Well, well, well....
Be waiting for something like this for a while...was wondering when the pay to play idea would kick in...
First, it will not keep the trolls out, especially the multi named one...he, or she, is here for a personal reason, and wont mind paying a small fee to cause trouble, in fact, once they pay, they will use that fact as a justification to be allowed to do so....
As for me, off the top of my head I can name three members who dont use a made up screen name, myself, Mark Hemphill, and Dan Harmon...
Cant speak for them, but for myself, I figured that if I had an opinion or story I didnt mind sharing in public, then I shouldn't mind my name going with it.
What you see in my profile is real, the railroad where I work is real, my name and email adress are real and correct...you got a beef with what I say here, either respond here, or email me and chew me out to your hearts content.
I dont believe in censorship, but I do believe basic common courtsey, good manners, and respect towards others, no matter how far from my point of view they might stand.
Not to say my slate is pristine.
And yes, there are some, not to name names, well, ok, some like Clevelandrocks, who show up here, and stick out their chins, begging someone to pop them a good one, and it would appear there are quite a few who don't mind to oblige them.
Then there are the trainfinder, kissmycaboose, hot and itchy, cinderdick...those who sole purpose was to take the enjoyment out of this place...they succeded quite well at that.
With that in mind, it now appears I will have to pay to read garbarge posted by the trolls...hummm....
They already have managed to drive a few good posters away, and have succeded in making this place no where near as much fun as it was a year ago.
It used to be I logged on to see who was here, and have a good time discussing the hobby and industry which I make a living at...
but now, the first thing I see is the moron page, you know, page 1, where the trolls have managed to creat enough problems and enough dissent that their postings and threads have almost the entire front page to themselves, and the interesting stuff, you know, the real reason most of us came here, are two pages back.
Anyone see wabash1 here?
How about Scottydog? He got tired of it last year and left, hasnt been back since....
If you think about it, quite a few members, who contributed a lot, have quitely left, and not returned, and for good reason.
Remember when Mookie had a whole bunch of interesting questions, and got a whole bunch of interesting replies?
Remember when Matt and Mookie "fought" over the chocolate cake, and both of them won?
When was the last time one of Mookies questions was on the top of page one?
Not for a while, because before anyone got around to answering her question, they would run off to bite on troll bait.
Guess it tasted better than the cake?
Remember when we came here to talk about trains and the people who run them, not tripe and the people who write it?
We, by responding to the bait the trollers throw out, have allowed them to degrade this forum to the level of a teenage chat room, where the only thing of interest is is who is slamming who, and what new insults can we come up with.
It used to be, when you turned on my computer, Trains.com was the front page, it came up automaticly on default...not any more, I replaced it with Google, because a blank search engine holds more promise of fun...I have to look for this page now.
Why?
Because I noticed I dont bother to look as often as I used too, and post even less, after reading Bergies posting on Classic Trains, I realized why.
The trolls have won, if not by sheer numbers, by assimilation...we are becomming them.
I used to come here to have fun, enjoy discussions with people of like interest, and read the intelligent, often funny comments about my industry...it was a well kept secret, a place with a good group of smart people who enjoyed each others company...not anymore....
I was going to say if Kalmbach can add their forum fee to my subscriptions,(I take three of their magazines) fine, but after a few minutes thought, I dont think it is worth even that, after all, I can see adults act and speak like children all day long at work, for free.
If the fee idea does happen, then I dont see the sense of paying to have a forum membership on a forum I chose to not read regular anymore...because the people who made it interesting and fun, have all been run off.
I know of at least one person who dosnt have a computer at home, she logs in here from work, so the pay to play wont work, the accounting dept most likely will kick it back at her...so one of the most interesting people here will be gone.
Sad it comes to that.
For what its worth, it was a pretty fun ride, I made some good friends, met a few of you in person, enjoyed it a lot, and, when this was a forum, not a verbal train wreck, I learned a lot I didnt know, about trains, people, and myself..
Sooo...guess I will see ya on the next run, you guys have a safe trip and a good Christmas...stay cut in.
Ed