Yesterday I was reading a thread about suggestions for MR magazine, I thought there was some good ideas. Today the thread is gone and another one asking why is already locked. What is the problem here? It sure seems like there is a bunch of old ladies running this site.
Seems like MR doesn’t want to hear how the magazine can be improved…Of course such topics usually boils over with unnecessary heated debates and I suspect that’s why the topic was locked…As far as the second topic the mods just headed off a power keg before the fuse was lit.IMHO a good call.
This’ll be another one for the lock, I guess then. Really thin skin must be the name of the game.
Trains mag forum has quite a few threads getting kind of heated yet the locking is more restrained there—must be the audience thing—
I’m sure by the time I get home from work this thred will be locked or gone. Yes, very thin skin.
About 10 years ago, a couple of programmers and I joined together and developed a website for a new sports talk radio station in Atlanta. The website had lots of interactive features, including a set of forums and message boards. The site was free to use, all you had to do was register for access and provide some simple demographic information. Sound familiar?
The forums were a big hit. There was more traffic on those forums than were on some of the local college sports message boards, and if you know how big college sports are in the south, that is saying a lot. The station was providing a free service, the forum users were happy, and the advertisers were happy because their products were getting exposure in the form of banner ads on the website. Sound familiar?
Then some of the members started running amock. Posting rather insulting comments about the station on-air talent using profanity. These are not the constructive criticism type of posts, just “you made me mad so I am going to get even with you by posting a rant on your forum” type of post. I was responsible for moderating the forums and had to take down these posts when instructed by the station. This led to allegations of the station “being thin skinned” and “not wanting to improve the station”, when in fact you had to REALLY go overboard to get a thread locked or removed. Sound familiar?
Bottom line: the forums on the sports talk radio station were removed because it was taking too much time–which means too much money–to police them and what was provided as a free service to the members was being exploited as a conduit to lash out at the very company that was providing the free service in the first place. Sound familiar? It could happen.
Jamie
Hi!
As a reader/subscriber of MR since December, 1955, may I comment…
In my opinion, Model Railroader does its best to give each issue some content to attract all of the various interests of the various “types” of model railroaders. It has to be an extremely difficult job!!!
I have found that if you really want to get the attention of the good folks at Kalmbach, your best avenue is to write (or better yet) email them directly. I have done this a few times in the last 10 years and always gotten a decent response.
Frankly, postings that prompt heated disagreements about the content of the mag just have no place here. If the mag doesn’t please you, write the editors. If it continues to not please you, don’t buy it. This Forum is here - in my opinion of course - to help out folks with the hobby, to share ideas, answer questions, and to “show off” our accomplishments.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
To add to Mobileman’s comments, no magazine, no TV station, no venue which distributes information to the public can be perfect. Model railroaders are not unique in the respect of the variety of interests, skill levels, funds, time that have to be addressed by a publication for a large audience. I have been in HO since 1959 or so, I have my MMR, my layout is on tour often, yet I have not, cannot master programming a sound decoder and just trashed a brand new 200 dollar plus diesel this week because I didn’t know any better. There is NO ONE on this forum that has all the answers, although some may think they do, we all have weakness in our lives, our hobbies, of some nature. Now, with those thoughts, imagine how the folks that have to decide the content of our “hobby” magazine each month have to feel. There is no way MR can please everyone all the time.
Lighten up, so you are a master artist and you know the best way to paint backdrops, and the magazine should do it your way. Bull, you can be a legend in your own mind and still find someone who can do it better. Personally, I like seeing finished layouts in the mag as I study the photos and pick up ideas to improve mine. At age 73, I will live and die with my current layout, I will not be building a new one, so I could care less about many articles. But that is our human nature.
I do suspect there are some who just like to inflame the rest to get a “hot thread” going. Ignore them.
Bob
Jimmy and all;
Please allow me to interject here as an volunteer go-between for a moment. While Kalmbach is interested in what it’s subscribers have to say, my understanding is that a thread on the forum is not the type of venue that they are looking for to accomplish this.
The original thread has been moved to or “filed” in an administrative folder for the staff to review. Before you jump to any preconceived conclusions on the word “filed”, let me add that there are only three items in that particular folder. So…I don’t believe Kalmbach is “deep sixing” any of the ideas shared so far. If they had, they wouldn’t have bothered putting it in that folder.
I hope that explains things a little better. While Kalmbach may create a specific venue for allowing forum members to add their ideas and suggestions of what they would like to see in future issues of MR, in the meantime: If you do have a suggestion for MR, I would suggest that you call or e-mail Customer Service with your ideas.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Regards,
Tom