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Post by espeenut on Apr 30, 2012 20:04:57 GMT -8
...the Atlas Forum just went silent and passed on into the sands of time...
...goodbye Atlas Forum, it was fun...
...lets see if we can resurrect something just as fun over here...
cheers,
Lorne
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Post by KIM on Apr 30, 2012 21:23:47 GMT -8
I wonder how many of us watched the death throws? That was such a strange feeling to watch something I've been a part of for so many years just end. The locks appearing was a dramatic affect for me.
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Post by Donnell Wells on Apr 30, 2012 21:33:46 GMT -8
I felt the same way. It was kind of a cold closing.
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pops
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Post by pops on Apr 30, 2012 22:06:19 GMT -8
Caught me by surprise. I thought Tuesday was to be the last day.
Oh, well, we're here now - let the fun begin.
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Post by rhpd42002 on May 1, 2012 3:29:08 GMT -8
I was in the rack before they locked it and made a final post with a pic of an Atlas caboose as my "end of the line" sign off.
I looked at it this morning and saw all the locks. Though I didn't post a lot, there, I read it almost daily and will miss it.
Mike O.
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Post by carrman on May 1, 2012 5:01:14 GMT -8
Mike, yours was as classy a final post as you could get for the last pic on SPF......
Dave
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Post by SantaFeJim on May 1, 2012 6:09:11 GMT -8
Good morning all...
I just took a look at the Atlas HO Forum and realized that I was the last member to post there. It wasn't planned, just something that happened. As it turn out my post was in a response to Donnell's "The Atlas Rescue Forum: One last option?" topic about joining this forum.
My response was short and sweet: I'm in
Looking forward to contributing, learning, making new friends and watching this forum grow in the days ahead. Should be fun for all. Let's give it our best.
Thanks Donnell for your rescue efforts and may the Atlas forum R.I.P.
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Post by rhpd42002 on May 1, 2012 6:25:06 GMT -8
Mike, yours was as classy a final post as you could get for the last pic on SPF...... Dave Thanks for the compliment, Dave. I was hurrying last night, trying to get a decent pic to post. Wasn't actually trying to be the last one, but I felt, like many others, a caboose was appropriate. I could only post how I felt about it and afterwards, I saw my post count number was 911. That's even more "odd" as I'm a small Town Police Chief!!  |
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Post by riogrande on May 1, 2012 7:02:45 GMT -8
Morning all,
Yes, 18 years and the way is shut. Tom H said it cost them 75k a years but that wasn't the main reason it closed. Apparently the forums was a real distraction for them was the main reason. Regardless it's gone.
I made my last posts mid evening EST and watched a movie. The movie was over just after midnight and when I came back to my PC, the forums were locked up tight. They didn't waste any time, just like when the Rio Grande Zephyr pulled into Denver Union Station for the last time, a switch engine coupled up to the nose for a fast get away. All of the sold RGZ cars left for Chicago the next day.
I've been a member of several other forums but generally there isn't much traffic or posts that interest me, although I haunt them fairly often. I just joined TrainLife mentioned by Blaine but it doesn't seem there is a forum there? That is a great site to look up old magazine articles however.
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Post by Donnell Wells on May 1, 2012 7:49:17 GMT -8
I joined Train Life a while back and immediately noticed its striking similarity to Facebook. 
Anyhow, I went to the groups tab, and joined several groups. Once in the group, you can initiate a discussion. This is where Train Life fell off for me. I joined TL on December 14, 2010. Two weeks later I started a thread in the CNW group that still, to this day has gone unanswered...  
Oh well...that's (Train) life..
In their defense though, the magazine library is an[glow=red,2,300]invauable[/glow] tool!
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Post by mlehman on May 1, 2012 8:57:44 GMT -8
Morning all, Yes, 18 years and the way is shut. Tom H said it cost them 75k a years but that wasn't the main reason it closed. Apparently the forums was a real distraction for them was the main reason. Regardless it's gone. SNIP Jim, Pretty much my same experience. I was working on a layout project (painting a bunch of track) and came back to find everything locked up. I'd already said what I wanted to say, so no sense of loss other than losing the community itself. Hopefully, we can come together again here as a community. I think Atlas was being honest about what led to the closure. I'm sure that the $75k was for costs directly attributable to the forum. But I've been involved in non-profit management where the website and the posts made by users were a key component of our mission. Even with that being part of our focus, unlike the way that the forum was a neat little service for Atlas to provide as a perk, discussions about editing, abusive posters, and commercial spam took up WAY more time than it should have, sucking the energy out of our capacity to deal many other issues. I'll bet there were plenty of meetings at Atlas where folks had to deal with something on the site NOW, rather than focus on that great new release they're trying to get out the door in a couple of months. So it's gone and Atlas and us are still around, just in different places. Bon voyage. Let's make it a great ride here! ;D |
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Post by bnsf971 on May 1, 2012 14:43:55 GMT -8
I can tell you one of the reasons given may be a major factor. I moderated a small forum that did well, though it wasn't a mass of continuous postings. Then, the spammers found us. In one day, I deleted 700 spam posts. And it just got worse until we closed the forum.
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Post by riogrande on May 1, 2012 16:23:37 GMT -8
I can tell you one of the reasons given may be a major factor. I moderated a small forum that did well, though it wasn't a mass of continuous postings. Then, the spammers found us. In one day, I deleted 700 spam posts. And it just got worse until we closed the forum. Thats bad, and I can see how that would up the maintenence of a forums like Atlas. I hope this one doesn't get hit. |
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Post by mlehman on May 1, 2012 16:57:52 GMT -8
I know what you mean about the scum rising pretty high some days. I've had to deal with similar quantities from time to time. Fortunately, we operated our own servers and had some high-powered tech help. One of our founding members is currently working with some of our other veteran techies building automated, easily transportable mesh networks for use by democratic movements overseas when the authorities try to shut down cell and internet services.
Most of what you see as a board admin is just what slips through the automated filters. Once things are adjusted, they get back to normal. Boards like this are usually hosted on servers that integrate such services, as that's the only way to be reliable. Shouldn't be a problem that last too long, if it ever should happen.
To keep this somewhat on-topic, even if Atlas just leaves the board up and locked, it still needs regular IT attention. So I wonder how long they plan to maintain it as an archive? It'd be a shame for it to go away completely.
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Post by riogrande on May 1, 2012 17:37:59 GMT -8
I wonder if anythings are worth going over to Atlas and copying to here for posterity? Probably not.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2012 17:43:40 GMT -8
I thought about that too, Jim...Maybe some glorious flame wars? The Proto GP38-2 sagas come to mind...not the later re-hashes...but the original ones with the dust-up about the fans being too small...
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Post by cp9125 on May 1, 2012 18:00:26 GMT -8
IN all honesty, the decision to close the forums puzzles me. Financial distress is definitely not one of the reasons. But that's neither here nor there as there is nothing we can do about it except move forward!
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Post by carrman on May 1, 2012 18:01:10 GMT -8
I am a decorated veteran of the Great Atlas Forum Fan War. In fact, I instigated it by reporting they were messed up!
Dave
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Post by curtmc on May 1, 2012 19:38:37 GMT -8
Hi All,
Atlas forum was locked about 11:20 PM eastern last night... As I was writing my thankful farewell to all... Hit post... Wouldn't work. Oh well.
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Post by Mark R on May 1, 2012 19:45:32 GMT -8
Funny .... Sat down with my morning coffee and still clicked on the Atlas Forum to see what was happening. Force of habit maybe. Going to be a hard habit to break.
Mark.
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Post by Donnell Wells on May 1, 2012 21:00:16 GMT -8
It does feel kind of strange going there but not being able to post anything. It's an eerie kind of silence...
Donnell
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Post by bnsf971 on May 2, 2012 3:42:01 GMT -8
Funny .... Sat down with my morning coffee and still clicked on the Atlas Forum to see what was happening. Force of habit maybe. Going to be a hard habit to break. Mark. I deleted that bookmark, and put this one in its spot. |
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Post by Donnell Wells on May 2, 2012 7:23:03 GMT -8
Well, I wouldn't necessarily write off the Atlas forum just yet. There still is a lot of valuable content available, and now is the time to go back an gather up some of the more useful information, especially now that you don't have to worry about keeping up with the latest thread.
Some of the more recent topics could be brought here, or we can create all new topics.
Donnell
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Post by riogrande on May 2, 2012 11:26:40 GMT -8
There were some really useful threads that I found great, including people listing the ORER data of intermodal flat cars by year, for example. I saved some of it off to word files on my PC so I could post them back here. Eventually Atlas may take their locked forums offline.
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Post by milgentrains on May 2, 2012 15:46:32 GMT -8
Funny .... Sat down with my morning coffee and still clicked on the Atlas Forum to see what was happening. Force of habit maybe. Going to be a hard habit to break. Mark. I have the same problem. Steve |
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Post by bnsf971 on May 2, 2012 15:49:46 GMT -8
Eventually Atlas may take their locked forums offline. There was something posted about that by the admin. My guess would be it will stay up until their current "contract" expires. |
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Post by hifibri on May 5, 2012 4:47:45 GMT -8
I'm here.
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Post by KIM on May 5, 2012 8:59:19 GMT -8
I was over there last night, collecting pictures. Many years ago, I worked in an old school that was closing due to a new school being built. After the last school year finished I was walking through the building, and there was "ghostly" feel to it. Everything was still there but the people, and yet their presence was everywhere, but I knew that soon even that would be gone. I could touch things, open books, and even take some things if I wanted, but that building's era was over, and a new era would continue in another building. That's the feeling I got last night.
Hifibri, welcome, I'm glad you made it.
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Post by Donnell Wells on May 5, 2012 11:17:30 GMT -8
Remember the Stephen King book/movie The Langoliers?
Donnell
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Post by hifibri on May 5, 2012 16:41:17 GMT -8
Thanks kodiak  |
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