old fashioned.

 

 

 

  You're old fashioned.  Any other questions?

[Deggesty]

Norm48327

SV,

Perhaps the mods are reading the thread in hopes of finding a better cup of coffee.

 

Many posts on the Chatterbox thread(s) have nothing to do with railroads; I consider the Chatterbox to be a social thread even though we are almost daily given an account of rail activity in a certain city; should we be forced to abandon social threads? 

[Murphy Siding]

Mookie

Ok - I don't want to start a thread and have the usual 3 people answer me and then it dies, so I will post here:  I am female. (Duh!) I love trains - not scale ones - I like the big, real ones that will run over you in a heartbeat if you get in their way.  I love to watch them work, love to study all their details when they are sitting, love nothing more than to "railroad" talk with the people that work with trains, find every aspect of trains interesting - some items more than others - so, for you who like to analyze or have some insight into this - 

Why?  

Now I have given you all something that you can tear apart and give an opinion on. And it is all about trains!  

 

  You haven't ruled out mental illness yet have you?   I mean that in a nice sort of way of course.

      I feel the same way you do, except for the  being a woman part.  I also have a certain fascination with ships, propeller driven airplanes, Dilbert and Far Side cartoons and the work of Charles Addams.  Maybe it's all related.

[Convicted One]

Semper Vaporo

Convicted One: I think a reason you might see a double-standard here is that the moderators do not necessarily read every thread.

. Secondarily, as long as there are no vehement arguments and it is just an amicable chat, then what little RR content there is in it can carry it as being RR related even though there has been some deviation from being strictly RR related.

 

You are likely correct on the first point, yet I had hoped my pointed observations might breech that wall?

On the second point, I think it's very subjective what one individual might consider "amicable" compared to the next guy. There are some chronic abusive types here who likely see their abusiveness as "all in fun". Don't you agree?

[Convicted One]

Deggesty

should we be forced to abandon social threads?

 

I think it would be better if we abandoned dual standards. That was my intention.

 

The coffee thread doesn't bother me, the dual standard does.  Perhaps this might sink into some of the thicker skulls that do all the complaining everytime they see another thread THEY themselves do not agree with?  Probably expecting too much.

[Firelock76]

The only times I've seen threads locked here, at least the ones I pay attention too, are the threads where people get nasty, abusive, and downright uncivil.

I don't care how far a thread drifts as long as people keep it "professional," for lack of a better term.

And look, we're up to seven pages already, so obviously people are having fun here.

When I get bored with a thread I move on.  I suspect most of us are the same.

Anyway, my Moondoggie's run out, I'm back on the Maxwell House French Roast, which is actually pretty darn good.  Eight O' Clock's French Roast is pretty decent as well, although I'm mad at them for changing the design of the packaging.  I mean, it was OK for 75-plus years, why mess with a good thing?  Now when I want a bit of coffee nostalgia I've got to pull out my copy of "Erie Railroad Trackside" and look at the pictures of the A&P Eight O' Clock billboards that used to be prominent at the Erie Jersey City terminal.

Yeah, I'M old-fashioned too!

And hey, Convicted One, I've got to ask, what's with that scary "Death Is In Charge Of The Runaway Train" picture you've got posted?

[Convicted One]

Firelock76

I've got to ask, what's with that scary "Death Is In Charge Of The Runaway Train" picture you've got posted?

 

My sig photo was the cover of a Harper's magazine back in the late 19th century. 

[ouibejamn]

Convicted One

My sig photo was the cover of a Harper's magazine back in the late 19th century.

Would have made a great album cover, back when they still had album covers.

[Murphy Siding]

Convicted One

 

 

Deggesty

should we be forced to abandon social threads?

 

 

 

I think it would be better if we abandoned dual standards. That was my intention.

 

The coffee thread doesn't bother me, the dual standard does.  Perhaps this might sink into some of the thicker skulls that do all the complaining everytime they see another thread THEY themselves do not agree with?  Probably expecting too much.

 

Alrighty then, you got that off your chest for the 100th time.  You've told us the kind of threads you don't care for  and the kind of forum members you don't care for, but you still haven't said what railroad related topics you would like to discuss.  

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Firelock76

[snipped - PDN] . . . "There's three things that complement each other perfectly, a hot cup of coffee, a good cigar, and a steam locomotive."

If I recall correctly, this article related an incident when coffee was made from the boiler water of a D&RGW narrow-gauge locomotive stranded in a blizzard:

"God made snow for farmers and artists - plowing snow on the Rio Grande narrow gauge" by Norwood, John from Trains, October 1969, p. 20 &etc.("Magazine Index" 'keywords': D&RGW - narrowgauge - plow - rotary - snow - winter) 

Wonder if there are any coffee recipes in the "Dinner in the Diner" book ?

- Paul North. 

 

[schlimm]

Convicted One

 

 

Deggesty

should we be forced to abandon social threads?

 

 

 

I think it would be better if we abandoned dual standards. That was my intention.

 

The coffee thread doesn't bother me, the dual standard does.  Perhaps this might sink into some of the thicker skulls that do all the complaining everytime they see another thread THEY themselves do not agree with?  Probably expecting too much.

 

Examples?  Offenders?

[Semper Vaporo]

Well, that is the end of this thread... veiled accusations and a call to name names.

 

Bye!

[Convicted One]

Murphy Siding

you still haven't said what railroad related topics you would like to discuss.

 

Very well, how about a nice little thread examining the morale of railroad employees working in an environment where rules enforcement  is arbitrary and capricious? And how that affects the bottom line?

 

And perhaps another thread attesting to how "snitch" railroad employees are regarded by their peers and co-workers?

[Convicted One]

schlimm

Examples? Offenders?

 

I'm reluctant to point targeted fingers lest it be seen as a personal attack. I have fairly strong suspicions based upon posts by certain members shortly before these threads get nuked. Did you not have your e-mail account  recently indunated with PMs explaining that moderators respond when "complaints are received"? 

I'm certain that the complainers know who they are, and it's my hope that by their reading that off topic  threads they  happen to enjoy can be targeted just as those they CHOOSE to make a stink over, perhaps a tone of "live and let live" (or alternately "if you don't like this thread then go find one you do") might be established.

[Murphy Siding]

Semper Vaporo

Well, that is the end of this thread... veiled accusations and a call to name names.

 

Bye!

 

Oh, I don't see where the accusations are veiled at all.  I just see it as some guy who has a common interest in trains and railroads like the rest of us.  He yearns to have intelligent, interesting, civil discussions about trains, but his nature impedes that possibility.  So instead, he substitutes his time-tested paranoia about how the moderators aren't fair to him, all the other forum members get bigger pieces of pie, and mom always did like his brother better.

       Perhaps it's some sort of internet social awkwardness?  Rather than engage in conversation, he wants to be the center of the conversation.  When asked to back up some wild assertions, he'll probably just try to turn the conversation a different way that swings it back around on him.  It's a pity, that interest in trains locked up in an intelligent mind, but unable to communicate about it.

     I think we're all kind of tired of winter.  I went to a coffee shop this morning to look at some cabinets.  My coat smells simply delicious right about now, and I don't even drink coffee.  While I was there, I heard a train go by.  It was a grainer on the BNSF, on a line where traffic seems to be up, and CP/NS/Hunter Harrison have very little influence.

[Norm48327]

Convicted One

I'm certain that the complainers know who they are, and it's my hope that by their reading that off topic threads they happen to enjoy can be targeted just as those they CHOOSE to make a stink over, perhaps a tone of "live and let live" (or alternately "if you don't like this thread then go find one you do") might be established.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it you who proposed that this thread be nuked?  That appears contrary to what you have said.

[SD70M-2Dude]

Come on C.O, you're smarter than this.  I know we don't have a place to vent since runningtrades quit working but that's no reason to start an argument over here.

 

Convicted One

 

Very well, how about a nice little thread examining the morale of railroad employees working in an environment where rules enforcement  is arbitrary and capricious? And how that affects the bottom line?

 

I'll drink to that (coffee of course, to stay on topic )

 

 

Convicted One

 

And perhaps another thread attesting to how "snitch" railroad employees are regarded by their peers and co-workers?

 

Fortunately I have not had to deal with this at work yet, but I have heard some stories.  They aren't pretty.

 

I for one would be quite happy to start these discussions on a new thread.

[Euclid]

Convicted One

...perhaps a tone of "live and let live" (or alternately "if you don't like this thread then go find one you do") might be established.

 

But that is not the real problem.  The real problem is not that someone does not want to read a thread.  The real problem is that they do not want others reading the thread. 

[schlimm]

Convicted One

I'm reluctant to point targeted fingers lest it be seen as a personal attack. I have fairly strong suspicions based upon posts by certain members shortly before these threads get nuked. Did you not have your e-mail account  recently indunated with PMs explaining that moderators respond when "complaints are received"? 

In answer to your query, the answer is NO.  No PMs about or from moderators.  

CO, you make many good posts.  However, making thinly veiled threats is not one of them.  And, since AFAIK you are not a rail employee, the suggestion of a thread about narcs, snitches etc. seems to be not yours to make. 

[wanswheel]

[Convicted One]

Norm48327

That appears contrary to what you have said.

 

Not at all Norm. Evidently you failed to read where I said that it wasn't the coffee discussion that I take exception to, it's the obvious dual standard in rules deployment. That makes this the PERFECT thread for my appeal.

[Convicted One]

schlimm

And, since AFAIK you are not a rail employee, the suggestion of a thread about narcs, snitches etc. seems to be not yours to make.

 

LOL, your sarcasm was a little too subtle for me to read, at first. Good ONE!!!

[Convicted One]

Murphy Siding

paranoia about how the moderators aren't fair to him,

 

The threads that were locked were not my threads Murhp. In fact one of them was  yours, which was fairly obviously designed to take a slap at a segment of the membership here. The other was the thread that was made in parody of yours.

When they got nuked, I wasn't at all surprised. I was surprised however, with the bombardment of PM's into my email account, from others debating the merits of the moderation. SEVERAL of those PM's were from a trains staff member, telling other members that "threads not pertaining to trains will be locked or deleted".  A further qualification from that staffer was included claiming "no one is being picked on here,"  it's just how out of context threads will be handled.

 

Now, if my wondering why rules that were recently (and in high volume) reaffirmed into my personal email account (unsolicited, I might add) are  NOT being enforced equitably...appears as "paranoia" to you..you might want to consider researching the term paranoia because the understanding you appear to have seems suspect.