Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

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FWLR
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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by FWLR » Fri Jan 17, 2020 9:57 am

There is of course a member on here who just keeps a chip on their shoulder, no matter what the other member does to resolve..... :banghead:

Thats the way of the world unfortunately. But thankfully it's not anything like Facebook, which can get really ugly....
Last edited by FWLR on Sat Mar 07, 2020 10:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by Keith S » Wed Feb 26, 2020 11:36 pm

Busted Bricks wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2020 11:51 am Forums are my life-line as there is very little interest in this hobby where I live. There is no one around to discuss ideas with face to face. We don't have model engineering societies like you do in UK. This makes it very hard to fulfill my ambition to manufacture locos. Therefore I'm greatful for any and all feedback I get from this forum even though I suspect my posts might be annoying to many members.
I couldn't agree more (not about the annoying part- you are anything but annoying): I live in Northern Canada, and the weather isn't really friendly to outdoor steam models for much of the year (I'm pretty sure butane is a solid at the current temperature) there aren't, as far as I am aware, any people who are interested in Garden Trains here, especially British ones. I am lucky that there is a model railway club in my small city, but they are interested in modern North American-style trains, and model in 1:87 scale. But at least they are willing to tolerate my posting pictures of my wagons on "face book".

One of the nicest experiences I've had in this solitary (to me) hobby was in 2017 when I went to the 16mm association annual exhibition in Peterborough. This was only the second time in my life I'd ever seen a 16mm live steam engine other than my own in steam! The first being a visit to Keith Neat's (whom I met via this forum) railway in East Herts the year before.

At the AGM I recognized from pictures and was able to introduce myself to forum members. I met Douglas, Zach Bond, Tag Gorton, Brian Dominic, Keith Neat, Harri from Roundhouse, and Tony Bird, who kindly allowed me to hang around his railway and run some of his engines. All this was because I knew these people from forum activity and it made my visit to Peterborough rather more rewarding than it might otherwise have been. Alas, none of these fellows seems to ever come here any more. I will almost certainly meet more of you the next time I go to Peterborough, hopefully.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by LNR » Thu Feb 27, 2020 12:27 am

IanC wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:09 pm I used to post regularly on here but now I don't bother
That's a shame Ian, I for one have enjoyed the banter we have had over various railway matters. Glad we can still remain in touch via MAWLAG.
Grant.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by FWLR » Thu Feb 27, 2020 8:40 am

One thing about using this forum Keith is the chance to meet others at shows like Peterborough. I myself have met a lot of people at shows and steam up's. Some good and some, well I will say no more... :(

I know you don't have a chance to where you live to have a meet, but you never know mate, one day. Try putting a flyer in the local store and have an open day. You may get some other's persons who will start also. Even if it's only one, at least you have made contact. :thumbright:

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by BorisSpencer » Thu Feb 27, 2020 12:05 pm

I will be attending Peterborough again this year (Stewarding Friday, and Saturday after the show), and although I chatted with a number of my fellow Stewards, and some of my favoured suppliers, it might be nice to meet some of the people with whom we converse online.

I don't think I've knowingly met any forum members apart from Steve from whom I bought a chassis.
Sometimes you put two and two together and match a forum user with their corresponding identity on the 16mm facebook group, but I'm sure their is a lot of crossover that isn't obvious.

A while ago people discussed wearing badges based on the forum logo with our User Names when attending shows, it might be an interesting idea to resurrect this and/or to have a loose arrangement to congregate somewhere specific at a given time.
I already have a pin-badge based on my avatar that I shall wear.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by Keith S » Thu Feb 27, 2020 3:51 pm

That would be fun, Boris. I was able to guess at quite a few peoples' identities, plus being "Keith from Canada" helps in my case; there's only one of me.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by tom_tom_go » Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:01 am

Since my time using the forum it has done the following for me:
  • Connect with people all over the world with similar interests that in some cases I have met in person
  • Buy and sell items with no fees to pay
  • Obtain items freely through generosity and donate to others as well
  • Provided inspiration and support
  • Help with answering questions and knowledge sharing
  • Offer hands on practical help (allowing me to work on locos I would never own) and have work done by others members freely
  • Introduced me to Deltang R/C which has improved my skills with soldering and understanding of electronics greatly (thanks Rik!)
  • Spread the use of the SSP Slomo which I feel has made realistic running of live steamers in 16mm and 7/8ths scale a reality
  • Improved my knowledge of phpBB software and web hosting (since taking ownership of the forum)
These are all positives and I am sure many of you can relate to at least some of these points.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by Keith S » Fri Feb 28, 2020 6:10 am

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:01 am Since my time using the forum it has done the following for me:
....
  • Improved my knowledge of phpBB software and web hosting (since taking ownership of the forum)
These are all positives and I am sure many of you can relate to at least some of these points.
I was never disputing the advantages of forums: just noticing they have all (not just this one) become a lot less lively in the last couple of years.

.... you say you own the forum? That's funny, I never considered that forums were owned by people. Now that I think of it, I suppose they must. It never occurred to me before. I suppose I must sound stupid. If this isn't a rude question, how does one come to own a forum? Did you purchase it from whoever owned it before? Does it have a monetary value? None of this has ever occurred to me before.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by ge_rik » Fri Feb 28, 2020 9:14 am

Only just noticed this thread. I've said my piece on the topic here.

https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 15#p151563

Long life and prosperity to the GRF say I ....

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by philipy » Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:06 pm

Tom's list above is interesting, thanks for posting it. I can certainly relate to many of those items myself, as I'm sure others can too.
Philip

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by philipy » Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:15 pm

Keith S wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 6:10 am

.... you say you own the forum? That's funny, I never considered that forums were owned by people. Now that I think of it, I suppose they must. It never occurred to me before. I suppose I must sound stupid. If this isn't a rude question, how does one come to own a forum? Did you purchase it from whoever owned it before? Does it have a monetary value? None of this has ever occurred to me before.
Keith,
Tom will be able to give a fuller answer, I'm sure. However, basically somebody must 'own' the forum, as a contact point for the Host Server, since we don't actually own the server but pay an annual fee to use it.

On that subject, many of us are, I guess, Shareholders. In the sense that, when the previous free Host Server closed down, we had a whip round to raise enough money to pay for a couple of years fees with our current Host. I'm not sure how much was raised in total, Big Jim looked after the fund raise, but I'd imagine the coffers could be running a bit low by now.
Philip

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by LNR » Fri Feb 28, 2020 11:34 pm

philipy wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:15 pm but I'd imagine the coffers could be running a bit low by now.
Hi Philip,
Thank you, and perhaps it's time for a link for those who may wish to boost the coffers.
Grant.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by Andrew » Sat Feb 29, 2020 11:03 am

Yes please, I'd like to contribute if funds are running low. I think I missed this the first time around, it may have been during my time away from the forum - rather naively perhaps, I hadn't actually realised that money was an issue.

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by tom_tom_go » Sat Feb 29, 2020 7:30 pm

Keith S wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 6:10 am .... you say you own the forum? That's funny, I never considered that forums were owned by people. Now that I think of it, I suppose they must. It never occurred to me before. I suppose I must sound stupid. If this isn't a rude question, how does one come to own a forum? Did you purchase it from whoever owned it before? Does it have a monetary value? None of this has ever occurred to me before.
Hi Keith,

Rightly or wrongly in the opinions of others, I took 'ownership' of the forum because no one else was willing:

https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 33&t=10523

Does the forum have a monetary value? It certainly costs money to host the forum (it does not cost money to 'run the forum' as I do this freely) since the demise of myfreeforum.org:

https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 33&t=11002

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by tom_tom_go » Sat Feb 29, 2020 7:31 pm

As to the kind offers of funds, I will address this in a global announcement shortly.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by Keith S » Mon Mar 02, 2020 2:45 am

Well, I had no idea that you owned this or that it costs money. Count me in when the time comes to make a contribution.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by invicta280 » Tue Mar 03, 2020 12:36 pm

Me too! Happy to chip in to keep the show on the road.

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by ge_rik » Tue Mar 03, 2020 2:24 pm

Me too. Happy to chip in whatever ....

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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by Old Man Aaron » Fri Mar 13, 2020 2:38 pm

Aye, me too.
Regards,
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Re: Internet "forums" are a thing of the past

Post by tom_tom_go » Fri Mar 13, 2020 3:29 pm

Welcome back Aaron.

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