I am asking my fellow posters to please stop posting "drival" about other posters and organizations, I can go to the railfan boards if that is what I want, that is not in my opinion what this board is for and once it starts it seems to suck the life out of the main issue that is being discussed. I have really enjoyed this board in the past, but it seems to be taking a downhill slide lately. Please let us self moderate this board more and just ask yourself this brief quetion prior to hitting the submit key, does what I am posting add to the discussion or does it take it off course?

Thanking everyone in advance for becoming more positive minded posters.
Mike Tillger

I'll second that. This board is intended for those who are either active in or have an interest in railway preservation efforts; it is not a place to snipe at other persons or organizations or otherwise act like foul-minded (if not foul-mouthed) adolescents (there's plenty of other places on the Web for that).

Indeed. I've noticed in about three threads now where the majority of replies are warning the moderators that the dreaded troll is returning, much to the surprise and embarrassment of the original poster, I'm sure. Is it really such a problem that the troll is going to reappear that it takes precedence over all other aspects of the discussion? Wouldn't it be better to PM the moderator with your concerns? Don't you suppose if it is the troll back to his old tricks, it will become evident soon enough and the moderator will notice and deal with it?

The other exercise that is a glorious waste of bandwidth is the annual April 1st foolishness. It clogs the board with mis-information for days, some of which is mistakenly believed, and so may be cited as fact elsewhere. I am a member of several other discussion boards, some professional, some hobby interest, and none of them are so afflicted. Around here, it seems like there's a full moon and all the zombies are out.

This board is one of the best places for factual information about subjects that concern railway preservation, but it could be better if more serious people from more groups were present. However, I made the mistake of promoting the board to some in late march a couple years ago, and after the April foolishness, none remained subscribed.

Take it to Trainorders.

I'd like to address part of your comments, Dennis. I could not possibly AGREE more with you about the April Fool's stuff. It drives me crazy, and it has about a two week "tail" as people respond to the nonsense without noticing the date on which it was posted.

Secondly, I couldn't agree with you more on the "zombie" issue. It's a case, I guess, of "once burned twice shy of the fire".

That having been said, the following needs to be considered:

1. I do NOT moderate this board, and likely never will.
2. Though I'm listed as the Site Administrator, that is merely to allow me access to the "behind the scenes" levers and buttons to keep the thing running.
3. I do NOT set policy for RyPN, and will never again allow myself to be placed in a position where that might happen.
4. There used to be a board of directors for RyPN, and I'm told that it may still exist but have seen NO evidence of that in well more than a year.
5. The site has a webmaster, David Collison, but I suspect his workload is such that he rarely has time to deal with RyPN.

So, in short:

1. At the moment I see no evidence that ANYONE is setting overall policy for RyPN.
2. With the passing of Kevin Gillespie, we lost 1/3 of our moderators and about half of the moderation activity.
3. I provide rack space, a dedicated server (which isn't being used) and virtual hosting space (which is). I provide bandwidth, power, UPS, data backup.

I don't know what the answer is, but I think it seriously needs to be addressed.
Now, if only I could figure out what the question is.

Dennis -

Well said!

Les

Agreed.

I'm most likely one of the posters who is trying to get factual information to those who need it, yet sometimes find myself in the sights of the Troll and at odds. Professionalism and courtesy is needed.

Acting accordingly,
Mark

Agreed with all points, esp re April 1.

Rob

Funny. I was going to raise the April fools concerns but I thought that I would get shouted down. I too agree that it something best served by children, not adults. I just don't see the humor in posting falsehoods. I stayed off of all boards for three to four days just to avoid the nonsense.

Later!
Mr. Ed

As a another one who has been around for awhile, I agree with all the above.

I must admit to enjoying some of them...so why not give April Fools threads a maximum lifespan of 24-48 hrs, then simply delete them?

Stephen

The April Fools post make this place look like the Onion. I didn't even bother checking out this place on that date.

I also pass over threads that have more of those quote boxes than written responses. I guess excess quotes use turns the thread into a nitpicking flame war.

I enjoy coming here to see what other people are working on, and seeing the fruits of finished projects.

I agree with Mike Swanson when he says this board should be for those interested in railway preservation as the name states. (And I've said that before). And that interest should be for those involved or those with information. And although limiting the posters to those associated with an active preservation society might seem like the correct response, it would be wrong since so many folks with a genuine knowledge of the industry may not live close enough to an active society and would therefore be eliminated and that vital information lost. So what is the correct answer? Without a full time moderator, it is tough to police the postings. So we are left on our own to keep the postings aligned with preservation, avoid sniping, and keep the site unclogged with side trips that have nothing to do with the topic under discussion. And like my mother used to say, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!"

Later!
Mr. Ed

So let's see if THIS post is permitted to stay up (two others removed, even though the entire thread's premise is in theory "attacking" other posters for THEIR comments)......

Who gets to decide what's "drivel" and what isn't?

The steam guys (at least the old-fashioned stereotype/cliche) don't give a hoot about them danged diesels....... and to a lesser extent, vice versa.

The railroad guys don't give a fig about traction............... and often vice versa.

Operations guys don't care about stations, unless they can stash their tools in them........

I, for one, consider the whole lap-seam boiler discussions pot-stirring and a waste of time, but other people seemingly live for that stuff........

And we can't "learn from the mistakes" of such "problematic" situations as Steamtown NHS, PRR 1361, Gettysburg 1278, C&O 614, NKP 759, etc. without making somebody look less than perfect...........

I mean, that "missing" ex-Amtrak RS3m in Ohio is drivel to a lot of folks, but not to the preservationist that's been promised the loco or its parts.......

There are even defenders of the April Fool's posts, hard as it may be for some of you to believe.......

You want drivel? Go to ANY major newspaper's website and peruse the comments being left with articles, especially articles that can anyhow, in any conceivable stretch of the most fertile imagination possible, be spun politically..... "Scottish wildcats threatened with extinction"....."It's Obama's/Bush's fault!"

Unless there is a successful business activity to pay the bills there will be no continuing "preservation", and from that standpoint any lessons learned with regard to both successful and unsuccessful business operation by any kind of preservation organizations are both valuable and pertinent to railway preservation.

PC

Going up thread a bit, who actually "owns" RYPN?

Rob