So, you want to raise "professionalism" here???

dan denham · **Joined:** Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:33 pm **Posts:** 32

So now we are defining which words are acceptable and which are not? Actually I disagree with you, politics or not, important things are said with very few words. More words, less emphatic content in my opinion.
dan

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:44 pm

Balderdash. >;-D

dan denham · **Joined:** Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:33 pm **Posts:** 32

You learn fast!
d

O-6-O · **Joined:** Tue Jan 31, 2006 10:12 pm **Posts:** 45

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:

Late answer to your question:

Quote:

So dismal for diesel is "unprofessional" but "foamer" for an overly enthusiastic rail buff is OK?

Actually, no that's not OK either, IMO. We might groan and roll our eyes behind their backs and in private, but let's not encourage the stereotype.

ADM, Surely you know what a rhetorical question is. Or the difference between a (dismal) inaniment object and a (foamer) human being.
Man, you sure like slicing the baloney thin don't you?

railfanmag · **Posted:** Sun Feb 03, 2008 1:40 pm

I think a lot of what ADM IV was trying to say has gotten lost as the thread has continued. First, this is not a private forum, but a public forum that anyone can access. As such, a certain degree of professionalism does need to be taken into consideration.

As for "words," here's a real life example. There's a group I do a program for each year. Each year the program director will invite me, and when he asks "what's your program about?" if I say "It's about freight action in Utah" or something along those lines, he'll invariably say, "Oh, it's dismals!" A part of me understands this guy is just pulling my leg, but a part of me also thinks, "so you think this topic -- one that's important to me and that I'm going to spend $50 to travel to your meeting to show -- is completely irrelevent." I'm sure when the steam guys on this list use the terms "dismals," "diseasels" and more the guys with the diesel-based museums wince (at least a little).

If someone from the outside were to visit this group based on some Google search (Google works in mysterious ways) they would probably come away thinking that the preservation community doesn't care about railfans, nearly everyone who works for a railroad on this list is bitter at their employer and the diesel museums are the poor stepchildren of the steam museums. Then maybe their next search would be for airplane preservation or car museums.

Just two cents while waiting for the Super -- uh, big game (I'm not licensed to use the game's real name).

zugmann · **Posted:** Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:37 pm

railfanmag wrote:

they would probably come away thinking that the preservation community doesn't care about railfans, nearly everyone who works for a railroad on this list is bitter at their employer and the diesel museums are the poor stepchildren of the steam museums.

What, that isn't the truth? :P