I just tried to post a reply in a thread in the Layouts and Layout Construction forum and got a screen that said “403 Forbidden”.
Turns out emoticons in a quote triggers this error. I removed those, and my reply posted fine.
This forum software is getting more corrupted all the time.
I’m looking forward to the new trains.com. I can’t post using Chrome (no matter what actions I take) but it does let me log in with MS Edge. I’m sure the folks at Kalmbach are anxiously awaiting the upgrade, too.
Jeff
ahh, yes, the dreaded emoticon in a quote. It was Sheldon who pointed that out to me. Up until then, it was driving me nuts.
And, yes, it seems that week by week, something else gets corrupted with the forum software. I recently started a thread on my woes, the total loss of my Private Messages feature, the inability to access other Kalmbach Forums such as Classic Toy Trains and Trains, 30+ lines of coding jibberish printed in red above my screen name on the right side of every page.
Worse yet, Kalmbach does not reply to repeated pleas for help. Even the revered Steven Otte appears to have given up and doesn’t reply to forum posts since there is no other way to reach him with the PM feature disabled.
I fearfully await the day when we can no longer post due to some new and final forum software crash.
Rich
Hope I don’t jinx myself…[%-)]…but so far, no problems with anything, using Chrome.
The only thing I don’t get is a notification of a PM, but that hasn’t worked in a long time.
I will cautiously click on Submit Your Reply.
Mike.
The complexity of existing software will always grow until it exceeds the ability of programmers to maintain it.
Only if the programmers are untrained or incompetent.
Rich
MisterBeasley
The complexity of existing software will always grow until it exceeds the ability of programmers to maintain it.
Only if the programmers are untrained or incompetent.
Rich
[/quote]
I know U R 
w/me, but my suggestion would be to ditch the email method and get on a program of calling the customer service number once a week. Keep track of the date you called, and to whom you speak. Hopefully you’ll eventually get someone who will be proactive and actually help you.
That’s what recently worked for me.
Through all of this, MR, or Kalmbach in general, should just go 100% digital and charge a subsription for the “mag” articles and access to the forum. Format the mag in PDF or something for folks who want to print their own hard copy (with appropriate watermarks or limitations to impede duplication) because they like the paper version better.
The revenue stream would be more efficient, IMO.
If I got the mag, the forum, the trackplan data base, in one reasonable subscription fee, I would probably resubscribe to MR.
The forum would still be searchable and visible for lurkers, they just couldn’t post or sign up without subscribing.
Have an extra subscription fee for the MR Video Plus to help pay for the production costs of those videos.
[quote user=“Doughless”]
maxman
richhotrain
MisterBeasley
The complexity of existing software will always grow until it exceeds the ability of programmers to maintain it.
Only if the programmers are untrained or incompetent.
Rich
I know U R
That’s what recently worked for me.
Through all of this, MR, or Kalmbach in general, should just go 100% digital and charge a subsription for the “mag” articles and access to the forum. Format the mag in PDF or something for folks who want to print their own hard copy (with appropriate watermarks or limitations to impede duplication) because they like the paper version better.
The revenue stream would be more efficient, IMO.
If I got the mag, the forum, the trackplan data base, in one reasonable subscription fee, I would probably resubscribe to MR.
The forum would still be searchable and visible for lurkers, they just couldn’t post or sign up withou
MRH is way too busy. I have a hard time finding the actual articles in all of the surrounding clutter.
A small subscription fee would do away with a lot of that excessive noise. JMO.
I’ve had a non-working “Conversations” feature for quite some time…others can contact me through it, but I cannot reply to any of them, and I’m sure it makes me look inconsiderate, as my usual practice is to answer everyone who asks for information, whether I have the answers or can direct them to someone who does.
As far as I know, Forum Members can contact me via the e-mail option in Conversations, but I’d guess that you’ll need to supply your e-mail address if you want my reply, as I think that otherwise, your e-mail address would be hidden, too.
That option would also allow me to send photos, if they’re needed, as part of my reply.
So for anybody out there who has tried to contact me, I’m not the one who’s hiding.
Wayne
Digital only does not appeal to the generation raised on print media.
The current and past magazine format is designed to attract your attention to the advertising that actually makes the publication profitable.
It is in the nature of digitally based advertising that it remains far less effective than in print media.
Therefore, print media organizations are not likely to abandon their paper based format any time soon.
Wayne, my PM function was accessible, but it did weird things when I attempted to post my comment. As I scrolled down to place my cursor on the send button, the whole text box kept creeping down and I could never actually post the statement. This happened from about last summer until the past couple of weeks, and then suddenly it began to work. I’m using MS10’s Edge.
Au contraire!
I have written you many times imploring you to gift Bertram’s to me without any response from you whatsoever. The silence is deafening.
Rich
Maybe for you. I have fully embraced digital - I rarely even get physcial boosk any more, and I read a LOT. You do need the right device. A phone is too small to read books and magazines. And a desktop computer screen is too large.
I started with the option to get MR with both a physical copy plus digital, but I quickly found out I was getting and reading the digital copy before the physical one even showed up. So for a few years now I have been digital only.
I’m not sure what Sheldon is talking about with the ‘busy’ comment on MRH. They rarely put ads on the same page with actual content. And BTW there is a paid option with no ads at all - different articles and content come with that, plus the full content, with ads, of the free edition. And it’s cheap.
ANd I’ve read thousands of books. I was an early adopter of e-books and read them on early small PDA devices, but really jumped into it with a proper size tablet. At any moment, I have at least a dozen books on my tablet, but as long as I have an internet conenction, I can get a new one if I read them all and am away from home. Even with my eye issues, I have no problem reading the screen, and the tablet is lighter and thinner than most any paperback book, let along a heavy hardcover.
Ironically enough I got an error message trying to enter this thread.
Best to worry about the things you can change versus the things you can’t.
Elon Musk could buy out Kalmbach, and give everyone of us a TESLA and a bitcoin and he would still be a billionaire. Oprah gave away a lot of stuff, it might happen. [;)]
You could hope for that.
[quote user=“rrinker”]
Lastspikemike
Digital only does not appeal to the generation raised on print media.
The current and past magazine format is designed to attract your attention to the advertising that actually makes the publication profitable.
It is in the nature of digitally based advertising that it remains far less effective than in print media.
Therefore, print media organizations are not likely to abandon their paper based format any time soon.
Maybe for you. I have fully embraced digital - I rarely even get physcial boosk any more, and I read a LOT. You do need the right device. A phone is too small to read books and magazines. And a desktop computer screen is too large.
I started with the option to get MR with both a physical copy plus digital, but I quickly found out I was getting and reading the digital copy before the physical one even showed up. So for a few years now I have been digital only.
I’m not sure what Sheldon is talking about with the ‘busy’ comment on MRH. They rarely put ads on the same page with actual content. And BTW there is a paid option with no ads at all - different articles and content come with that, plus the full content, with ads, of the free edition. And it’s cheap.
ANd I’ve read thousands of books. I was an early adopter of e-books and read them on early small PDA devices, but really jumped into it with a proper size tablet. At any moment, I have at least a dozen books on my tablet, but as long as I have an internet conenction, I can get a new one if I read them all and am away from home. Even with my eye issues, I have no problem reading the screen, and the tablet i
If I understand you correctly, Rich, it apparently hasn’t yet arrived. That may be on account of the closing of the U.S./Canada border or perhaps the fact that I included an alarm clock in the package, as I thought you to be asleep at the switch as far as sending me messages to which I can’t reply. Maybe the ticking has raised suspicions about the package.
If there has been any recent news items in your area regarding authorities detonating suspicious in-transit items, we may have the answer as to why it’s not yet arrived.
I had meant to send it earlier, but wanted to make a replica of the original for my own use, and that’s the only delay for which I’ll accept blame.
Wayne
