Garden Railway Forum

I vote against external storage

• Its cumbersom
  Fiddly
  Annoying when you go back through old post to find something juicy and photo bucket has deleted it!

HugoFitz wrote: ↑Mon Nov 16, 2020 5:21 pm I vote against external storage

Me too!
I have never used external storage simply because I don't trust it to be user friendly and easy to access, for a non IT person like me!
I do hope we can overcome this situation in time to salvage what we have.

And who is going to run this new forum...Phillipy.....not for me.

And has for the issue of paying, yes that's a good idea, but then the freeloaders will have access to everything and not subscribed. I think personally we need someone to take this, our forum on with an open mind. It's seems a lot of messing about with the other ideas, which have been thought about with very good intentions to at least try and keep a forum going similar to our forum.

And if a new site is found for a new forum are we going to have the same way of running it. Phillipy was given /asked to be a moderator so he could run the Quarterly photo competition, which he did quite well, but I feel moderators should only be like politicians a short term thing of 2 years and then other members can be asked to moderate the forum. It seems which is great by the way that there is 2 or 3 members looking into finding us a new site to host a forum and they are doing an excellent job to a point. Please stop though with the bold printed words, we are not little kids and get some more members involved with trying to get a site for us and come up with any ideas to help with it. There must be somewhere someone who has skills to run a site like ours.

I won't be going to Facebook either, there are too many scammers and idiots on it. What about asking someone from the 16mm Association would they know of someone or a site that would be perfect for us. Or has that avenue been explored.

Can I also ask, what's going to happen to the funding that members have contributed for the next few years. Can't that be used to have a site that would have unlimited storage, or is that just not possible.


Pleas don't think I have a problem with any member I don't. It's just there are ways of talking to people like adults.

FWLR wrote: ↑Tue Nov 17, 2020 8:07 amI won't be going to Facebook either, there are too many scammers and idiots on it. What about asking someone from the 16mm Association would they know of someone or a site that would be perfect for us. Or has that avenue been explored.

The 16mm Association's main organ for forum-type postings is now Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/16mmngm). With over 2700 members surely that cannot be denied. There is some excellent stuff posted, and it is quick and easy to do so. The Facebook group is actively moderated and I can only assume that scammers and idiots are dealt with promptly as I have never noticed their presence.

There is also a groups.io email-type group under the Association's control whose 264 members managed to get 24 postings in September, 36 in October and 29 so far this month. This replaced a Yahoo egroup which in its latter days seemed to be full of messages discussing its own threatened existence and tests to see if it was still working.

There is no denying that FB has a lot of subscribers Tony, but no matter how well that site is monitored there are scammers a plenty and it just isn't like our forum for wanting to view someones line or what they are building.

Although I have my own page on there, which is a closed group, for which I chose to do because there are people who just want to say nasty things about someone or something. I did contribute to someone's post on there in garden railways if I remember correctly, I could be wrong and that person was just down right abusive because I didn't agree with what he was saying, he even told me to Fornicate Off. He is still on there and the moderators did nothing about him. There is encouragement I must confess, but it's not the same has on here.
And having my page is alright, but can you imagine having 1000+ pages for our members....Plus I haven't updated it for ages also, don't ask me why though. I just can't be bothered too much now, it is easy enough at times, but a lot of the time FB do updates and keep on changing their regulations the look of their site all the time, you never know if your coming or going with them.

It's bad enough for me on an everyday basis at home mate, I can't remember what I did 10 minutes past by at times...

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