I went to Wally World and bought some cheap 3 ring binders for this project and others. Then I got a 3 ring punch tool to punch the holes in the papers. And now when I see a thread that I can use the info from I print it, 3 punch the papers, put them in the binder and then label them with the tiny 1.5" square post it notes. I also have Lionel owners manuals, layout drawings and calculations in this binder. Its my one stop for misc train info. Saves me from searching for old threads.
Boyd…yours may be the only practical solution for quick and permanent reference. I started out printing posts and threads in the same manner but gave up after I got buried in paper and the time required to keep it organized by topics.
An paperless but effective alternative might be to copy and paste the link, thread, and posts into a Microsoft Excel or Word document/file by topic and save it on the pc (disc backup).
Jack
A better method to be able to reference you favorite threads is to create a new folder under “Bookmarks” (or Favorites in IE) and save a link to each of the threads there. That’s what I’ve done so that I can get to specific threads when I need to.
DJSpanky:
That is a great idea. But aren’t the threads eventually deleted to save space?
John
Nope, most message boards have all of their old threads available. At worst they may archive them to an inactive forum where they’re still available to read.
Hi John,
I don’t think that threads are deleted to save space, scroll down to the bottom of the thread index page, and you will see that the CTT forum has (currently) 615 pages with 15,375 Items, which I assume means Threads, and not individual Posts.
Clicking on the “Last Page” on the index, and selecting the bottom thread goes back to 1/11/2001, and appears to be the first thread of the CTT forum.
Threads and/or posts can and are deleted by the moderators for content.
Doug
Thanks. I like the idea of bookmarking useful threads.
JO
This may be a redundant suggestion, but more descriptive thread titles and staying on topic go a long way for everyone to find something dialed in to a specific issue or piece of equipment during a search. [soapbox] Don’t be afraid to start a new thread! You can always reference the location of a related thread.
Jack