Garden Railway Forum

Knowing very little about the history of this forum but appreciating that there is a great deal of information stored within it, it seems like the best option, if possible, would be to ensure it continues under new ownership. A small annual subscription would seem to be entirely reasonable.

Phil.

TonyW wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 10:17 am ... Association's main organ for forum-type postings is now Facebook...

It's nothing like a proper "forum" and it's regrettable that the Association has chosen Fakebook, but not surprising (I guess it reflects a society of today).

TonyW wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 10:17 am...over 2700 members surely that cannot be denied...

Number of followers is not a proof of anything.
I'd rather be alone than simply follow a crowd...

TonyW wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 10:17 am...There is some excellent stuff posted, and it is quick and easy to do so...

I'd rather miss all these excellent stuff than get involved with Fakebook.
I will not sell my soul (and data) to Fakebook, for a sake of conveniency.
I can understand that someone in business may have no choice to do it because his/her customers are there,
I on the other hand have a choice

TonyW wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 10:17 am ...There is also a groups.io email-type group under the Association's control whose 264 members managed to get 24 postings...

There is also https://steammodelloco16mm.groups.io/g/livesteam.
Quite lively and full of useful info, although the format (email-type group) has it's limitations, and is not something I like very much

bambuko wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 11:48 amIt's nothing like a proper "forum" and it's regrettable that the Association has chosen Fakebook, but not surprising (I guess it reflects a society of today).

I do not disagree, which is why I used the term "forum-type" as in it is the place people meet to discuss matters of common interest. I do not think it regrettable that that choice was made. It was an obvious choice. The problem of external storage for photos has already been discussed here and the Association hit the same problem. Facebook offers no fees, no storage limitations and no special IT skills are needed to maintain it.

bambuko wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 11:48 amNumber of followers is not a proof of anything.

Again, I do not disagree. The number of members here (1122) and their desire to become involved in the continued existence of this place supports your comment.

bambuko wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 11:48 amI'd rather be alone than simply follow a crowd...

Errr... OK.

bambuko wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 11:48 amI'd rather miss all these excellent stuff than get involved with Fakebook.
I will not sell my soul (and data) to Fakebook, for a sake of conveniency.

Rumours that Facebook will repossess your home, sell your children in to slavery and plunder your bank account are, in my experience, somewhat exaggerated.

bambuko wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 11:48 amI can understand that someone in business may have no choice to do it because his/her customers are there, I on the other hand have a choice

Indeed, and so do I, and so do my 1114 followers. They choose to see what I do because, presumably, they are interested.

bambuko wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 11:48 amThere is also https://steammodelloco16mm.groups.io/g/livesteam.
Quite lively and full of useful info, although the format (email-type group) has it's limitations, and is not something I like very much

Which is why I am not a member. It had 53 posts in October.

I'm on a couple of Facebook groups and have my own Facebook presence but I'm not a great fan. I prefer a forum where topics are categorised and archived for easy referral. It would be even better if there was some sort of indexing system, but the search facility is a pretty good way of finding things. I can honestly say I've learned a lot from other people's posts and replies to my queries on this forum.

I've found Facebook really useful if I have a specific enquiry which can't be answered here or through an online search. I've never experienced abuse on FB, but then I try to steer clear of anything confrontational or controversial.

Rik

I'm with Rik on this one, Facebook is very much "in the moment", the value of the forum is the archive.
For instance I would consider it criminal to lose the like of Peter's thread with its 2455 responses and 360306 views.

We will just have to wait and watch to see what happens.

bambuko wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 11:48 am

TonyW wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 10:17 am ... Association's main organ for forum-type postings is now Facebook...

It's nothing like a proper "forum" and it's regrettable that the Association has chosen Fakebook, but not surprising (I guess it reflects a society of today).

TonyW wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 10:17 am...over 2700 members surely that cannot be denied...

Number of followers is not a proof of anything.
I'd rather be alone than simply follow a crowd...

TonyW wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 10:17 am...There is some excellent stuff posted, and it is quick and easy to do so...

I'd rather miss all these excellent stuff than get involved with Fakebook.
I will not sell my soul (and data) to Fakebook, for a sake of conveniency.
I can understand that someone in business may have no choice to do it because his/her customers are there,
I on the other hand have a choice

TonyW wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 10:17 am ...There is also a groups.io email-type group under the Association's control whose 264 members managed to get 24 postings...

There is also https://steammodelloco16mm.groups.io/g/livesteam.
Quite lively and full of useful info, although the format (email-type group) has it's limitations, and is not something I like very much

I have to agree with these comments, especially FB, I had an account which i had deleted, however a number of businesses I deal with now use FB, so I have a very vanilla account for this purpose only

Thank you for your kind comments Boris, I'm touched by your response and sincerely grateful. I do enjoy posting my latest work and getting replies, of all descriptions. It is a way of communicating with like-minded individuals, something not possible locally at the moment. I can tell not all views are from members, so there are many others out there who take an interest but are unwilling to join, which is a real shame as we have so much to share and learn from them too.
We do have a 'community' spirit here, something unique to this type of Forum I believe. Long may it continue.

So would I support THE new forum, as this thread seems to suggest that we [you] will be starting afresh, yes I would, but what will happen to the content here. There has been comments about freeloaders [which I am one], I think that most non-subscription forums are the same, new members arriving after a request for funds, but those that stay with the forum are caught the next time around, "swings and roundabouts". I would not advocate a "paid for" forum, as this [IMHO] could scare off new members, but one forum I was a member of use to, on an annual basis ask for donations, with a "requested" minimum payment, some paying more some paying less, and I assume some not paying at all, but as long as the minimum required to run the forum for the next 12 months, that was what mattered.

What I would like to see is THIS forum continue, with the site and domain name transferred, along with any other administration to a new owner, and nothing being lost.

I've found this which looks interesting.

https://garden-railway-forum.tribe.so/

I've had a quick scoot around this, it's limited to 500 members for free, I can't see how much storage we get for that though.

It also looks pretty easy to configure we can "borrow" the existing layout from here. Content migration maybe a night mare!

Could we set a Patreon account up for people to donate to the ongoing funding of the Forum.

I'm just throwing idea out there!

Jimmyb wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 2:22 pm
What I would like to see is THIS forum continue, with the site and domain name transferred, along with any other administration to a new owner, and nothing being lost.

I think that's what we'd all prefer, and an option is being explored - we just need to keep our fingers crossed...

Andrew.

Andrew wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 3:05 pm

Jimmyb wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 2:22 pm
What I would like to see is THIS forum continue, with the site and domain name transferred, along with any other administration to a new owner, and nothing being lost.

I think that's what we'd all prefer, and an option is being explored - we just need to keep our fingers crossed...

Andrew.

Absolutely!

I think other thoughts around the subject are being explored as a just incase...

Good news and bad news folks!

The GOOD news is that subject to ratification, our member 'steves' has offered to take ownership of the Forum in its entirety, as is, so that nothing will apparently change. Please go to Steve's thread to register your agreement asap. https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13018

The BAD news is that money is required! Almost 3 years ago when Tom took over and setup the current forum there was an appeal which raised enough cash to fund it for 3 years. My request for donations a week ago has generated promises for not quite enough to cover one year. So we need about another £40 within the next few days because the Host site needs payment upfront to get the best deal of £158.26 inc VAT

Please PM me with your promises and I will confirm to everyone the actual payment arrangements - we are hoping to be able to set up a dedicated Paypal account.

There is £18.28 left from the donation drive that Big Jim organised in 2017 so these funds will be donated once my name is no longer associated with the forum domain name and hosting.

Thanks Tom

Fantastic news.


The payment will now keep us being able to keep in my opinion the best forum on the internet for information, friendly members and even friends that we would have lost if the forum had disappeared.

Thank you Steve for taking on the forum. I/We are so grateful to you for willing to keep what must be a very hard job. But now we are safe, maybe we can go on to even greater things.

And a big thanks to Phillip, Andrew and Rik for keeping us informed with the work they have done in keeping the forum for all of us.

THANK YOU

I would suggest posting prominently a call for funds outside of the member’s logged-in area, as casual visitors (and members who don’t log-in, as I often don’t) are not going to realise what’s going on — and that their help is needed.

My random thought that I've suggested to the admins is how about using something like Patreon to fund the forum.

It would only take 30 people paying £0.50 per month to cover the costs by my reckoning...

Amazing value for the content that people share here to my mind.

Errr, I would rather pay annually.....