I am courious about how much time others spend on this forum reading questions and helping others by responding?
Being retired I have a lot of spare time. My wife gets up at O’dark-thirty (4:30) to go to work. I get up with her and come straight to the computer with my first cup of coffee. If I find topics of interest that I feel my 2 cents would be of help to someone I respond. Reading/responding to the first 3 or 4 pages of topics normally takes me about 2-4 hours depending on the number of new topics and how many other responses there are within a topic.
So, I would say that I must spend about 25 hours a week here on MR’s forum.
I am on the forum when my projects are drying or waiting for the next step. Sometimes I come on out of sheer boredom before I go to the real boring job I have. Then I can think of new ideas so when I get back, my answers are thought out. I really do need to work on my TRAINS more. But hey, I enjoy the “company” of others.
I spend maybe an hour or two a couple times a week, at most–I don’t page through every page of messages, I just hit the recent stuff. Online discussions are nice but they can be a time sink, and indeed they can take away from time that could be spent fiddling with trains. I mean, it used to be that one had to head down to the hobbyshop for a bull session with other model rails…
since i’m in high school and have a job i don’t get much time during the week to come on the net. usually if i do come on though i have to check my fantasy sports teams which i’m really into. then i’ll come here and some sports gaming/sports websites to chat. i get up at 7:10 weekdays so i come down get dressed eat breakfast then come on here for about 10 minutes just to check some stuff out before i head to school. then after school depending on what time and if i have to work i’ll come on here for about 30 minutes then go and eat and do homework then around 8:00 till about 10:00 i’m online doing different things. its nice to have a place like this to learn about a hobby i’m just getting started with. i’ve learned a lot off of here about different railroads, different layouts, and even some train lingo.
i’d say about 15-20 hours a week on here and other sites total.
I am in Highscool and also don’t get that much time in on this forum. But occasionally I could spend an hour or so reading and responding to new topics and questions. So I would have to say maybe 5-7 hours a week.
Keep on model railroading!!!
ShaunCN
Possibly as much as 1 hour a day, on average. It doesn’t take me any longer than that to keep up with the latest posts, though I only reply to a few threads.
i must have no life compared to a lot of people. i’m on line at least 2-3 hours a night talking to people, posting in different forums, and doing things with fantasy football,basketball and updating my website for fantasy leagues. then on weekends its usually more than that. like 10-1on friday and saturday nights depending on work then sundays various times during the day.
wow i need to get out more i think. once summer rolls around i won’t be on as much as i have baseball.
I spent TOO MUCH time online but that’s OK. I’m “retired” and have to do something with my time. I have room prep in the basement to do and a layout to build, but all that is on hold why I am waiting to get bids on some plumbing/heating work which has to be done there first. I figure for now I can spend the better part of a day online and when I’m able to get back in the basement, then most of my time will be spent down there as able.
Right now I may spend an average of 3-4 hours during the day on the computer, forums, etc. I watch TV maybe 1-2 hours daily, usually when I’m waking up in the morning and while I’m eating supper. Then I spend another 4-5 hours at night between email lists and rec.models.railroad newsgroup. If I had a “real” life, I certainly wouldn’t have time for it all but for now it fills my time nicely.
I jokingly told my wife the other night I seem to have a new hobby other than model railroading, when she seemed surpised and asked what could possibly replace my model railroading hobby, I answered, “Reading about model railroading!”
my team has slowly been getting cut down. for some reason it seems like i’m getting a lot of homework now. so usually at night i’ll come home. watch TV. maybe play PS2 then do homework. by the time i get on the computer its like 9 and i don’t want to stay on logn.
id say i spend 2-3hrs on here anight since im just learning i read just about every post. But 2-3 hours is cut to about 1hr of actual reading and writing because i have the slowest computer in the world (P1 166 w/56k modem that only does 36.8) so if i ever get a new computer i might actually get something done
But it definitely helps…