Has anyone else noticed that the number of people that participate in forums for model railroading has declined and not just model railroading too.
It’s been a seasonal thing for as long as I remember. The months coinciding with warmer weather in the northern hemisphere are always slow. There’s also a ton of model railroad content on other social media (Instagram, FB, etc.) that retains somewhat more active participation when it’s reduced on the modeling-specific forums like this one.
I’m more of a “seasonal participant”, as I have been since I joined in 2010. Many others are, as well.
I don’t mind the status of being a “part time model railroader”. I have way too many other projects going on in the summer, such as working on old garden tractors, (currently a Simplicity 7016) and working on our property in the north woods.
I’m back every fall, winter and early spring for full time model railroading.
I still ocassionally chime in when I take a scroll through the forums.
Happy 4th!
Mike.
The participation here has gone down over the years. When I joined this was the place to come for help, however FB has sooooo many MRR groups and more important specialty groups where you can learn so much and there are thousands of participants. I chat with the gang from Rapido on FB and join in their crazy banter, it is all fun. Jasons visits here have seemed to come to an end. I use to post his crazy latest video and it would be quickly removed so I stopped. They all get posted on FB though and brighten the day, which makes a visit worth while.
On some of the FB sites I chat with some who are here as well, though I have a completely different alias on FB.[oX)][(-D]
This site is more like a small club now, along with its share of grumpy old men.[(-D] I am surprised it attracts newcomers at all and I would not be surprised to see it come to an end in the near future.
I will likely hang out here until its demise.
Yes and it doesn’t appear to be seasonal like before. I suspect many has moved on to the modeling, layout ,operation and prototype SIGs found on Facebook or the more serious modeling forums.
The reason is simple how many times has a question been ask repeatedly?
IMHO the modeling world is changing from generic modeling to more prototype modeling and thus forums that doesn’t meet that change will fade away.
For those that doubt this change just look at the prototyical cars and locomotives we have today.
This change started years ago with Life Like’s line of P2K locomotives.
It used to be that if you created a new post of a morning, by that night it was usually on page 3. Now it’s likely still on page 1 and pretty near the top.
When this website - and this Forum - was bright and new, the other popular thing to do for those of us on AOL (and most of us were on AOL) was … chat rooms. I belonged to some on music and some on, if memory serves, Star Trek. For most of us, having a PC or a laptop or both was also bright and new. YouTube was a different experience back then too. And because access was via PC or laptop you had to set aside a bit of time to fire up the computer and take part. It was addictive but it also asked for active involvement in the process. So you felt you had something invested in the time spent on a Forum or in a chat room.
But here is the thing. The technology and the capabilities were all bright and new, but we the human element were still old fashioned types who craved human interaction and involvement. We were not self absorbed automatons staring at a screen or playing a video game while driving. So what we had then for a brief while was the ideal combination of technology/content and the desire to utilize and exploit the new ability to have conversations and interaction with an entirely new set of folks outside of our day to day life. I suspect there were many railfans and model railroaders and toy train types who had never really had so many like minded people to “talk to” all of a sudden. So there was pent up excitement and involvement. That has now diminished
When these Forums were new Erik Bergstrom was Kalmbach’s assigned Forum master and he played an active role in the discussions. We’d arrange Forum member get togethers at train shows and events like Galesburg’s Railroad Days, etc. And we had “Forum Member” T-shirts that had the logos of the various Kalmbach magazines aimed at trains or model trains. Th
Clicks are revenue these days. I don’t know what the math is for putting a magazine 100% online but if everytime I click on an article or photo they get paid, I would really be heading in that direction. I don’t think ad blockers work for FB (at least they don’t on my computer)[(-D]
Having a complete interface of forum and magazine would be great. Is MRR the big boy on the block as far as this hobby goes? I have no idea.
Having a bunch of photos to go along with each article would be great and the cost to the magazine is nothing except more clicks when you enlarge them. Having to select one or two good pics because of cost in this day and age doesn’t make sense.
I like photos and videos, especially when it comes to “how to” articles, there are no shortages of either on FB.
I like having a magazine in my hand, especially one I have been holding onto over the years. But sometimes you have to leave the train behind and get on an airplane.
There are a lot of how I did it articles on this forum submitted by we the participants, Kalmbach would be getting click revenue if those were on FB.
MRR has a FB page but maybe the forums should be formatted there along with more content, a one stop shop.
I’m still around, I also joined a few other forums but it’s all the same. Talk or don’t talk if the interest isn’t fascinating or worthwhile.
If it was only accessible via FB, they’d lose me. I’m here, at least in part, because I don’t do FB. I’m sure I’m not the only one. I won’t turn this into a bash FB reply, but FB has “issues” I can do without.
Like many, I’ve long anticipated an updated forum, but like all things that costs money. Our hosts may be choosing to put that off to see where things are going or because it’s simply too expensive, but adding in featiures and capabilities plus a spiffy new look could bring back higher levels of participation. It will never be like when it first came online, because there are just too many options for those looking to engage with fellow readers. But I think the forum or other place for focused reader engagement remains an essential feature that FB just can’t deliver.
Well I like coming here, I think everybody here is great, and I find lots of help, and always learning new things.
Just back in Dec. there were a lot of people here posting, lots of newbies.
MRR does need to get a new forum website. This one must date back to 1999? It is not even that much money, like $6,000. They have no reason not to. Every other forum website I go to, constantly upgrade their forums.
I don’t like using Facebook. But the model railroad community on YouTube is great. Layout builds, DCC help, layout tours, Locomotive reviews. I like watching Ken Patterson Whats neat this week on Youtube.
There is just a ton of Youtube channels for ModelRailroads. Its surprising actually I didn’t know this hobby was that big.
I agree that FB isn’t perfect, I have the friends thing switched off and that makes it tolerable. I do use the FB PM thing though and have good conversations on there.
Im not sure how long I’ve been a member of this forum, but it seems like a good bit, to me anyway. With not getting home on a regular basis, my modeling is highly sporadic, and as such don’t have a lot to contribute. I am also a member of 2 FB groups, but they are pretty specialized in nature dealing with older brass.
I have asked a few questions and the help and assistance has always been spot on, for that I am extremely grateful. I have also gained alot of knowledge and ideas from this forum. It has also helped fine tune my focus a bit on what I really desire out of this hobby.
I browse through pretty much every night as it seems to “declutter” my mind and helps me sleep.
There is a core group of folks that contribute regularly, and yes it seems like things can get “cantankerous” at times, but I have no desire to look elsewhere for info.
Kev
My hope is that if Kalmbach gets a new forum, they don’t use Disqus or one of the other ‘canned’ forums. Those take a lot of the personality out of postings.
I sometimes wonder if we might have lost prospective members.
For the last few yeras I have noticed many new people post questions in
General Discussion (Trains.com) forum and never get an answer.
Even though they are told this is not the proper forum.
I got tried of leading them by the hand and now cannot post there anymore.
I suppose some have moved on. Why bother.
Rich
What drew me to the last forum I was on all the time was that you could post right to the porum for pics, no third party needed. Also no one told you what to discuse, if you you wanted to bring your dog into the conversation, moderators would not close the discusion, and you know the trolls and others didn’t stay very long. Only once was there talk about intervention and they decied not to and it ended fine, without any problems. I do have to say that the most annoying things on this forum are no spell check and no notifications.
I love this forum. It is the only on-line presence I have.
I really appreciate the moderation that Steve-O provides.
The only improvement I would love to see is a little more participation from the MR/Kalmbach staff. That is something no other forum could ever offer.
If Dana, Steve, Eric, and Cody each posted once per day, that might draw a lot more people in.
-Kevin
For me, it is a seasonal thing, not only forum participation but also the layout itself. I do some serious layout building and modeling from November through April, but then golf season comes around from May through October, leaving no serious time for model railroading.
Gotta agree with this sentiment. Our host definitely seems to have lost interest in the forums. The deterioration of the forum software is well documented. Nothing seems to work anymore. And, the forum has become so heavily moderated that I sometimes feel that I am back in grammar school. Threads seems to get locked and deleted for no good reason. Forum members get scolded for reasons that escape me.
But, I have been a member since September, 2004, so I still participate and I still get answers to my questions, and that keeps me sticking around.
Rich
I won’t do FB either.
I have been on this forum a long time and will remain so. I like this forum because most folks here seem to be in the hobby for the fun and enjoyment it brings.
I am on some other forums. Two are specialized with few members, another is a little too serious.
Enjoy
Paul
I think the Facebook groups option has really taken a lot of the forum functions from a lot of places. I am the moderator over on the Colorado and Southern Narrow Gauge group on Facebook. The closest earlier comparison I can give is to the old Denver South Park on Yahoo which is now on groups IO (which I was in starting years back.) We topped their membership in six months and our traffic and interaction is much greater on a daily basis that the highs ever were on Yahoo. Just a basis of comparison.
Jim
Dear OP–
This is definitely not directed at you, so please please please do not take it that way. Imo the (very real) decline in train forums and probably some other forums as well reflects a general lack of civility in American culture and specifically amongst the various forum participants. The old Atlas model railroad forum had some very heated “discussions” indeed, that led to Atlas ultimately pulling the plug, but all these years later those of us participating in multiple train forums have apparently not learned our lesson, that we should have learned, and I think in some cases things have actually gotten worse than anything that happened back in the day.
I for one am sick and tired of dealing with certain people who always have to have the last word, even on a topic in which they should have little or no interest, in a discussion that really doesn’t or shouldn’t involve them at all, since again, it (the topic) lies outside their interest.
I am also sick and tired of pople on various train forums calling me a “paid shill” on behalf of some manufacturer, when I have not been paid by ANY manufacturer to do anything for 28+ years now, but I have actually worked in this industry and I did do the hot, dirty work of casting, milling, drilling, turning motor armatures, bead blasting all day long, and of course loading/unloading truckloads of product (120 or more cases at a time), and finally retail and mail order sales. So I have seen a lot.
I have been called a “paid shill” (shill being a word I never even heard of in my entire life until participating in model train forums) for being an HO guy that said MTH products actually do what they say they will do, and they do (or did) it well. And for actually LIKING the MTH controller (again it actually works–and for simpletons like me–it actually can work better than MRC’s latest dc controllers in some ways).
Other people didn’t like that I actually liked