New Management at FRISCO.org

Howdy folks,

As many of you may be aware, I had quad bypass surgery in late December. It was unexpected and a surprise. The surgery was a success (so far), and I am slowly recuperating.

This event strengthened my resolve to recruit younger blood to lead the forum activities. We are a very loose organization and most folks seem to like that. We customized the forum around what the users wanted. There are still many webmaster and management decisions that must be made on a daily basis, so I've asked Charlie Dix to take the throttle on FRISCrg.

I met Charlie on the Frisco chat room on IRC back in the Internet stone age before meeting him in person. Charlie was generous and purchased the FRISCrg domain for us, helped launch the FMIG website, then helped launch the FRISCrg forum. He has been a good friend and terrific Frisco supporter. Charlie created Trainboard.com and has years of experience as webmaster and software guru there. I am very excited that Charlie has stepped up to lead the forum. I can't think of a better person to continue the good things we have going.

Keith Robinson and Chris Abernathy will continue in their administrator roles to support the forum, and Charlie may add another few to help with technical stuff. We definitely owe Chris and Keith a hats off bow of gratitude for their support.

Please extend Charlie a warm Frisco welcome, encouragement, and thanks for being our new FRISCrg webmaster.

Best wishes,
Mike Corley

 

Folks,

I would like to start by offering a huge thank you to Mike Corley for his years of leadership and development of this community. I think most of you know how great this place is but if you don’t, take time to check out what some other fallen flag railroads are doing for community. This site is pretty amazing compared to what some folks are doing. Plus, it gets better every day as people contribute. So rather than welcoming me, thank Mike!

Actually, Mike isn’t going anywhere; he’s just stepping down from the primary leadership role of Frisco.org. We offer our prayers and best wishes to Mike as he recovers from surgery. We hope you feel better Mike and bounce right back.

A little background: Back in the mid-1990s a group of friends spent a lot of time chatting on Internet Relay Chat. If you don’t know what that is, don’t worry. But, we spent a lot of time there. When I say “we” I mean a group of friends which included me as well as Mike Corley. Out of that (it’s hard to believe that it was all over 15 years ago) came some great ideas. One of those ideas was TrainBoard.com. Also, I registered the domain name Frisco.org in the 1990s, and if you didn't know that, I've actually always been the holder of Frisco.org. The original Frisco Modeler’s Information Group website was eventually moved to Frisco.org and one thing led to another and eventually a forum was developed. That has led to where we are today.

So, who am I and what does this change mean (and will there be changes that you don’t like)?

Although I live in the farthest reaches of Downeast Maine (near where Maine, New Brunswick Canada and the ocean meet), I am from Frisco-land. My family roots on both sides are in Webster County, Missouri. I was born and grew up in Kansas as my father worked in the aircraft industry in Wichita. My grandfather worked for many years for the Frisco and they lived right next to the tracks. My parents are both retired and live back in their hometown east of Springfield, Missouri.

In 1999, I was one of the people that started TrainBoard.com, now one of the largest railroad and model railroad forums on the Internet. I am presently the lead administrator of that site. Also in 1999 I moved from Kansas to Maine where I presently work in law-enforcement for the Federal government. I don't know what else I could say about myself and hopefully everyone is still awake.

We will largely continue unchanged from what Frisco.org is today. Changes, additions, etc., will be made carefully and no one should be concerned that things will go whacko. We will make some software tweaks and add new features.

I will work with the present staff and I would like to hear from any of you that would like to be part of the staff. As changes are made, I will explain what they are and why they are being made.

The goals of this site are to preserve our beloved railroad, make new friends, share knowledge, photos and documents, to introduce new generations to the Frisco, to have fun and help each other with model railroading, etc. In other words, it's all good and we are going to keep it this way.

Please folks, as we make minor changes, don't get angry, throw out critical comments, etc. without talking to me first. I will not do anything to hurt this site. No one is going to like every little thing. But, we will work together to keep this site as good as it possibly can be.

I work in a highly stressful job and I keep the window on this site open as much as possible because for me, it is a refuge from things that stress me out. So, we do not intend to stress you out.

I do know how the software works and I can teach all of you how to use the software to do what you want (when possible). I will be taking over support and you will be able to use the "contact us" link to get support from me (beginning in a few days). It may take up to 24 hours to answer e-mail, depending on my work schedule. I can access the forum at work but all e-mail is blocked when I am there.

Over the next week, I will primarily review the software and server settings and make tweaks. You folks will probably not notice any of this. Maybe a few minor things but nothing major. Although I have been an "administrator" here for several years, I have never reviewed the settings.

TrainBoard operates on a dedicated server with a few small web sites also on the server. Right now, I am looking at a new server that would operate a configuration that would constantly keep the site backed up on a second drive. We might move Frisco.org to that server. (This would be good.)

We will continue to accept donations and those donations will keep this site on the Internet. If we get rich, we will use extra money toward a convention of something. But, for now, money given will keep this site on the Internet.

If any of you have questions or comments, feel free to contact me directly to discuss whatever is on your mind. I like to make new friends.

Charlie

 

Thanks, Charlie. You're an awesome guy. I take all the "behind the scenes" stuff for granted and I really appreciate all you and Mike and Keith and the others do for us users. I support you all the way!

 

First, a big Frisco thank you to Mike Corley for all that he has done. He and Charlie were definitely people of vision those 15+ years ago.

I look back at where I was four years ago; a frustrated model railroader with no direction, nothing to show for years of interest but no activity. In these few years, I found a great support group, met new people that will be lifelong friends, have a direction, a plan and plenty of activity in model railroading. This forum is what is making my model railroading dreams come to life.

As Mike indicated, I will continue doing what I have been with the time I have available. I am passionate about preserving the Frisco Railway heritage and hopefully that shows in my actions.

I look forward to working with Charlie, and hope to meet him sometime in the not to distant future. The Frisco lives on!

 

Larry, there will be a new address soon.

Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk 2

 

Three cheers for Charlie for stepping up to bat. I'm very grateful for your technical know-how and expertise. I only hope that I can continue to contribute a bit of sweat here and there when you need it!

And, while perhaps a schmaltzy sentiment more appropriate for a private message, I cannot thank Mike Corley enough for welcoming me into the Frisco fold back in the mid 1990s, when the "Frisco" website first appeared. Admittedly, I felt rather star-struck after having read his excellent FMIG newsletter piece on the 1200-series cabeese!

Mike, and also Doug Hughes and Karl Brand were very prompt in providing an unconditional and hearty welcome into a fine group of historians and modelers. Here's to Mike's efforts, in particular, for fully implementing and sustaining the migration of Frisco Folk into the information age. Mike: your leadership and enthusiasm were involved "in the right medium in the right place and at the right time." Frisco Nation is forever grateful for your contributions.

Best Regards,

 

Thanks Charlie for "steppin up" and all the best to Mike for a very speedy recovery.
Tom Holley

 

Howdy folks,

Charlie is setting up a new account dedicated to the Frisco. When he gets it established, I'll transfer the funds to the new account and close the old account (which is associated with my debit and credit cards for backup). He'll change the donations address and accounts on the forum and all thing will continue as before. We have a good amount of money to keep us going through the summer.

Best,
mike

 

Having been a member of Trainboard.com since its first month of existence, and dealing with Charlie for all these years (and even visiting him in Maine whilst working in Augusta at the local VA hospital), it's gonna be old-home week for me. I can vouch for Charlie and his ability to keep a forum going- you should see the characters he deals with at Trainboard! Seriously: Charlie, if ya need any assistance, gimme a holler- I like this forum as well, and want to do what I can to help it along.

Quadruple-CABG (pronounced cabbage), eh? Wow, that's pretty serious stuff, Mike! Best wishes for your recovery, and hope to see you at our next convention, wherever it may be.

 

Sure Richard,

240 Davis Road
Alexander, Maine 04694