The number of revivals of old threads is related to the lack of interest in recent ones. If you don't believe that, look at the dates and low activity levels.
zugmannDude - you ARE the old guard!
I set up my own forum once, but once I had it all organized the way I wanted it, I started contemplating the certainty of thread drift, out of context replies, and expeditionary nonsense, and consequently decided not to invite anyone else to join. It's pretty nice tho.
Convicted OneI set up my own forum once,
I set up a chat for the EMS agency in town, along with their website. Theoretically, the crews and other members of the squad could use it to communicate non-sensitive information.
Someone found it and shared the info with their friends, resulting in page after page of nonsense. I shut it down.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
charlie hebdoThe number of revivals of old threads is related to the lack of interest in recent ones. If you don't believe that, look at the dates and low activity levels.
When the 'interesting thread' participants get banned for keeping the threads 'interesting' what do you expect.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
greyhounds I need to credit wanswheel for his excellent research. Does anyone know how I can contact him about this?
I need to credit wanswheel for his excellent research.
Does anyone know how I can contact him about this?
Credit someone for their excellent research?
Now that is a concept familiar to . . . no, never mind, please, please, don't, don't ban me!
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
charlie hebdo The number of revivals of old threads is related to the lack of interest in recent ones. If you don't believe that, look at the dates and low activity levels.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
I never realized there had ever been a problem with forum bans here.
I'm surprised then that several of us, me included, didn't encounter issues in some of the old threads dealing with the now resolved troubles and tribulations around the SS Badger and EPA rules.
Maybe our moderators aren't carferry fans. :)
On a trains forum, the most active thread is not about trains, but about the forum itself, moderators, and banning.
Since the topics on the forum are started and continued by the posters themselves, I don't think the moderators or the forum owners are at fault for lack of interest.
The number of "interesting" threads that are ended by moderators is very few.
York1 John
First of all, I don't understand why anyone would complain just because of the age of a thread.
I haven't seriously researched it, but it seems to me that when an old thread is brought up, it often is by a new member. I figure that someone new would tend to explore the site more extensively than old timers and may even start at oldest post first.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Paul of Covington First of all, I don't understand why anyone would complain just because of the age of a thread.
Paul, I don't get it either. I really don't understand what this brouhaha is all about.
SD70Dude You're senior to him by over 5 years, you must be getting close to a pension!
You're senior to him by over 5 years, you must be getting close to a pension!
"Convicted One" was active under another handle when I first joined the forum in Dec 2005 under another handle. Had to change when trying to update my e-mail address and got locked out of the old account.
As for old threads being brought back to life - I often find them to be interesting.
Erik_Mag SD70Dude You're senior to him by over 5 years, you must be getting close to a pension! "Convicted One" was active under another handle when I first joined the forum in Dec 2005 under another handle. Had to change when trying to update my e-mail address and got locked out of the old account. As for old threads being brought back to life - I often find them to be interesting.
That's well before my time, but I do remember you as Erikem. As I recall you weren't the only one who got locked out due to IT issues around that time.
Glad to see I'm not the only one who doesn't mind seeing old threads revived.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Erik_MagAs for old threads being brought back to life - I often find them to be interesting.
Indeed. I'm not complaining - hopefully no one took any comments I may have made that way. Inevitably, some one will refer to such a thread as "raised from the dead."
As I said, I suspect that a good number of them - if not most - come from someone doing a web search on some topic and getting a post on the forum as one of the results.
Sometimes a browse through such a thread will bring to mind some posters who we don't see around any more, for a variety of reasons.
Convicted One Interestingly enough, even when the "on board" search engine was disfunctional, you could find items deep inside this forum, via a routine google search. Which, ostensibly at least, would explain how a n00b might find deep treasure here. That google search may have been what brought them here in the first place. ...
Interestingly enough, even when the "on board" search engine was disfunctional, you could find items deep inside this forum, via a routine google search.
Which, ostensibly at least, would explain how a n00b might find deep treasure here. That google search may have been what brought them here in the first place. ...
Oh, I had forgotten that, but I have found that myself. A simple google search has an early result showing trains.com and an obvious quote of some kind. But with our resident search engine, I must be batting near 180.
I agree. I like some old threads because they are often more interesting than current ones. The resurrected threads along with process ones like this one generate more posts than most recent ones. IMO, shutting down threads that stray from a pure railroad focus damages the future of the forum as participation continues to slide downhill.
selectorOh, I had forgotten that, but I have found that myself
And, I'm not unsympathetic to the gist of your earlier posts. I realize that there have been a few people seemingly dedicated to disruption, who would put forth the effort to return again and again just to amuse themselves.
And you are saying that it was particularly thought provoking when a new "player" would show up, and appear to have an encyclopedic knowledge of which old threads could provoke the most uproar.....I'm sure that I would feel the exact same way, if I had been in your shoes.
Still, even a broken clock is correct twice per day...I don't think we can completely rule out the possibility that a total outsider could have been googling for controversial topics, and simply won the lottery here.
Ban them all, and let Sergey Brin sort them out?
And, it's likely similar to the clientele in a bar. If you allow the riff-raff to dominate the atmosphere, whenever decent folk come along their first impression is "Oh, we're in the wrong place".
Convicted OneAnd, it's likely similar to the clientele in a bar. If you allow the riff-raff to dominate the atmosphere, whenever decent folk come along their first impression is "Oh, we're in the wrong place".
In this 'bar' however the barkeep has thrown out decent folk in deference to riff-raff.
BaltACD Convicted One And, it's likely similar to the clientele in a bar. If you allow the riff-raff to dominate the atmosphere, whenever decent folk come along their first impression is "Oh, we're in the wrong place". In this 'bar' however the barkeep has thrown out decent folk in deference to riff-raff.
Convicted One And, it's likely similar to the clientele in a bar. If you allow the riff-raff to dominate the atmosphere, whenever decent folk come along their first impression is "Oh, we're in the wrong place".
At least Raymond hasn't been back for a while.
BaltACD Convicted One In this 'bar' however the barkeep has thrown out decent folk in deference to riff-raff.
Convicted One
As an observation: Both Convicted One and Balt ACD are right in their observations,IMHO. As far as they go. In the 'Bar business', as apparently, as well as the Hobby Publishing business, It is generally, the Regular Patrons who help the business success.
A crowd attracts the folks looking for a 'different' experience. They'll come, and some may stay; the element of the riff-raff, come and move-on. Many of them swing on their own agenedas.
Moderators, are the 'Bouncers' in that mix. They 'enforce', reguate, and settle down the 'over-exhuberant' for the management. I'll leave those comments to Selector, Murphy Siding, and maybe even 'bergie(?) the first two certainly, at time derwent their baptisms of fire....Bergie, who really bailed out, took his Slivovitz, and ran.
Moderation seems to ebb and flow srounf here; in the past there have been some pretty 'enlightening' discussions (ie: Things regarding MILWRR !) and some pretty heavy converstions ( Flamings(?) maybe! ) (ie: futuremodal, Michael Sol) that got pretty intense. Then there was the 'moderator' who was sent over to ride herd on TRAINS Forum from the MR Forum...He was apparently, not used to dealing with adults(?).. He got his tail feathers singed, IIRC.
Just a few random thoughts.
charlie hebdo I agree. I like some old threads because they are often more interesting than current ones. The resurrected threads along with process ones like this one generate more posts than most recent ones. IMO, shutting down threads that stray from a pure railroad focus damages the future of the forum as participation continues to slide downhill.
Surely the antidote for lack of interesting current threads would be to start a new thread.
SD70Dude BaltACD Convicted One And, it's likely similar to the clientele in a bar. If you allow the riff-raff to dominate the atmosphere, whenever decent folk come along their first impression is "Oh, we're in the wrong place". In this 'bar' however the barkeep has thrown out decent folk in deference to riff-raff. At least Raymond hasn't been back for a while.
Yes, and we should give thanks for that, but he did have some defenders on here, at least in the past. Some good posters were pushed away, however, one way or another.
I may be on thin ice here, but I have noticed the long-term, chilling effect of the moderation on this site. When I joined, every day I would check the "unread thread page" and it would sometimes run 2 or 3 pages if I skipped a day (that was the old software) Now, when I check in, the first page is the same as it was last month. My own participation follows this pattern, too, as it is tiring to walk on eggshells all the time.
This phenomenon is not unique to this site. I've noticed a slowdown in participation on other rail related sites I visit.
It's free, so who am I to complain? A forum dedicated to trains, is a god-send, I just wish it lived up to its potential.
And Zug, I think I get first choice on rockingchairs.
Whatever is affecting this forum, I think has nothing to do with the moderators.
I do. When you start to ban knowledgeable people, eventually most that remain are less knowledgeable. I learned a lot from MM and WANs over the years.
What exactly is the Unread Threads Page, and how does one access it?
GoodtimingI do. When you start to ban knowledgeable people, eventually most that remain are less knowledgeable. I learned a lot from MM and WANs over the years.
Yeah, but posting pages and pages of copyrighted information is pretty much forbidden on any site.
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
zugmann Goodtiming I do. When you start to ban knowledgeable people, eventually most that remain are less knowledgeable. I learned a lot from MM and WANs over the years. Yeah, but posting pages and pages of copyrighted information is pretty much forbidden on any site.
Goodtiming I do. When you start to ban knowledgeable people, eventually most that remain are less knowledgeable. I learned a lot from MM and WANs over the years.
What I am no clear on - did they create images from old printed media and post it OR did they find that data in the far corners of the web and post 'hot links' to it?
I find it hard to believe that they had such extensive libraries at their fingertips as to be able to cull the precise printed pages to scan and post.
BaltACDI find it hard to believe that they had such extensive libraries at their fingertips as to be able to cull the precise printed pages to scan and post.
There are a lot of resources available on the 'Net. Some are copyrighted, but still available for C&P.
I believe we've discussed it before - but I think that a certain amount of attributed use is acceptable - fair use?
Lithonia Operator What exactly is the Unread Threads Page, and how does one access it?
Just above the list of topics are 4 "tabs". "Most Recent", "Not Answered", "Unread Topics", and "My Topics". Click on the 3rd one to see all the topics that YOU have not viewed. Once you have read all the ones you want, click on the button above the tabs that reads, "Mark All as Read" and the list will show none, until someone starts a new topic or adds to a topic. When you refresh the page those that you have not seen yet, will be listed.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
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