Way after the fact I pulled the first thread about the ALCo engine on E-bay. I apologize for not "Moderating" this sooner but I've had some trouble with my computer the last few days which has preoccupied me (turns out it wasn't a virus).

Again, there were some very good comments made in that thread, but a couple of times it got out of hand, and I just decided to pull everything rather than try and sort thru it.

For the record, I don't always visit the Interchange everyday, and when I do visit I don't always read every post. Generally, I read the ones that have subjects that interest me, and ones posted by people I don't recognize to make sure our new visitors are well behaved.

If a post is by somebody I know and trust I may not touch it. And, I was disappointed by a couple of comments made by people who I know and trust in the ALCo thread.

A while back I asked if I should revise the Interchange to a more controlled format. After an initial surge of responses saying yes the strongly predominant view turned out to be no, leave it the way it is. Which I have done.

Recently, there has been a large increase in the number of posts. So, if something gets out of hand, it might help me get to it sooner if someone told me about it (e-mail would be fine). I also once again extend the offer for full or part time assistant moderators.

Railway Preservation News
hkading@rypn.org

> I also once again extend the
> offer for full or part time assistant
> moderators.

Hume, I'd be happy to keep an extra eye open here, as I read the Interchange at least as often as I read Railfan WWWBoard, which I moderate singlehandedly. Just let me know what your moderating criteria are. -Brian Wowak


mrwowak@yahoo.com

What was the problem with the thread? I didn't remember reading anything offensive.

rickrailrd@aol.com

> What was the problem with the thread? I
> didn't remember reading anything offensive.

There was a heated exchange promted by one poster who felt he had been personally maligned and responded with considerable invective. There was also some general recimination about who was entiled to express opinions on what in what context which was close to the edge.

For the record, the terms of service of the Interchange include the following:

Rules

Please use your real name, no screen names, no anonymous posts.

It is preferable that you give a valid e-mail address with your post. However, this does create the potential for being picked up by a "Spam Spider." So, may we suggest you put your e-mail in the body of your text (instead of in the e-mail address box), and use an asterisk "*" in lieu of an at sign "@." (For example hkading*rypn.org instead of hkading@rypn.org.) Also, there is a website called the Lucent Personalized Web Assistant (http://www.lpwa.com) which allows you to use an encrypted, but valid, e-mail address. We have not tried this but one of our postees uses (used) it.

Constructive, polite criticism, and polite responses to same, are acceptable.

No flaming. There will be zero tolerance for this, one strike and you're out.

No profanity. There will be zero tolerance for this, one strike and you're out.

Other behavior deemed inappropriate by the Board Moderator, but not necessarily covered above will be handled by issuing an offline, one time only warning. If you need a second warning you're out.



eledbetter@rypn.org