A poster writer whose threads have been bocked has at times provided important and interesting ideas to us fellow readers. I urge him not to be discouraged but please just write about railroad matters that should be of interest to anybody.
Personally, if I had any complaints about Kalmbach policies or how individuals are applying them, I would write a confidential personal letter to Jim Wrinn and not use the Forum. And I have on a few occasons made suggestions to Jim Wrinn via private email messages.
Perhaps if said poster’s contributions were reviewed for content/redundancy etc.by the moderator’s in charge before release, then we would not have nearly the amount of drama the forums are currently enduring.
Why does it bother you how long his posts are? Is it costing you money? It certainly doesn’t crowd out the other posters. In my opinion the more posts the better. There are some guys I agree with here, some I don’t, but I don’t think I should have the right to say whose opinions can be heard and whose can’t.
I just went back through the list of postings since July 6th and found 6 threads specifically about the Lac Megantic disaster and another 11 about things associated with that event that were started as adjuncts to the discussion to keep the specific “sub-subjects” somewhat separate.
Of the 6 specifically about the disaster, only 2 were started by one person, the others were started by different members.
Of the 11 “related” threads, they were started by 9 different people… and those that were started by the same person as one of the others, the actual subjects were different and probably were correctly in separate threads.
Although nobody will say why the MM&A thread was locked, I think the discussion worked out just fine. It developed a lot of interesting ideas that picked up where the news media left off. While some say that too much was said about the subject, I would say that it is a very big subject. Maybe some lost site of that fact.
Not only was it one of the largest rail disasters in history, it will produce major fallout in all directions. There will be the investigation, the arrests, the affect on the rail versus pipeline controversy, the fate of MM&A, new regulations, new tank cars, new rules, new securement methods, calls for PTC, crash protection for towns, and the list goes on. There is certainly a lot of fodder for discussion on a railroad forum.
There must have been plenty of interest in the thread because a lot of people were reading it. It would routinely get 200-300 views overnight in a 12 hour period. Apparently most of those were from people not registered on the forum because I don’t think there would be more than 25-50 registered members on the forum during that period. So I guess the important thing to keep in mind is that these discussions go a lot further than just the people posting.
And even the acrimony contributed to the thread. The constant rejection of ideas helped provide contrast to highlight the ideas being put forth. It added texture to the discussion. Otherwise, a casual observer might distrust a set of ideas where everyone agreed.
But while the thread had run its constructive course, the unaccountable locking kind of reminds me of a book burning.
"There is certainly a lot of fodder for discussion on a railroad forum. "
Oh humbug. There is very little discussion at all. Those in the industry already know how it is going to play out, and is playing out. No big mystery except to conspiracy theorists, believers in goblins and things that go bump in the night.
And it did not take a gazillion of pages of speculation to figure it out. But there again Bucky, you and Slim know more than we who actually do the job. So we bow down to your holy grail!
I’m part of a forum called KVRAudio. That forum has a subforum called Hyde Park Corner…we all should know where that comes from. This forum had recently seen it’s fair share of individuals who would link to articles, videos on youtube and what all else about certain contentious issues …one poster there, who was ultimately banned, created a post that took up one whole page …by itself. With cut and paste commentary, links and etcetera…
Sometimes it becomes necessary to visually ignore someone’s threads and let them die on the board…simply because some post here does not require a response everytime…[:-^]
First of all, at the risk of being labeled redundant, I do not agree with bucyrus about the brake wheels or much else, including the repetitious quality of his posts. In fact, I suggested to those who have such a strong aversion to ignore him, rather than respond and reinforce his behavior. I have no special clout with Kalmbach and it is amusing to see myself included in some grand delusional conspiracy. The name calling is equally amusing.
What I strongly oppose, however, is the obvious attempt to silence the his views, by the game of making a series of off-topic posts which get that thread locked. It is a strategy that has been used by certain unnamed folks for several years to in effect censor opinions they do not agree with. It appears that strategy no longer works and now they are upset because they have been put on some form of probation.
So this isn’t about their not liking long, redundant posts, which they could sensibly ignore, in the same manner that many of us ignore threads we don’t like about paint schemes, imaginary cafes, etc. It is about their attempts (usually successful in the past) to act as unappointed censors. I have opposed censorship on
According to information I have received, some unhappy poster(s) have been going directly to Kalmbach management to complain about the thread, which is why they are getting locked.
It has been suggested throughout the course of this drama, that two posters in particular have been doing this. (Note: I am not making any accusations here nor am I naming names). But apparently said posters have been circumventing the moderators and going directly to Kalmbach management,
If that is the case, what purpose is being served by doing that rather than working with the moderators?