Railway Preservation News :: View topic - Online Place for Reference Materials

My question is: Is there any place online that I can post the cross reference where I can have access to continue to update it periodically or at least have somebody post the updates?

But, apparently due to lack of interest on the part of RYPN owners/moderators, the Articles section has not been maintained and the latest post seems to be from 2007. It appears that there isn't currently a way to post new articles.

Now, instead of current/updated "articles", RYPN is all about culture war arguments ...

Something I'm not clear on:

Is this hosting just the index to information, or the information files themselves?

The former could probably be accommodated in a 'corner' of various established sites, just adding a page and some appropriate navigation prompts. Numerous sites might agree to this, and even provide 'push' updating of newer versions of the index if you want to make regular changes to it.

The files and structure would likely be another matter. Not that you can't find someone willing to host them.

Author:	jayrod [ Sun Oct 16, 2022 9:28 pm ]
Post subject:	Online Place for Reference Materials
I currently host a few online documents in my web space, the one likely most worthy to keep up is the paint cross reference (see the sticky at the top of the thread list). I’m formally closing my business so the website won’t be necessary. I’m paid up through the next 12 months so I’ll continue to host the cross reference and I’ll eventually move the all the info to my Google Drive to keep it somewhat available, though not easily found, for a while after that. My question is: Is there any place online that I can post the cross reference where I can have access to continue to update it periodically or at least have somebody post the updates? Thoughts?

Author:	tomgears [ Wed Oct 19, 2022 8:00 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
I've wondered the same thing. So far I have paid to have space on Google. I have thousands of documents either scanned or photographed.

Author:	jayrod [ Wed Oct 19, 2022 10:18 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
There are a few places where I can probably send a copy of the cross reference to post that are static. The problem is that this is still a living document that gets updated whenever someone sends me new info. Of course that depends on if people continue to send info for inclusion. It’s been quiet lately.

Author:	Rader Sidetrack [ Wed Oct 19, 2022 11:04 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
jayrod wrote: My question is: Is there any place online that I can post the cross reference where I can have access to continue to update it periodically or at least have somebody post the updates? As I understand it, the "Articles" section of RYPN was intended to be exactly that. See: http://www.rypn.org/articles/ And as an example of what can be done, see: http://www.rypn.org/articles/single.php ... 230436.txt But, apparently due to lack of interest on the part of RYPN owners/moderators, the Articles section has not been maintained and the latest post seems to be from 2007. It appears that there isn't currently a way to post new articles. Now, instead of current/updated "articles", RYPN is all about culture war arguments ...

Author:	Ed Kapuscinski [ Wed Oct 19, 2022 11:18 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
Is it a project that could be publicly shared? Do you have reproduction and publishing rights, etc...? If so there are a few options available. If not... Well, there are a few other options. Can you get into what the access requirements would be?

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Online Place for Reference Materials https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=46960	Page 1 of 3

Author:	jayrod [ Wed Oct 19, 2022 1:08 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
It’s been public for years and has seen many downloads. The last update was in April. The list was compiled from many open sources and submittals by individuals and organizations over a period of at least 12 years - I’d have to check the original dates. Right now it’s in a spread sheet that gets updated, sorted and republished in PDF format for legal sized paper. Being such small taters in the grand scheme of the internet of things, it hasn’t been converted into an online relational database. I don’t see the demand to warrant the time expenditure nor do I think someone else would would want to go to the trouble to host a database. So Excel/PDF it is. Updating online could simply be replacing the old list with the new. Latest update: https://bigeprod.com/literature/rrPres/paintRef.pdf

Author:	ARM TRAIN editor [ Wed Oct 19, 2022 4:02 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
If you have reference materials that would be useful for railway preservationists, consider scanning it and putting it in the HeritageRail Alliance online Library. That's where Preston Cook has put all his diesel manuals and maintenance publications. The Library also contains all sorts of other technical material related to rolling stock, track and infrastructure. We're always looking for more. Contact me if you're interested. Aaron Isaacs, editor HeritageRail Alliance aaronmona@aol.com 612-231-8989

Author:	Ed Kapuscinski [ Wed Oct 19, 2022 4:46 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
I think a Google Spreadsheet that's just made visible to anyone with the link might do what you need. That said, it might be worth embedding that on a site with a domain name to make it easy to find.

Author:	Rick Rowlands [ Wed Oct 19, 2022 10:13 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
Rader Sidetrack wrote: But, apparently due to lack of interest on the part of RYPN owners/moderators, the Articles section has not been maintained and the latest post seems to be from 2007. It appears that there isn't currently a way to post new articles. Now, instead of current/updated "articles", RYPN is all about culture war arguments ... The lack of interest is on the part of the owner, Dave Collison, who is not interested in making any upgrades to the site nor is he interested in working with anyone who is. So it sits here with ancient software without a real future. The moderators do not even have access to the part of the site where the articles can be accessed. Those couple of threads on "culture war" really gets under some of your skins. I guess they are hitting pretty close to home then.

Author:	PCook [ Thu Oct 20, 2022 6:28 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
I would like to add to what Aaron posted, that the reference materials and manuals being copied and conveyed to HRA are being prioritized based on the "squeaky wheel" method, i.e.: The equipment that gets the most questions gets the first attention. Basically the common stuff owned and/or operated by non-profits comes first. PC

Author:	jayrod [ Fri Oct 21, 2022 12:35 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
I’ll contact Aaron and see what he says.

Author:	Overmod [ Fri Oct 21, 2022 9:51 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
Something I'm not clear on: Is this hosting just the index to information, or the information files themselves? The former could probably be accommodated in a 'corner' of various established sites, just adding a page and some appropriate navigation prompts. Numerous sites might agree to this, and even provide 'push' updating of newer versions of the index if you want to make regular changes to it. The files and structure would likely be another matter. Not that you can't find someone willing to host them.

Author:	steaminfo [ Fri Oct 21, 2022 10:08 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
I rarely post these days, but this thread really hits home with me. Let me first say something about David Collison: He's the sole reason that rypn.org still exists. I originally took over hosting the site, in the early 2000's, meaning that I provided the servers that underlie the site, the bandwidth and little else. I owned a small webhosting company and took over the hosting at a time when Hume Kading (the original founder) despaired of the site's future, and had come to believe that it wasn't worth keeping. I agreed to take over the hosting and keep it alive. I should mention that Hume thought at the time that the best course would have been to abandon all of the site except for the Interchange. I tried to keep the whole thing running, but didn't do a particularly good job of that. My business collapsed abruptly in January of 2011 (can it be that long ago?) and David preserved RyPN and moved the site elsewhere, for which I shall be eternally grateful. I opted out of any activity related to the management and operation of the site a few years ago, after I became convinced that I was a terrible moderator and an inept administrator. Since then it has been the current moderators and David. I am often surprised that it is still here. I've got a load of opinions (about RyPN, about the curation of information on the internet, and about websites in general. But, I'm old. And my opinions are probably not worth the paper they aren't printed on, so at this point, I'm going to retreat into MY ineptly designed and badly operated website (steamlocomotive.info) and spend my day creating new irritations for site visitors.

Author:	jayrod [ Fri Oct 21, 2022 12:11 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
Overmod wrote: Something I'm not clear on: Is this hosting just the index to information, or the information files themselves? The former could probably be accommodated in a 'corner' of various established sites, just adding a page and some appropriate navigation prompts. Numerous sites might agree to this, and even provide 'push' updating of newer versions of the index if you want to make regular changes to it. The files and structure would likely be another matter. Not that you can't find someone willing to host them. Simply: Hosting, in the internet of things, refers to the act of providing storage space on a server in which the file(s) resides. Links only take you to the location of that file on a server which then “serves” it to you. In reality, it doesn’t really serve the file to you, it allows your software to read it and show it to you. Websites and/or the files they contain all come and go eventually. The trick is finding a spot to put your files that is easily found by internet users and is most likely to stay around the longest if you’re not the one paying for it. The internet has no permanence.

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Author:	Overmod [ Fri Oct 21, 2022 12:24 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Online Place for Reference Materials
You dodge the question. Is it only the index to a group of files that you're asking to have hosted free, or is it the whole set of files to which the links would point?