I think the content of Trains magazine itself may have something to do with it. It has turned into an industry-lite news article mag. WRP has more interesting magazines for railfans.
zugmannthe heavy hand ruled hurt participation, IMO. I know I am less likely (read: not likely) to put much effort into creating actual original content anymore. You can keep the $6.95. Even if you want to, who knows if it will post or you will get an error.
The repeated removal of many posts and threads that had strong participation killed the interest of many. I don't know if that policy was out of ignorance of the effect or not, but the damage was done.
Euclid But I don’t see why bannings and deaths would cause a trend of falling participation because deaths and bannings should be occurring at an average, consistent rate over time. So I would think their effect could also be consistent over time. What has not been consistent over time is the forum technical operation.
I think the random nature of deleting active threads because of some arbitrary sliding ruler of what's on topic hasn't helped this site over the years either. But let's be real: just about all forums are dead. So many other platforms out there.
I get it, moderating a forum is like herding cats with a garden hose, and some people can get a tad worked up, but the times where the heavy hand ruled hurt participation, IMO. I know I am less likely (read: not likely) to put much effort into creating actual original content anymore. You can keep the $6.95.
Even if you want to, who knows if it will post or you will get an error.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
tree68 With only six Class 1's now, regional interest lags, too.
With only six Class 1's now, regional interest lags, too.
BaltACD Participation is down due to a number of bannings and a number of deaths with few if any new participants coming on board. The slipshod operation of the board's software has made it problematic for anyone to withstand the aggravations.
Participation is down due to a number of bannings and a number of deaths with few if any new participants coming on board.
The slipshod operation of the board's software has made it problematic for anyone to withstand the aggravations.
A once active firefighting forum hasn't had a post in months. People have passed, moved on, or whatever.
It's funny, in a way. The stuff we complain the most about on fora is the very same thing that generates activity - posts with some form of controversy.
I suspect, too, that at some point, most of the questions that could be asked have been asked (as has been pointed out when a newby does ask a question). With only six Class 1's now, regional interest lags, too.
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...
I suspect the decline in forum participation is something beyond just this one. I follow a couple of forum topics on railroad.net, and that forum site software works near flawlessly. 10 years ago there would be at least several posts a day and several new topics per week. Now it is common to go several days between posts, let alone new topics. People seemed to have moved on to other types of social media, I.e Facebook, Instagram, etc.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Or it may be because of all the recent technical problems that are limiting participation. So I think that before trying to solve the operation problem with an entirely new system, it would be better to first find out what the current technical operational problem actually is. Why not have the problem professionally diagnosed and then get a price quote to fix it? Then fix the problem and maybe the participation will shoot back up to pre-2020 levels.
It would work for me as part of the "unlimited" membership benefits.
I wonder how many of the primary posters plus non-posting regular readers would pay for the dubious privilege of entry to a dying forum?
Backshopis it really worth it to keep the forums up and running when there's only about 25 regular posters and some of them don't subscribe?
The 'fair' thing to do in that case would be to 'reimburse' the frequent posters or useful idiots with credit equal to the time and effort put in, applied toward their "$6.95 per month" in the month(s) that contributions are present. Now that we can expect more funding the Kalmbach 'experience' to be provided in the new organization, I suspect there would be members of staff who could make a fair evaluation and provide a sensible accounting of how that might be done.
There is the additional question whether merely reading threads on the forum, referred from all the Google and other bot 'indexing' (some of which is remarkably fast, indexing and providing links to posts that in some cases are only seconds old!) should be allowed to people who haven't signed in (or paid dues). There are plenty of examples where Google displays text that cannot be searched or read when actually trying to reference a given source...
I never go to the MR or CTT forums, just Trains and Classic Trains. With the magazines having subscription in the many tens of thousands, is it really worth it to keep the forums up and running when there's only about 25 regular posters and some of them don't subscribe?
blue streak 1Dear trains got another hit Sunday evening about 23:00. These 504s are so tiring.
Ditto
Dear trains got another hit Sunday evening about 23:00. These 504s are so tiring.
tree68 I have a hosts file. Granted, it's a Windows thing
I have a hosts file. Granted, it's a Windows thing
The "hosts file" is pretty much standard with any OS that uses DNS software that was derived from the orginal Berkeley (Go Bears!) software. This includes just about every variation of UNIX (Solaris, Linux, BSD's (MacOS userland is BSD), HP-UX, IRIX, AIX, QNX, etc) along with MS-Windows. The standard UNIX file is usually in the /etc directory i.e. "/etc/hosts", though MacOS stores it in the /private/etc directory, and thus "/private/etc/hosts".
The advantage of the "hosts" file is that it just has to be set up once on the computer (though may need updating), doesn't cost anything and should work with any browser.
Addendum: Got hit by the 504 error message when posting - post succeeded, error came while refreshing the webpage.
Microsoft operating systems security has more holes than swiss cheese. Every time I see a company get hacked or ransomwared I have a good laugh. Microsoft will never learn. Unix operating systems have a program built into the operating system itself called selinix which stands for security enhanced linux. It was first created by the NSA to help secure their systems. As far as I know, haveing retired in 2010 they are still using it. A version was eventually released into the public domain and is constantly being upgraded.
Erik_MagThat was my take as well. FWIW, I've been able to set up Firefox to kill the ads by the simple expedient of enabling HTTPS only mode and setting enhanced tracking protection to "strict". Do wish the advertisers/websites take note that ads that don't cover content are less likely to be blocked. Ads can also be created to be worth reading/watching in their own right, Analog Devices "Rarely asked questions" was often a more interesting and useful read than the content in the magazines they appeared in. 3 days without a 504 error...
I still get them but I don't want to go through the hassle of changing web browers, though I might start using Edge to access the website instead of Chrome. For some reason everyone gives priority to testing Microsoft over other products. Ad distributors do not care what garbage they send out.....I noticed.
caldreamer There is a free ad blocker called Adblock Plus. It is an add on to Firefox and works very well. I have been using it for years. No ad of any kind on my system.
There is a free ad blocker called Adblock Plus. It is an add on to Firefox and works very well. I have been using it for years. No ad of any kind on my system.
I have a hosts file. Granted, it's a Windows thing, but I see virtually no ads and I don't have to worry about the ad blocker being malware itself. Most of the ads come from just a few sites.
I can't click on the "sponsored" ads if I search for a product, but the same site usually shows up further down the results list.
Use your favorite search engine for more info on hosts files.
I have been using U Block on Chrome without issue.
Erik_Mag... 3 days without a 504 error...
3 days without a 504 error...
I can't make that statement.
CMStPnP I think Steve Otte was saying that the Ad Distributor is to be blamed for their content impacting the User Experience.
I think Steve Otte was saying that the Ad Distributor is to be blamed for their content impacting the User Experience.
That was my take as well. FWIW, I've been able to set up Firefox to kill the ads by the simple expedient of enabling HTTPS only mode and setting enhanced tracking protection to "strict". Do wish the advertisers/websites take note that ads that don't cover content are less likely to be blocked. Ads can also be created to be worth reading/watching in their own right, Analog Devices "Rarely asked questions" was often a more interesting and useful read than the content in the magazines they appeared in.
BaltACDIf Otte was to be believed then these actions would afflict virtually ALL activites on the web. It only affects Kalmbach sites.
I think Steve Otte was saying that the Ad Distributor is to be blamed for their content impacting the User Experience. If my interpretation is correct then this rings true to me as Facebook has the same problem with whomever their ad distributor is in the upper right corner of the FB page because it is a recurring problem with FB that a malware ad pops up that emulates a user getting a FB message or response to a FB post.............click on it and they can hack your FB account. Not easy to track that nonsense down via FB staff because they do not own the content in the web page region where the mischef occurs. I suspect the same is true of the Kalmback webpage in the area of problematic content ads.
Do they ban the ad distributor and lose a chunk of revenue or do they put up with it and try to fix the issue as it occurs?..........so that is the quandry I believe. So my take on this is it is the ad distributor they use and only some of the ads that are at issue, well initially anyway.........noticed the problem is slowly getting worse over time. So I also surmise a Forum Software update is part of the issue as well and it might not have been kept as current as it should have been. Just all gueses on my part as thankfully I am not on Kalmbach Staff. IT is not the only issue that was slipping in my view. Marketing has slipped. I remember when Kalmbach had a booth at most major Model Railroading shows or would show up at railfan events and make their attendence known. Not so much anymore. I suspect regular ebb and flow of business cycle for a company of this size and right now appears to be a definite ebb vs flow.
They could be doing a lot more with marketing without spending a lot of money. One area would be to market more to large public libraries. I have been in some of those and they never heard of TRAINS magazine..........it doesn't have to be the published magazine either. A lot of public libraries have gone digital with their periodical publications. Almost no TRAINS presence there that I have noticed in the DFW area and this is major metroplex in the United States. TRAINS gets it's revenue from adverstising not paid subscribers and yet the management of TRAINS does not seem to grasp that expanded distribution of content is better for them financially even if in part it is free. Also, they need to cut the price of their Calendars a little......some of which I can get a lot cheaper and delivered a lot faster via other sources. Someone is really not paying attention to these details.
Last and trying not to write a novel here. Geopolitical situation is not helping with website stability and cybersecurity. Private employers have switched to skills based hiring or some are still about to switch. Feds announced it is their plan to switch in 2025. Which means the college degree is starting to fade as a litmus test for white collar jobs (which I think is awesome), however it's also my view it is slightly more difficult to security screen someone without a college degree than with one. Which is one of the minor reasons it was used as a litmus test.
Euclid Overmod To be a bit clearer, I recall that Steve Otte said it was the plethora of ads that involved 'non-Kalmbach activity' -- this having nothing to do with the forum server(s) being down or the 504 issue. And the greater part of the support 'problem' was with the lost functionality of some of the forum code, not the ability to access forums at all. Well I am sure the problem has more than one dimension. The only dimension I have seen for the last two years is the inablility to access the forum. And I know that Steve Otte has commented on several aspects of the problem including those related to the recent chages in the Trains dot com site. But in one specific post, probably about January, he said the problem was in our user computers being infected with malware, and had nothing to do with Kalmbach. That was all he said in that post. I am not trying to blame anybody, but I am not convinced that anyone has diagnosed the 504 problem. If so, it may have nothing to do with other types of malfunction.
Overmod To be a bit clearer, I recall that Steve Otte said it was the plethora of ads that involved 'non-Kalmbach activity' -- this having nothing to do with the forum server(s) being down or the 504 issue. And the greater part of the support 'problem' was with the lost functionality of some of the forum code, not the ability to access forums at all.
To be a bit clearer, I recall that Steve Otte said it was the plethora of ads that involved 'non-Kalmbach activity' -- this having nothing to do with the forum server(s) being down or the 504 issue.
And the greater part of the support 'problem' was with the lost functionality of some of the forum code, not the ability to access forums at all.
Well I am sure the problem has more than one dimension. The only dimension I have seen for the last two years is the inablility to access the forum. And I know that Steve Otte has commented on several aspects of the problem including those related to the recent chages in the Trains dot com site.
But in one specific post, probably about January, he said the problem was in our user computers being infected with malware, and had nothing to do with Kalmbach. That was all he said in that post.
I am not trying to blame anybody, but I am not convinced that anyone has diagnosed the 504 problem. If so, it may have nothing to do with other types of malfunction.
Well, pretty clearly "But in one specific post, probably about January, he said the problem was in our user computers being infected with malware, and had nothing to do with Kalmbach" was not the whole story at that time. hange in ownership often means a clean sweep of the old The recent off and on aspect of the forum is likely the prelude to curtailing their existence.
OvermodTo be a bit clearer, I recall that Steve Otte said it was the plethora of ads that involved 'non-Kalmbach activity' -- this having nothing to do with the forum server(s) being down or the 504 issue. And the greater part of the support 'problem' was with the lost functionality of some of the forum code, not the ability to access forums at all.
If Otte was to be believed then these actions would afflict virtually ALL activites on the web. It only affects Kalmbach sites.
Since the site has returned to life - I have been getting 'This Site can't be Reached' when making the initial request to the site - then several seconds later the page I requested will display.
To: Overmod, and other posters; Thanks for the updates....
For those of us who are NOT really computer literate(?); It has really been a pain in the 'Touckas;' since the Klambake sold out to the New guys....
I personally, have enjoyed their Forums for a couple of decades+....The last month or so, has really been a female puppy dog..... Hopefully, we are now on the cusp of getting thingsd straight.
EuclidIn any case, apparently the moderator’s response that the problem it is caused by malware; and can be fixed with anti-malware, ad blocking software that we can install on our computers; is directed to the commonly voiced complaint about pop-up ads. This leads me to wonder if Kalmbach is even aware of this “504 Gateway Time-out” problem, or maybe has ever been aware of it.
I had to wonder if it was "buck-passing" on Kalmbach's part. "It's not US, it's YOU!" The thing is I NEVER have problems like this on any other 'site I go to, except once when one 'site was undergoing a website change and that lasted only 24 hours.
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