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Post by riogrande on Mar 12, 2020 5:05:30 GMT -8
I agree, it isn't a friendly atmosphere when offensive posts become frequent. People express different opinions on either side; some say people should have a thicker skin and not be so easily offended, and others find it unfriendly when "choose your euphemism" posts become all too regular. As is often the case, it's difficult for everyone to be pleased. IMO, a best practice is to refrain from making "offensive" comments but in a hobby full of "older" men, some pretty grumpy, it can be a tall order.
I understand why some may prefer, out of an abundance of caution, to remain anonymous. But it cuts both ways as remaining anonymous also makes it easier to for people to stir up trouble while hiding behind keyboards and say things they would unlikely say to someone in person.
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Post by nsc39d8 on Mar 12, 2020 5:24:23 GMT -8
I was a member of the old Atlas forum as well. I will say I find this forum to be the most informative of any I read now days. I enjoy the topics discussed and the SPF is always inspiring. I do not use Facebook and don't expect to either, so I hope this forum can survive. I really miss the ProtoModeler forum but since this forum remains alive I am seeing more people from ProtoModlerer on here.
I look forward to this forums prosperity!
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Post by riogrande on Mar 12, 2020 5:30:20 GMT -8
This forum has had slow periods uncounted times but remains pretty active from what I'm seeing. Donnell can comment on the user base but from comments in the past, it remains strong and new members joint regularly.
I was on the old Atlas forum from early-on, 1994 from memory, or 95, until it closed in 2012. I shut my Facebook account down around 8 years ago; only my wife uses it. I've tried having her list trains for sale and sometimes she shows me for sale trains. I was only contacted by people who wanted to buy for low ball prices so FB didn't seem to be a good buy/sell place.
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Mar 12, 2020 7:17:32 GMT -8
Been here since before the transition era.
Never been on the FB platform and am currently, as I type this, watching the wife remove most of her content from there due to the ill mannered, inflexible, vitriolic content that is predominating that place in the current lack of civility present in much discourse any more.
I do miss SPIKRE, Bob was quite a character.
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Post by loco8107 on Mar 12, 2020 7:22:18 GMT -8
I agree Donnell does a very good job here. The arguments back and forth get old after a while.
Riogrande- Facebook is as bad as eBay anymore as far as selling things. I hate both!
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Post by loco8107 on Mar 12, 2020 7:31:26 GMT -8
Been here since before the transition era. Never been on the FB platform and am currently, as I type this, watching the wife remove most of her content from there due to the ill mannered, inflexible, vitriolic content that is predominating that place in the current lack of civility present in much discourse any more. I do miss SPIKRE, Bob was quite a character. Me too. I like this group a lot but it’s not the same without him! 😂
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2020 9:06:29 GMT -8
I miss Spikre. After awhile, he and I sorta began to understand each other. And I miss Pastor Bob, and even Curt, to an extent...and EL...or were they one and the same? it's been too long now. Is Paul Cutler still here???
I have worked hard to be more "civil". I had to go to Facebook just to find brass, as less and less brass seems to be on Ebay that is not junk or does not have issues. The brass groups over on Facebook seem ok.
Otherwise, as Liam Neeson put it during a Late Night tv interview, I find social media to be "utterly inane". I really do not give a … what my friends are eating for dinner, nor would I ever photograph my dinner and post it on facebook as it seems so many people I know have actually done. If I'm not there enjoying the meal in person with my friends, and conversing in person not through a device, I really don't care what they are doing.
Jack
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Post by SOMECALLMETIM on Mar 12, 2020 9:32:24 GMT -8
The meal images are one aspect and cliche, the other is the tons of unseen railroad/prototype images posted and the numerous former railroad employees who worked my line that I've been able to meet and talk to all found through various groups on Facebook specifically. Granted it's time consuming to search to find anything you're looking for in a Facebook group especially if it's not labeled by the person who posted it, but I've found some real gems that has greatly assisted my modeling. I enjoy the group aspect of this forum over Facebook, but both have benefits. I miss Spikre. After awhile, he and I sorta began to understand each other. And I miss Pastor Bob, and even Curt, to an extent...and EL...or were they one and the same? it's been too long now. Is Paul Cutler still here???
I have worked hard to be more "civil". I had to go to Facebook just to find brass, as less and less brass seems to be on Ebay that is not junk or does not have issues. The brass groups over on Facebook seem ok.
Otherwise, as Liam Neeson put it during a Late Night tv interview, I find social media to be "utterly inane". I really do not give a … what my friends are eating for dinner, nor would I ever photograph my dinner and post it on facebook as it seems so many people I know have actually done. If I'm not there enjoying the meal in person with my friends, and conversing in person not through a device, I really don't care what they are doing.
Jack
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Post by Gary P on Mar 13, 2020 4:27:09 GMT -8
I agree, it isn't a friendly atmosphere when offensive posts become frequent. People express different opinions on either side; some say people should have a thicker skin and not be so easily offended, and others find it unfriendly when "choose your euphemism" posts become all too regular. As is often the case, it's difficult for everyone to be pleased. IMO, a best practice is to refrain from making "offensive" comments but in a hobby full of "older" men, some pretty grumpy, it can be a tall order. I understand why some may prefer, out of an abundance of caution, to remain anonymous. But it cuts both ways as remaining anonymous also makes it easier to for people to stir up trouble while hiding behind keyboards and say things they would unlikely say to someone in person. HEY! That offends me! LOL, it's all good.
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Post by riogrande on Mar 13, 2020 6:09:04 GMT -8
HEY! That offends me! LOL, it's all good. I offended myself too since I'm in that category!
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Post by theengineshed on Mar 13, 2020 12:37:46 GMT -8
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Post by packer on Mar 15, 2020 17:20:07 GMT -8
Mine’s named after my favorite sports team.
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Post by Gary P on Mar 16, 2020 5:09:32 GMT -8
I like what you're "working on" in the shed!
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Post by Paul Cutler III on Mar 17, 2020 7:27:05 GMT -8
qcm79, Um, yeah, I'm still here. I signed up on the old Atlas Forum relatively late in 2002, but I had been lurking on there for a year before then...actually longer. I originally cut my internet teeth way back in my college days. Sure, they had showed us the internet back in high school with BBS's and Fidonet, but the first time I used the internet on my own was in college in 1993, surfing with Netscape on 386's and 486's... Anyways, eventually Model Railroader created a website and Editor Andy S. used to post a monthly question in a Guestbook format. You could answer his question, but no one ever answered yours. My first real interactions online were in 1996 when I got my first computer with a modem (P120 with a 33.6kb modem). That's when I started lurking on newsgroups like rec.models.railroad, reading that group for a while before starting to comment on it (it's important to get a feel for a new place before jumping in). I remember going to the original old Atlas Forum, and found it not so good to navigate; I wasn't impressed at the time. I continued to visit (and sometimes post at) Trains and MR's forums, but they were also very clunky. r.m.r was the better option back then. Finally, by 2000-01, both Atlas and Trains/MR had jumped into 3rd party forum software websites, which made them much better to use. r.m.r hung around for a while, but 9-11 pretty much killed it as most of the posters fled to moderated spaces due to all the political posts happening at the time (and if anyone complained, the response from the political posters was like, "There are more important things to talk about than model railroading!"). I hesitate to think how bad r.m.r would be now in today's overly political world. So I signed up with Trains.com and Atlas and have been there/here ever since. Back on topic, there is one good thing about using your own name as your internet handle: I've been recognized at train shows...not just by regular guys but also by manufacturers. And I must be doing something right because I've never gotten a bad reaction. I usually get things like, "Did you see what so-and-so said?!" and "I wish I could lock certain posters in a room and let them fight it out 'til only one survives!" Things like that.
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Post by riogrande on Mar 17, 2020 13:01:10 GMT -8
Ah, computer memory lane. My first " online" experiences were as a freshman in 1977 at California State University Sacramento. They had a state wide network we could post on forums and instant message with a program called Talk. Four of us from Chico, Sacramento and Fresno set up a weekend back packing trip in the Sierra's. Back then IIRC it was Arpanet. People used terminals and phone handset modems that ran at 110 baud, or if fast, 300 baud.
My early computer was a Commodore 64 I got in1983, but I started dialing into bbs's at slow speeds with my Atari computer a couple years later.
I didn't get active on the internet really until the 90's. Joined Atlas in 94.
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Post by ncrc5315 on Mar 22, 2020 17:10:33 GMT -8
The IBM PC didn't come out until the year after I graduated from high school. I think it was in 1983, that we were looking for a new computer for the farm, IBM had just come out with the XT. The XT with two floppy drives, was $2500, and the 10Mb hard drive was an additional $7500. I remember the salesman telling us, that he didn't think he would ever sell a computer with a hard drive.
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Post by valenciajim on Mar 23, 2020 11:10:28 GMT -8
My name is the city where I live plus my first name. In the old Atlas Forum, I was Jim from Valencia CA.
I generally avoid Facebook and social media because I prefer to stay below the radar screen.
I would like to echo the favorable comments about Donnell. He has done a commendable job as moderator.
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Post by cemr5396 on Mar 23, 2020 11:41:04 GMT -8
My name here is pretty self-explanatory. See my profile picture. The 5396 was an ex-CP SD40-2 that used to run on a shortline near me, and helped start my love affair with GMD-built locomotives of that era.
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Post by loco8107 on Mar 24, 2020 9:20:53 GMT -8
My name is the city where I live plus my first name. In the old Atlas Forum, I was Jim from Valencia CA. I generally avoid Facebook and social media because I prefer to stay below the radar screen. I would like to echo the favorable comments about Donnell. He has done a commendable job as moderator. I have a Facebook page but only to keep in touch with family and a few friends. Facebook (and all social media) is really the worst thing to happen to the human race!
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Post by cf7 on Apr 15, 2020 3:30:38 GMT -8
I was also cf7 on the old Atlas board, I even started the last WPF on their HO board! Lol!
The cf7 has long been my favorite loco. Back in ‘76, my dad and I were given a tour of Cleburne's Santa Fe shops by one of the shop guys. Lots of cf7’s being built. I remember being in complete awe! Didn’t even pay much attention to the F units sitting around waiting to be cut up.
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Post by ln1263 on Apr 18, 2020 20:05:20 GMT -8
My name is real simple. L&N is my hometown railroad as i was born and raised in Louisville Ky for my first 10 years of life.1263 is the very first SD40-2 that I saw on the point of a freight train traveling from Louisville to DeCoursey(Cincinnati) on the Short Line subdivision. Otherwise my real name is Andrew Long.
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