Modeling forums question - Please respond

Andre,

I agree and I think that thought process applies all the way around. I just hope to convince people that it is so.

Charlie

 

Okay, I am not doing a good job of explaining this.... here's another shot at it.

Bold and underlined statment: No, no worries there. We are only talking about changes to one part of the site here at this time.

Let's say we are marble collectors. Some people collect big ones, some medium ones and some small ones. I collect medium sized marbles and I am not really in to the two other sizes. Now, we have a medium sized marble forum but under that we have a red marble forum, a green marble forum, and a blue marble forum. I think all colors of medium sized marbles can be discussed in the medium marble forum without different forums for different colors of marbles. You guys that collect the big and little marbles will have a forum for yours too. I may read your stuff but I don't collect big or little marbles. The medium ones are great. So, all discussions about medium sized marbles are likely to be found in a forum called Medium Sized Marbles.

If I understand you, I don't think you understand me. But, I may not be understanding you. Oh boy...

Posts that are not scale specific can all go in the GENERAL forum. With no more posts that we have here about modeling, all non-specific scale posts can go in that forum.

But, if you are an HO Scale modeler and I am an N Scale modeler, I will post pictures of my layout and discussions about new releases all in the N Scale forum. All of the HO discussions would be in the HO Scale forum.

If I am talking about Micro-Trains N Scale models, that would be in the N Scale forum. Micro-Trains doesn't make HO models, etc., so it would all be about N Scale there. If you are an HO guy and don't care about that stuff, you can clearly see that those discussions are in a forum called N Scale.

Under N Scale now, we have all of these other forums, General, Steam, Diesel, blah blah blah and I don't think any of those are necessary. I think what people are missing here is that there are these whole sub-sets of forums under each scale right now. They are not all the same. HO, N, and Z have these sub-sets of forums. O scale has three sub-forums, G Scale and S Scale have none and are already what I believe that they should be.

What we have right now on these O, HO, N and Z model railroad forums is a 49 hole birdhouse and we only have 8 birds. We have a much larger structure of forums that what is needed for the amount of posts we have.

At the risk of turning people off with another comparison to TrainBoard, look here: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/forumdisplay.php?157-Model-Railroading-Forums

These are the model forums and under the scale ones, such as HO or N, there are no sub-forums, such as Steam, Diesel, etc. They are not needed. Between thread titles and the search engine you can find what you want. That is largely secondary anyway; most people are looking at the NEW content that is posted to a forum. New stuff is always at the top. If you want to go back to something, looking at thread titles or searching is the way.

Looking at thread titles may be harder on TrainBoard because the N Scale forum has 20,249 threads but we don't have that kind of traffic here on Frisco.org so I think that in the long run this would be less, not more, confusing or convoluted.

That's my opinion. I am not trying to dictate to people how it will be but I am trying to make my case for some changes that I think will make the forum better. There is room for improvement on everything!

I know for some people this is a bit much because within 72 hours you found out that I was going to take over as lead administrator and all of a sudden here I am with proposed changes. It's all good. We are going to go through changes but when it's all over and the sawdust is cleaned up, you will find that it won't be drastically different and will be better (and I will go back to being quiet most of the time).

If this did not clear up what I am proposing then, by all means, continue to ask questions! More talk, not less, is the key to communication.

Charlie

 

I don't see a forum called The Meteor in the model railroading forum section of the site so I don't follow that question.

Charlie

 

I am learning about the big stuff. Are both of these considered G Scale?

 

Charlie, some clarification.

What most people refer to as G scale is truly G gauge; equipment that runs on 45mm or 1.772" gauge track. This grouping makes up what is most commonly used as garden railways.

Large Scale encompasses G Gauge equipment and above including but not limited to 4.75" gauge, 7.5" gauge, 12" gauge, 15" gauge, and others larger still. The preponderance of equipment above G guage falls into the four specific ranges and in most cases the operator rides on the equipment during operation.

 

Ok, we'll spin these posts off to another discussion on that later because I am interested in learning more about that.

 

I may have better luck turning this around on you. As we already have different forums for all of the modeling scales and a whole bunch of forums under that. So, right now, let me ask you (just for the sake of conversation) where you would post that discussion?

 

The past (and proposed) rules of engagement would state:

1) If you are posting a question or information about the prototype, the post should go in the Historical section of the site.

2) If you are posting information or questions about a model, then it should go into the correct scale forum, i.e. HO, N, etc.

It is really that simple.

 

So, maybe consolidate all other scales but leave HO scale as is since its probably 95% of all modeling posts? That's a good suggestion but honestly this is becoming very exhausting. I'm looking forward to this being resolved as I'm sure we all are.

 

I knew there was a reason I liked all you Guys and gal(s).. You are all Railroaders at heart, whether in reality nor not, does not matter . One of the only things a Railroader hates more than a run around at the home terminal is change, of any kind, no matter how in-significant, we just hate or are uncomfortable with change. I am too. Believe me I am A Local Chairman and you talk about hating change. Well, I do.
But, I understand also that sometimes the right thing to do is not terribly popular, but you must understand that what is popular, likewise sometimes ain't right. But if it ain't broke don't fix it. I will be the first to admit, I am so far behind the times as far as technology is concerned, I might be ahead at some point. Perhaps bandwidth is an issue, perhaps the filters or who knows what else is an issue. All I know is I will likely log-on to see what all of you, my Friends are up to. I look up to and admire more of you than you might think.
I know that ignoring an issue, will not make it go away. I have tried holding my breath too. Didn't work either. What I do know is, we are much better together than we are apart. And that driving the bus from the rear seats is almost always the easiest, but the last place you should drive the bus.
Charlie did not have to step up to the plate, but he did. I am sure he is wondering at this point, why he would do such a thing, I would. But as a leader of sorts, you need to try and make things better, I think Charlie is trying to do this, I am not ready to throw him under the bus just yet either.
Like I and a few others have said, "we can change it back if it doesn't work"
So ,lets be done with all the bickering and make the changes, if it works great, if not, lets change it back.
At the end of the day we need to Thank Mike, Keith, Charlie and all the others now, for being willing and able to give their time for free (try getting a railroader to do that) and giving this a try.
My 3 cents,
Tom Holley