http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/1234827/ShowPost.aspx
http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/1235263/ShowPost.aspx
http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/1231555/ShowPost.aspx
http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/1230699/ShowPost.aspx
To name a few.
Simon1966-Just remember…Computers are here to make our lives easier![:-^][:P]
Okay, I’ve tried to stay out of all of this childish play of pulling each others hair and throwing rocks but I now have to say something.
Most of us here are adults and one thing that my parents beat into me was respect. At the young age of 30 I know that all of you older than me had parents that did the same. I can’t say much for the ones younger them me for it is evident that the break down of the family is killing the behaviors of the youth.
As adults we should know that we have the power to look above child’s play and rise above in maturity to not stoop to their levels of slander and stupidity as we ignore their calls for trouble. Feeding the fire is just what they want. Ignoring the taunts and proceeding with posting could have taken away their fun and caused them to look elsewhere, but some took it upon themselves and became caught in the grasps of these adversaries.
Only if you let yourself be convinced that you need to put a stop to all of this by shooting back harsh words has caused you to lose and would never come on top.
It’s a test of morals just like life with Satan (if you are a religious person). As soon as you stop and even smell the carrot that he dangles in font of you–you are already lost. Will power people!
I agree with the ones that say that leaving only subdues you to them and they have won. Trust me when I say that those reading that you are leaving this forum because the ruckus that they caused makes them happier then ever. They win.
So stick around and let’s enjoy one another’s company because we have become friends in Model Railroading and that what it’s all about. Let take back this forum for the people that really care. I wouldn’t run.
NOW I’m going to go back and talk about trains with people that want to talk about trains.
BTW: did you guys see my SD45 in MRL on the WPF? I’m really proud of if! First one I’ve ever pa
[#ditto] [#ditto] [#ditto] [#ditto] [#ditto] [#ditto] [#ditto]
Please don’t leave, maybe you could just not visit on weekends, but don’t go!
I think that Bergie and the others do a good job with this forum.
Sure the openess allows trolls to get in for awhile, but it also is a part of the character of this forum. We just need to exercise a little forbearance and ignore the trolls.
Enjoy
Paul
My dollar worth of 2 cents:
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Does any one know UP2CSX in real-life to confirm that it’s really him posting from his account? (No, PM’s don’t count) It’s a common troll tactic to high-jack a poster’s account (by cracking a weak password) and post ridiculous things that are disruptive to the forum. Alternately, a mod could check to see if his current posting IP’s match the one’s from his posting history.
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We’re lucky that this current troll is mostly an amateur. I’ve seen trolls on other boards that are much, much worse. I’m not going to give our current pest any ideas, but things could be a lot worse.
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Although I think that moderating staff here does a good job, I am surprised that there aren’t more of them to keep things running smoothly. A forum of this size with this level of traffic really needs several moderators at several different levels of power, e.g. two to three admins that can delete accounts; several supermods that have power over all the forums and can delete posts anywhere; and a few moderators over each specific forum with the same powers of deletion. A place this size should really have a moderating staff of at least 10, if not 15 to 20.
AMEN, BRETHREN!
If the bully (Troll) drives you away, IT WINS. If the bully (Troll) provokes an answer, IT WINS.
So, how do we win? IGNORE IT!!! When it throws in a post, IGNORE IT. If it resurrects something from ancient history, DON"T open that thread. Post to active threads as if it wasn’t there at all. Since what it wants above all else is attention, acting as if it simply doesn’t exist is the worst thing we can do to it. It will get more and more petulant, so we have to develop thick skins about personal attacks. That, plus hitting the REPORT ABUSE button instead of answering it directly, will eventually lead it to give up in frustration.
Above all else, DON’T FEED THE TROLL!
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
For the Internet, this place is well managed.
I’ll be sticking around.
I almost completely avoided things by tuning out the trolling and those who make a big deal out of the trolling this last weekend. Talk about trains and ignore those who want to talk about, well, you get the idea.
Ignoring the trolling is the best medicine. Making a big deal out of leaving or how things are edited here just means you’ve surrendered how you’ll be feeling to those who want to manipulate your feelings. You’ve fallen into their trap, not avoided it.
Best thing to do next time it happens: report abuse via a private mail to the editors or the report abuse button easily available in the lower right corner of each post [maybe it should be a red blinkie to get more people to notice its handy availability?]
Second worst thing to do: whine about the jerk in a special thread
Absolute worst thing to do: comment back to the dirtball and send his little mess back to the top of the comment queue, where he’s trying to get it to stay by pulling your strings
Please note this is the only thing I’ve had to say about it or will say about it. The more that the vast majority who are legitimate posters do that, the less room there is for somebody to stir up trouble by pulling your leg.
How about if we police ourselves… I mean in addition to ALL of us having the personal discipline to ignore a troll, if someone new (or someone forgets) or someone doesn’t recognize that they are responding to a troll, we need to just send them a Private Message and “gently and politely” explain what we feel is going on and how we, as a community, treat trolls, and then ask that they remove their response as a matter of respect to the forum members.
If the troll creates a personna that mimmics another user, that user can respond that the previous post is not from themselves… but that is all. Don’t call the troll anything other than an imposter. If one of us sees a message that does not appear to be from someone we know, we can PM them or e-mail them or even telephone them about it and let them respond as I said above and let it go at that. The moderators can clean the offending post AND the response at the same time later as they have time. Then the thread will be clean (and shorter) for future discussion of the topic it is supposed to be about.
And of course, the “Abuse” button should be used to alert the moderators of objectionable posts so it can be taken care of quickly. I assume when a post is deleted a message is sent to the offending person explaining WHY it was deleted; such as offensive language or too far off topic, etc., so that the offender knows better what is expected of them. (Not that a troll cares, but some posts just might be by a legitimate newcomer that just needs a reminder of the rules.)
Keep it simple, quiet and behind the scenes so the troll doesn’t see what is happening.
Any agreement?
I did see the MRL SD45 and I thought it looked very nice. I didn’t see any flaws in it so you obviously did a good job.
BTW, You have a PM.
-Smoke
Varnet,
Nobody’s hacking into anyone’s account. It’s the real Jim (UP2CSX) speaking…
Tom
No, this is not happening on a regular basis and it can be rather puzzling. I understand though that if a post that I have responded to by quoting (like this one) is deleted, then my post will also be deleted. Maybe something to do with the forum software?
Stick around and have some fun on this great site. I guess I am lucky with no real troll attacks. One member and I had at it last year but in his own way it was trying to help and he did. Mainly made me mad so I went out of my way to make things work that he said was a waste of time. But I all so learned from what he said.
If you don’t like what the trolls says don’t answer it.
Cuda Ken
This is the real Jim, as Tom stated. Let me just say that a forum of this size shouldn’t have to be self-policing any more than a city should (or can be) self-policing. Would you like to try gently reminding the guy with a gun poked in your ribs at an ATM that that’s really not very nice and maybe he should reconsider? That’s what some of you are proposing.
Every time we post,we jack up the overall view numbers. That’s what Kalmbach uses to set advertsing rates. All of you who say just ignore the troll and keep posting are contributing to Kalmbach’s revenue. When there are 24/7 moderators with sufficient powers to keep this kind of thing under control, I’ll be back. Until then, I’m not going to contribute to Kalmbach’s revenue while having to wade through not only sewage posts, but posts which threaten actual violence and rape. Al is getting more and more psychotic and he will do something bad one of these days. 25 years of police work tells me that. As long as Kalmbach does NOTHING about it, I refuse to be part of this forum. That’s my last word on this. To those of you who wish to wait until next weekend, when it starts all over, more power to you. There are better forums out there and that’s where I’ll be until things change here.
I thought so, but it was worth mentioning. I’ve seen it happen on other boards, sometimes with distasterous results.
Well, this is where I’m at.
I’m on dial-up, no other viable options, and when I wake up, I get some coffee, check a few news forums, check a few…well heck, black rifle forums, check a few outdoor forums, and finish up with a few MR forums.
When I see a huge pile of BS on the front page of ANY forum, I just click right on past. I could get a second cup of coffee, wait while sevewral pages of BS load, hoping to find a nugget of gold amist a lot of childish behavior, but I don’t have to do that. I can get what I want, without the BS, so I do.
I’m not leaving, but the amount of time I spend here or anywhere else is a function of how productive that time is to me. Productivity levels here, over the course of about two months now, are dropping rapidly. I adjust accordingly. If MR wants to clean up the trash, I will adjust to that. if not, further adjustments in time spent here will occur. There are forums I use only for back-up, when the trolls temporarily or permanently take over my first line choices. Maybe this site will become one of those.
I have no right to tell Kalmbach, or anyone else what to do. I only have the right to choose for me, and that is a right I exercise frequently.
I think Bergie, prior to the last 8 weeks or so, has doen a great job keeping the signal to noise ratio high here. I think that recently those efforts have not been enough to combat a concerted effort on the part of one disgruntled bannee, and one or two self important, self elected arbiters of good taste and modelling in control. I don’t blame Bergie for this, I think he needs additional tools and support to put a stop to this.
I think Kalmbach’s professional pride will give Bergie the tools he needs to clean this place up to former standards, eventually, and when they do, I’ll probably be more active here.
In the meantime, I practice my own damage control measures, without burning any permanent bridges.
Not really much more to say abo
I have had responses which just mysteriously vanished into the vapor; today, however, good ole’ Bergie accompanied his deletion with a nastygram.
Sheesh!
No offense, but do something already! Stay or Go! PLEASE! I’m not saying get out - that’s a personal decision. But I’m am saying do one or the other! And please knock off the trashing of our hosts either way. It’s extremely bad manners!
I HATE long goodbyes!
Me too, but at least you get the “courtesy” of the nastygram. I get not explaination.
I’M GLAD IT’S NOT UP TO YOU!! I guess you don’t see the benefit of allowing non-subscribers the freedom to use this forum. If a non-subscriber uses this forum on a regular basis, and they like what they see (when things are running smoothly), they might actually become subscribers. I wonder how many non-subscribers are now subscribers because of the good experiences they’ve had on this forum and on the website? So what would be the benefit of only having subscribers on this forum? As far as shutting down on weekends goes, again, why would they choose to do that, especially when the weekend is probably the peak time these forums are used.
[#ditto]
I just fly over troll stuff. This website has too many good people to just give up and leave.