Being computer illiterate ( I’m over 30) Previously today there was a topic on using capital letters that seemed to be getting out of hand, I just went to check it and it is no longer posted, is it me losing a few more marbles or do the administrators have the power to drop it? also are topics monitered by someone so the loonies are eliminated? this is a mystery to me. Can anyone explain this system, or better yet, an administrator—and how do you contact an administrator??? I await replies.
There is an administrator that monitors the forum. If you ask me, sometimes they wait way too long to dump a topic that has people going way off the end of the diving board.
It’s probably like trying to hurd cats.
All in all they do a pretty good job.
Jon - Las Vegas
Yes these forums do have moderators, but it is kind of a part time job for them among their other duties. Basically the Trains.com forums are designed to be self policing with a minimum amount of active moderation. By and large that is successful, but there are always a few threads that get out of hand.
There are other model railroading forums with a heavier hand in moderating, for those who prefer that style.
Yes, the moderators do have the ability to delete posts and complete threads. Yes, they do send warning emails, sometimes. Yes, they sometimes post threads reminding posters of the basic forum guidelines. Here’s a recent example from over on the Garden Railways forum:
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=30083
The moderator for this forum (and a number of other Trains.com forums) is Erik Bergstrom, who is Content & Business Manager for Trains.com. So you can understand that he has a few other things to do besides monitor the forums. You occasionally see his forum name “Bergie” in the list of “people who are browsing this forum” at the bottom of the post index pages. If it is there, it shows in red.
You can contact him by email to editor@trains.com.
Best regards
Ed
Excellent response, now I know why this topic was pulled, makes sense, it was really getting vicious. I would wonder if some people would think how this moderator functions under the "Freedom of Speech’’ mandate, doesn’t this constitute the breaking of rules of one of the rights of Freedom?? I for one, think moderators are doing a great job, it keeps a lot of bozos out of circulation, thanks for the information and explanation.
No. It’s a private forum, although they allow you access. They can make and enforce their own rules for using the forum. Most forums have you agree to a code of conduct as part of the requirement for registering and posting.
Regards
Ed
No one can eliminate the loonies. The moderators do a good job of keeping them in check. I sometimes think if we all lived in the same town, it would be pistols at dawn three days out of seven over “KD vs. McHenry” or “DC vs. DCC”. Come to think of it, I might go for the latter. 
Someones mouth got a little to big for their britches and the moderaters were probably alerted adn responded.
Virginian,
The arguments about KD vs. McHenry or DC vs. DCC don’t seem to be the problem. It always seems to be something non-railroad related that start it all, like tatans mentioned, a thread about using all caps.
I have to admit I’ve jumped into a couple of the non-railroad related arguments myself. Not something I’m proud of, either.
m
Bergie allows us a lot of freedom as mentioned above. I’ve read of an O Gauge forum where the moderator deletes responses that disagree with his views! Looks like we have it made here.
When we flame each other over small issues it’s better that before Bergie has to take action, to go ahead and encourage “would be” flamers to “cool their jets”.
It brings the forum down when Bergie has to “send a member packing”. We had two guys last year that some of you probably remember: UP8998 and Doggy. Both made very good contributions to this forum, but on the flip side, they were “easily provoked” and at times winded up posting degrading or vulgar responses when disagreed with.
Sadly, this year Bergie banned Al (Parker, Biggie) from the forum for similar reasons.
We’ve enjoyed a reputation as a great model railroading forum! When MTH, BLI and Athearn reps responded to some of our threads last year, IMHO, THAT SAID SOMETHING about us!
So let’s continue to work at being “a cut above the rest”.
[^][8D][:D][4:-)][C=:-)][C):-)][swg][tup]
The concept of “freedom of speech” as discussed in the constituion does not apply here as Ed mentioned. As users of the forums (ie…guests in their house) we agree to abide by their rules and the big rule is that they have the right to delete, censor or ban whatever they want. Bergie and Co. generally allow us to have a pretty relaxed forum with minimal moderation, as opposed to some of the other forums. Because this is a collateral duty for them, their primary job being the running of a magazine, they rely on us to police ourselves for the most part. From time to time they have to step in or delete a thread, but it’s generally in response to someone emailing a complaint or concern. And I think you will find over time that they rarely act arbitrarily.
The best thing to prevent them from having to weigh in is to keep it civil, not troll or bait and keep it clean. They will let alot of off topic stuff go on as long as folks keep their cool.
…PS…and as long as we don’t beat up Antonio for post the same thing while we’re typing…[B)]
No problem Dharmon![swg][;)]
One thing that really caught me off guard is that I was explainging somthing and used another word for a tool, being an Im a retired machinist, did not really think what I have called this tool for the past 45 years would be offensive.
However following up a day or so latter, the moderator changed the word to xxxx. I thought it was a very professional way to say " hey watch it"
However I was very pleased to see one banned from this forum, he got a tad out of hand…John
Just a quick thought.
Interesting thing about this forum is that as time goes, you may vaguely memorize which forum members are the good conversationalists, which are good technical helpers, and which ones specialize in specific areas (scenery, DCC, layout construction, paint, etc.).
Yet, even for relatively new members it’s easy to remember which posters are or were, unfortunately, the all out torpedo launching flame throwers. They don’t last very long as Bergie eventually sends them packing. But even months or a year later, their names are infamous and remembered. Not a flattering scenario.
I mention this because while some may laugh at these guys that seemed to have “a huge chip on their shoulders”, they were also talented! UP8998 had an impressive looking layout, as did Big Al. Was sad that they finally got the boot, but after repeated warnings from forum members and the moderator about vulgar outbursts…it had to happen and they were evicted.
To those of you newbies that are reading this thread, stars are irrelevant. You are the MRR forum as much as the rest of us! Have fun, and post as many questions as you want…there’s loads of talent here and someone will answer.
If you ever do see flaming occuring, which does not happen often, just encourage the person to keep his cool or ignore the post. (I say “his”, because our few female members never flame anyone!)
Peace out and cheers!
I doubt it, most of the keyboard jockies that stir up crap once in awhile I doubt would have the guts to show up.[;)] Good words of advice Antonio for the newbies. [^]
And to the moderators…Thank you for a job well done!
I agree with all of you[tup] But I have one question: A few weeks ago I replied to the " layouts and junk in your garage"or something topic and one of my words got bleeped. specifically the sort of vulgar sounding one that applies to very fast motorcycles. It’s not that I have a beef with the forum for bleeping it but, is it automatic censory or does bergie weed out the bad word?
MustangGT, (good to see some of us like American Hot Rods! If I ever change my Forum name it will be TonyTransAm!)
Anyway, it’s likely Bergie edited the word you have in question. Though your intentions were positive, he likely didn’t want to take any chances. Profanity or words considered vulgar have appeared on this forum before. They just don’t stay long…fortunately!
Cases in point: UP8998 during 2003 and Big Al in 2005. These talented guys used the “F” word and/or some other vulgar words during heated exchanges on more than one occasion. Forum members could see the words on the screen. During these “volcanic incidents” several forum members and myself immedietly asked the guys to “cool it”.
One poster used an “alter ego” name, but was easy to recognize due to his writing patterns. He proceeded to flame and call me “gay” and some other choice words because I try to cool situations down. Actually made me laugh since I’m happily married and still get “hit on” by ladies at my age of 41.
Overall, as soon as Bergie saw the posts, he proceeded to eliminate the threads and warn the posters. Bergie only bans a member as a last resort, after repeated warnings.
Peace and High Greens!
Mustang: They have profanity blocker software that prevents the use of words that are included in its list. The last four letters of my last name were a target of this software until the front office guys adjusted the listing.[:D][:D]
REX
Hot dam that’s just what we need!
Or a long stretch of track to hook engines back to back for pulling “Bragging” rights.
These forums are pretty decent. I dont mind the occasional CAPITAL LETTERS but there will always be a few folks that will type in all capitals on the internet.
One thing I noticed, ebay sales that are written in capitals have a feel of a greasy used car salesman to me.
The ones I like are when they have everything in capital letters and every other word is spelt wrong. When you type an ebay sales listing you’re trying to tempt potential buyers - are they likely to do so when the listing looks as though it was typed in about 30 seconds, with caps lock on, and not proofread to fix mistakes? Doesn’t do a seller or their product justice to my mind if they can’t be bothered to get this right, as it won’t convey a good impression of them.