This forum has a total of 712 posts where the other MR forums have tens of thousands. If an entire forum is to be dedicated it could at least be a major topic of interest that would draw many more modelers. While I think our forums are among the most viewed on the internet the headings are rather broad and arbitrary and really not followed. Example: Many layout buildings posts are asked on the “General Discussion” forum; wiring questions asked on “Layout Building” forum, etc.
More and better defined forum categories would make information easier to find and perhaps avoid so much repetition of the same questions asked my multiple posters in the wrong categories.
Just a suggestion. Not trying to start a flame on anything.
I look at it as our hosts way of following their rolling 1:1 advertising. If they want to devote a section of the forums to it, that is their priviledge. They are providing us with a great place to discuss, ask questions, make comments, all in the process of learning about model railroading. It’s their little “thing”, it’s fine by me, I’ve never seen the car (I seldom see a 1:1 train), but I’d be glad to report it if I saw it.
It is something to keep your eyes open for. Our railfan group was quite pleased when we found it on a siding, and later on a moving train. And in a sense, there is useful prototype information to be gleaned from the travels of a particular car as it travels its home road and then on foreign roads.
That said, it would be great if the MR staff were to build an animation showing the cars moving around the country. Ideally, it would be in proportional time, so one could get a sense of the fits and starts of car movement. Fer that matter, don’t these cars have some sort of locator thingys on them? Using that info, a fascinating reproduction of car movement could be shown. The info could be time lagged a month or so, so that turrurrists can’t do damage.
Well, given the small response level, it could easily be a permanent thread contained within the general forum (as is done for MR’s forum editors). As someone who recalls the tips columns of MR in decades past, that forum could be devoted to “helpful hints” types of discussions, and that might make researching or following them easier than being spread out randomly throughout the general, layout and electronic/electrical forums. I realize that these other forums contain hints and tips/ methods of work advice specific to their areas, but it would be nice to “peruse” such a forum daily, where all those various ideas are collected in one place. Just a thought… Cedarwoodron
It would be interesting but maybe not as interesting as one would imagine. Since its a specially equipped car it spends most of its time in an assigned pool on a few select routes. Up side is it moves more frequently, down side it doesn go as many places.
In order to drum up business on that forum, since the MR car has been heavily tagged, maybe MR would want to move any discussion of tagging down to that forum. Then they could discuss how “cool” it is that the anniversary heralds are being covered up by tagger’s “art”.
OK. I guess the title I chose was not the best. I understand the purpose is to track the car as it moves. My lager point as Cedarwoodron also expanded upon was that the forums could be better organized. As a subscriber to the magazine I have a right to express opinions and suggestions on things my subscription dollars go to supporting.
If we designed and built our layouts as haphazardly as the forums sometimes become, we would not have much success. Myself and others have expressed how much better the old search function was for finding already posted information. Have changes been made back in that direction? Not that I can see. If MR wants folks to utilize the forums to the maximum, buy the products they advertise and continue to say good things about them I would think they would be responsive to consumer complaints and suggestions.
AGAIN, I mostly enjoy and feel the forums are good and a great source of information. However, they can and should be improved as customers give constructive criticism and input.
I honestly haven’t even gone there. I thought the topic was somehow about the plastic HO model railroader collectors box car! I’ve never been into collector stuff so I just didn’t even bother to look! Now I know there is a whole forum dedicated to following a box car around the country.
It does seem to be odd to have a whole section under the model forums that tracks a real box car?!?! Which is why I didn’t go in and look, and thought it was a topc about a model! Totally unintuitive and misplaced
I see your point, but some forums are where questions go to die - for example, most anything in the trains.com forums (the trains.com General Discussion forum there sometimes goes days without a response, and that’s the busiest trains.com forum) - I can’t figure why those forums could not be merged into either MR or Trains.
Heh, the entire MR Anniversery Boxcar forum has 712 posts as of writing, and TomKats’ thread - “Yes, MORE! signs for your layout” in “Layouts and Layout Building” forum has 810 posts as of writing.
Increased partitions of the main 4 categories of the MR forum would increase the need for greater mod activity and policing to keep on top of things. Keeping the categories specific yet broad enough allows for some leeway and crossover between those categories.
As far as folks posting things in the wrong forum, that would still happen - even if you increased the number of categories to make them more specific. That’s why there are librarians in libraries and moderators in forums.
Well, then here’s an idea: When you post, before you submit the post, you select a topical category by means of a series of “radio” buttons within each major forum area, such as “General Forum”: a)general question b)methods of work (tips) c) My Layout Progress d) product discussion/ "Electrical/Electronic: a) DCC wiring b) DCC systems c) DC systems d) locomotive electrical…and so forth. Then, computer software will recognize which button within a particular forum was selected and shunt that post appropriately to the sub-forum best for that post. Such a system would also allow the OP to re-select for (change to)another category, if required. MR Forum moderators would be able to override where needed, of course, but this might accomplish a more discrete sorting of postings. Then the search software could be tuned to the categories and respond more efficiently. Again, just an idea… Cedarwoodron
I personally think that having many finite categories isn’t as useful as one might imagine. The more choices, the more chances to put something in the “wrong” category. For example the question : Which HO scale switch is the most prototypical and electrically reliable? Does it go in HO, track, electrical, prototype or general? A case for any of those categories could be made.The worst is to have a categories for each scale (N, HO, O, S, etc) AND function (design, operations, track, electrical, etc) or to have multiple postings of the same question by the same person in different categories. People might think it would speed things up by weeding out posts you have to sort through, but I think it becomes more time consuming to have to check more categories.
I am more likely to miss an interesting thread because it was pigeon holded in a category I don’t normally look at, plus if you divide up the readers into smaller groups you are less likely to find a person who can answer your questions. If a N scaler asks a question on the N scale forum, I might be the only person who posts on the list that has that specific answer. If I only frequent the HO forums because I model in HO, I might never see the question to answer it. One of the primary functions of a forum like this is to help people with questions find people with answers.
I guess the argument can be made either way: too many or not enough forum categories. I do know other forums have less participation but the specific topic is easier to locate. I don’t have to sift through 100 posts to find two or three that are of interest to me. Nothing will be perfect but that is not an excuse to try to make it better like bringing back the former search function.