Introducing the Trains.com Forum Points & Rewards Program! 🚂

General
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Hey Trains.com crew!

We’re thrilled to introduce an exciting new way to reward your engagement and contributions to the forum. Say hello to our Points & Rewards Program—a gamified experience that lets you earn virtual gift cards to shop.trains.com just for being an active part of the community! :tada:

How It Works

*updated as of 3/1

Earn points for being an active and engaged member of the Trains.com Forum every month! Your activity is tracked and rewarded, and at the end of each month, points will reset back to zero so everyone has a fresh start to aim for the top. Here’s how you can earn points:

  • Likes Received: +1 point
  • Invite Sent (and Sign-Up Occurs): +20 points
  • Every Hour Spent Reading: +1 point
  • Every 100 Posts Read: +1 point
  • Topic Created: +5 points
  • Post Created: +2 points
  • Daily Visit: +2 points

It’s simple: just stay active, contribute to the community, and watch your points grow each month! :steam_locomotive:

At the start of every month, the leaderboard resets, so you always have another chance to climb the tiers and snag those rewards. Keep the momentum going month after month! :muscle:

Rewards Tiers

Here’s what you can earn based on your total points within the forum:

  • Tier 1 (201–250 points):
    :dollar: Reward: $25

  • Tier 2 (251–300 points):
    :dollar: Reward: $50

  • Tier 3 (301–350 points):
    :dollar: Reward: $75

  • Tier 4 (351+ points):
    :dollar: Reward: $100

These rewards will be virtual gift cards to shop.trains.com

How to Check Your Points

Curious about how you’re doing? We’ve made it super easy to keep track of your points! Here are two ways you can check your progress:

  1. Leaderboard:
    Head over to the Leaderboard, located in the left menu. It shows the top scorers for the month, so you can see where you rank among other members.

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  1. Your Profile:
    You can also view your points directly in your profile. Just click on your profile, and your current points total will be displayed.

Stay on top of your points and watch yourself climb the ranks—whether you’re checking out the competition on the leaderboard or focusing on your personal progress in your profile! :rocket:

Why Participate?

This program isn’t just about earning rewards; it’s about celebrating your contributions to the Trains.com Forum. Every like you give, post you create, and hour you spend engaging makes our community stronger, more vibrant, and more valuable for everyone.

Start Earning Points Today!

The Points & Rewards Program is live, and every interaction you have starting now will count toward your total. Keep an eye on your activity to see how close you are to reaching the next tier!

Let’s build the best community for train enthusiasts together—one point at a time.

If you have any questions about the program, drop them below, and we’ll be happy to help.

Happy posting,
The Trains.com Team :tada:

10 Likes
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The only suggestion I would give is to drop the “likes given” part. On other forums there are people that like every single post just to get their ranking up.
While I enjoy reading most of the post I only give likes for something that stands out a bit. But that is just me.

5 Likes
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I agree. Likewise I give likes to things that stand out to me.

David

2 Likes
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Sorry to be a spoilsport, but I am afraid that this is going to be a matter of quantity over quality.

Let’s say I start a topic on scratchbuilding a swing bridge that is totally operable, complete with photos and detailed explanations of the project. I get 2 points. Joe Blow posts, “Wow”. He gets 2 points.

I can already predict a few guys who will run up their points pretty quickly by simply clicking on tons of threads and posting meaningless replies.

Rich

7 Likes
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I agree Rich, post created will get a credit even if it is meaningless. The same keyboard warriors will get all the loot! :joy:

1 Like
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Do the points expire? Can they be used for subscriptions?

1 Like
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We will tweak it if we need to overtime. Right now, we are trying to get new participants into the forums and engaged.

I recognize that a rewards program is only useful if it translates to higher quality engagement, which is what we are aiming for.

2 Likes
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The points don’t expire.

You can use it for anything sold at shop.trains.com

We don’t currently have the ability to translate points for subscriptions because the subscription platform isn’t setup to handle points, where Shopify is.

But you can get back issues at the shop…

4 Likes
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If you want to keep people engaged, then you should require all of the Model Railroader Magazine staff to contribute at least one post per day. It is a fact that many model railroaders consider these people to have something of a celebrity status in the community and would come here just to see these comments.

At the university where I was on staff for twenty-five years, we were required to contribute something to the discussion boards daily, and that kept the whole thing attractive and relevant.

These contributions should just be simple, but having an associate editor of Model Railroader Magazine comment on your modeling project could be quite an excitement generator and bring lots of life to these forums.

2 Likes
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Well, I didn’t quit my 200,000.00 (CA) annum job because I had to spend 60 seconds a day engaging with our students on their communication platform of choice. I guess my convictions are not as cemented as yours.

:joy:

Lawn tractors? Back in Canada every conversation eventually became a discussion about tractors and attachments. I guess I know where NOT to mention my old Gravely now, not that I was going to bring it up anyway.

Now that I live in a modern condominium on the beach, all lawn and household maintenance is a blurry vision in the rearview mirror. I greatly prefer this life.

I just got back from my morning jog on the sand, and my wife is stirring around in the bedroom. Time to start on brunch.

Cheers.

3 Likes
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Not sure how much thoughtful content and feedback one could provide in 60 seconds. Wouldn’t it take much, much more than 60 seconds just to read through the postings here to find a thread to comment on?

I reread the original post, and with the additional comments it now strikes me as even worse. It’s a request for magazine editors to do a drive-by, simple, minimal effort posting in order to make people feel good. How does that help improve the quality and engagement of the forums?

It sounds exactly like what others have felt is a problem with the point system - frequent low effort views, likes, and postings affecting the point earnings.

1 Like
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Thats a good idea,

1 Like
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As something of a cautionary tale, review the early Kalmbach experiment with ‘stars’. As I recall, some of the issues mentioned here were concerns then – and there was no actual merch or “in-app purchase opportunity” as an incentive to ‘engagement’.

I’d be careful not to follow Quora down the rails – a very different set of figurative rails from those we care about – and encourage bulk (or monetizable’ engagement over thoughtful commentary. Not that I discourage the idea of building up the forum community again, at all!

2 Likes
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AEP528 apparently does not understand how far simple and minimal engagement with those who are respected can go.

Yes, the responses are expected to be quick (“drive-by” in your words) and not contain any real meat. The magazine is where the meat is. The responses let someone know they caught the eye of someone who is known and respected in the industry.

That is all. It is somewhat exciting and rewarding.

From reading your responses, it sounds to me like you have had several bad experiences with employers when they tried to get you to do simple tasks that would add a lot to their overall branding. I respect your point of view, but I have had nothing but positive experiences when becoming more engaged with the student population. The magazine readers are not all that different of a community.

It is a small activity that pays huge rewards.

1 Like
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If they’re told to do it as part of their job, then it is completely meaningless.

Nope, you’ve got that wrong. I have participated in social engagement when it was completely voluntary.

And as a society, we really need to be less concerned with “branding”. That’s another worthless social media buzzword.

You can’t see the difference between a student trying to get good grades and graduate and an adult participating in a hobby just for fun?

Luckily I have discovered the thread muting feature, so don’t bother responding. I will never see this thread again.

Now to enjoy my long weekend, in the real world free of social media.

1 Like
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Subject: February Points System Update & January Winners

Hi everyone,

Hope you’re all having a great start to 2025!

We’ve made an update to the points system effective February 1st:

  • Likes Given (+1) has been removed from the scoring.

I’m pulling the January winners today, and our team will be reaching out soon with your Trains.com Store gift cards.

The Leaderboard in the left menu has been updated to reflect February standings under the new points system.

To view the January Winners, click here

We’re excited to see this community continue to grow—thanks for being a part of it!

2 Likes
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This is an interesting idea. I hope folks try to focus more on meaningful responses and topics than clickbait. Yes, we all have something to contribute, but offering rude suggestions or snarky responses is not what I hope this forum becomes.

1 Like
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my 2cents
I’m not here for points. I’m here to have adult conversations with other ferro-equinologists who might have had to opportunity to count the rivets on the real thing. Adding a, “me, too” comment to a thread, even if it earns points, to me is bordering on narcissistic, and I try to avoid doing it.

4 Likes
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Amen to that.

2 Likes
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How does the virtual gift card show in your trains store account?

1 Like