Long-time members as well as those in the habit of causing trouble

[Modelcar]

...We hope all the decent accommodating friends, railroaders and anyone else in that catagory remain and continues to contribute....That is, if Bergie keeps our format free and clean to use.

[jjlamkin]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

I thought you could gain a little by reading this post I just dropped on the Classic Toy Trains forum:

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=26436

[V] Bergie

Bergie,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, I am with you 100%. No one should have to hide behind an alias! I definitely would not want to be on your naughty Christmas list.
I actually had 2 lunches from Avanti's last week (gondola's)!

Regards,
Jim

[Anonymous]

WOW

I dissapear for 4 weeks because i have exams comming and i need to practice self control, and this place is worse off then a de-railed freight train!

WOW!

So let's see who's packed it in, and what loseres are now posting here.

Yesh, I noticed a difference when I walked through that front door, And yes, My front page used to be trains.com Aswell, But then Firfox wouldn't let me load the page because of all the Ads on it.

So I switched to google aswell.

It's sop boaring, but it loads in secondes, no ADS.

So let me think one second for this paying idea.. hmm.. crap,.

Now why... let's compare Yahoo To Hotmail, shall we?

Yahoo, 250 MB free E-mail space, while for a whil;e Hotmail was offering 2MB of free space.

TWO FULL MEGABYTES!! can you believe that, so people swarmed over to Yahoo.

Then Hotmail upped the anti or anty, however that goes, and look- Everyone swarms back..

Now, i'm no buisness man, What happens if yahoo charges 5 bucks a year, while hotmail charges 0 dollars a year? where do the people go?

To the freebie Like railroadforums.com, or pay 5 bucks to the trains.com.

You wouldn't cathc me paying a blasted cent, it would be one of those 3.99 American/ 399.00 CDN deals, much like the magazine scam.. I mean legitamte prices.

Besides, if i had to pay, i'd expect a lot of the rules to formed around my ideas, And most of you, wouldn't like that.

But for someone like me who argues at K-mart because they charged me 72 cents too much for LED Christmas lights, I wouldn't be willing to put up much.

I'll take the free any day.

You know, I see the moderator Icon down Below, yet there isn't one moderator.

I've joined two other forums recently, and was made moderator in BOTH OF THOSE in less then a week.

It gives me a lot of respect for what Erik does and the decisions he has to make.

However this forum is going down hill fatser then a run away freight train on a 5% grade.

It's a shame; i loves theis forum; it used to be my home.

I hate fakers, eevrything I have said about myself is real, and I have been pushing these people who hide behind PATHETIC names to 'fess up, but that doesn't seem to happen.

Sorry, I ain't paying no fee, And This forum needs a revamp, and i'll spell it out: QUICKLY!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by kevinstheRRman

WOW

I dissapear for 4 weeks because i have exams comming and i need to practice self control, and this place is worse off then a de-railed freight train!

WOW!....

Hey Kevin hope the exams are going well.

I have been away from the site for four months and see some familiar posters and some familiar problems, but it is still interesting, informative and educational.

Jeff

PS Kevin, I heard it has been a bit cool up your way the last couple of weeks? Are you keeping warm enough?

[Anonymous]

That's why I don't come on here that much! But don't get me wrong. This "is" still a great place for me to get the latest updates! I still do like Trains forums!

[cherokee woman]

I hope Bergie keeps it free; if he doesn't, I won't be on here.

[Junctionfan]

If we have more moderators, and are active (show up in moderator colours), the trolls and flamers will be discouraged from causing mischief. There are a good few folk out there who would do an honest job of being an impartial moderator.

Who would volunteer to help moderate this great forum?

[espeefoamer]

This is my favorite railroad forum. I think it is the best one around,and I will stay as long as it is free.I refuse to pay money for a forum. It would be a shame to see this go to a pay forum just because a very few goofballs ruin it for the rest of us[:(!].

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Junctionfan

I There are a good few folk out there who would do an honest job of being an impartial moderator.

I cannot think of a single member here who has not displayed partiality to their own POV , nor one who does not have their own "inside circle" of friends And typically, when it comes to backing up ones special pals, that where 'member mods" become problematic.

Hey, I wouldn't mind more mods if they were magazine staffers, having ones paycheck hanging over your head is a great motivator to remain objective. Absent that, partiality is an inevitability.

[gabe]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

QUOTE: Originally posted by gabe

Somehow, the post got deleted; but, I could have solved this whole problem for the price of a subscription to a second-class railroad magazine.

The person who (I think solely) is responsible for all this muck and is prompting these suggestions said he was not going to pay for the price of applying and drop his Trains subscription for a subscription of one of Trains’ competitors.

I told him I would personally buy him a subscription if he agrees to stop posting. He sent me an e-mail saying he would be interested, now his post has been deleted and I haven't heard anything.

Pity, I would have gladly bought him two subscriptions to his desired magazine to put all of this behind us and to move on.

Gabe

Hey Gabe - I have gotten e-mail from someone who wanted me to cease posting. (Did you know trains is just for railroad employees?) So can we talk? Trains and Classic Trains - renewals are coming up pretty soon! Negotiations can begin immediately.

Mookie

I would buy you a subscription to keep you on here not to get rid of you.

Gabe

[Junctionfan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TheAntiGates

QUOTE: Originally posted by Junctionfan

I There are a good few folk out there who would do an honest job of being an impartial moderator.

I cannot think of a single member here who has not displayed partiality to their own POV , nor one who does not have their own "inside circle" of friends And typically, when it comes to backing up ones special pals, that where 'member mods" become problematic.

Hey, I wouldn't mind more mods if they were magazine staffers, having ones paycheck hanging over your head is a great motivator to remain objective. Absent that, partiality is an inevitability.

what about someone like psioulion? (sorry if I got your name wrong) What about M.W Hemphill? Thease gentlemen are not bias nor do they exhibit any trait that would be a problem to the integrity of a moderator. The only thing is would they want to be a moderator? That's the thing.

[cherokee woman]

If we could nominate someone for a forum member moderator,
I nominate Ed Blysard.

[Anonymous]

I learnt one BIG thing when moderating a forum

Don't jsut show up, lay the law down, then dissapear.

You have to be at one with the members, be online every day, talk with them, and become there friends.

You lay the law down only when you have to and people will understand you better, because they have had a chnace to know you, and to understand what is appropriate/inappropriate.

Don't just show up, bant off on a few people, then retreat (no offense Erik) and wait for somebody else to missbehave

An admin or Mod has to be present pretty much all the time, and be friends with the people of this site and getting to know people very well, people don't have such a terrible backlash when it becomes time to lay the law at that point.

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with you. If someone can't play buy the rules, you should make them pay to play. It's just like the two major trouble makers we had on this forum. They got so bad that David Voss had to lock out their computer addresses to control them.

[zardoz]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

Thanks to everyone who has responded. Let me assure you that the “pay for forum use” has not come up in any Trains.com meeting. That was simply my idea this morning for a way to help assure quality. I knew I’d get constructive feedback, and I have. Thanks again.

Bergie

I only quoted this again so y'all can stop going on about what you would do if there is a fee.

For what it's worth, I feel this forum runs very well as is. Bergie douses fires soon after they start, and as long as we do not fan the flames, they will go out. We are strong enough to withstand an occassional attack, and when it is over, the troublemaker is laughed at many times, then forgotten. And the rest of us are still friends.

[csxengineer98]

can we all let it go now...this its like beating a dead horse
csx engineer

[Anonymous]

I second and agree, enough is enough.

[Bergie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

Thanks to everyone who has responded. Let me assure you that the “pay for forum use” has not come up in any Trains.com meeting. That was simply my idea this morning for a way to help assure quality. I knew I’d get constructive feedback, and I have. Thanks again.

Bergie

This is a first for me.... I'm quoting myself!

I repeat, we have not discussed moving to a paid forum.

Thanks again for the feedback, everyone. I'm locking this now so we can move on to better things.

Bergie