sounds like this is an underused option here.

Hey RailMech3 you just got here and now your leaving with ceremony. Please be careful on your way out and don't let the valuable antique door knob catch your trousers as it would be a shame to break that.

Thanks, Ross Rowland

First, I can't believe anybody could possibly be Wes' foe. He's way too gentlemanly and erudite.

Second, I think we've been too hasty in forgetting the very interesting and good work done by Wasatch before the company outgrew it's capitalization and cash flow and opted unfortunately to become a desperately unsustainable Ponzi scheme instead. And, if you were alive and steamy in the 1980s and 1990s Steve Lee and Doyle McCormick were heroes.

Yinz can all call yourselves whatever you want as far as I'm concerned.

"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

"We gotta keep on keepin' on
You're only as good as your last record
I know that someday we'll be gone, gone"

Randy Bachman - "Rock is my Life, And This is my Song"

The timing around the creation of your account(s), writing-style/opinions closely mirroring his and the overly-defensive reaction to those pointing out the coincidence? I realize this may be a lot to ask but color us simple RYPN folk skeptical, not unwelcoming.
Perhaps a perspective you may be overlooking in your quest to offer differing opinion, sir?

DC

I will like to comment on this kind of issue that comes up on free forums. I am a newcomer in that I am not from a professional RR background but find the topics fascinating and am trying to my best to put together a private RR system.

Starting in the year 2000 I formed and owned 4 forums on the old yahoogroups chat sites. When that was shut down, at a small but pointed expense, out of my pocket I moved them over to groups.io and continue to personally fund and operate them myself.

Over the some 20 years I have had only a few on line feuds I had to handle. But having been there with this matter and having set and given sub administrators the power to manage posts and what not, yes we have to deal with personalities. The old coots, the middle aged coots, know-it-alls, egos or lack of egos and what not. We have sum total over 4 sites, over 1,500 active members so there is a large cross section out there.

Being an old guy whom grew up in an era that is now gone of civility and good manners, I find it hard to accept how many people, in particular the upscale under age 45 conduct themselves. Glad I am old.

Some times I loose my temper and open my mouth in what I guess is no longer appropriate but it is more a case of frustration than not.

I no longer allow outside people onto the ranch property but last week allowed two fathers with their under age 10 children on so they could see things like trees and dirt. Did not turn out well. You can make your own conclusions.

On my forums the doors are open, come and go as you please. But remember, act like you want to be treated yourself. Don't start picking on family members because just like any family, they may get ticked off and pick back. Ha.

One other thing, on my forums you can use your moniker but registration requires a first and last name with email address. Which can be fake as I have no idea if it is real or fake. But trouble makers get checked out for the sake of everyone else. The only posts that get deleted are ones which are blazing wrong or totally in appropriate. So remember if you get snarky, what you say will be out there for everyone else to see. It's your reputation at stake.

Dan

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Names are not necessary on forum sites. That's kind of the point.

I am a moderator on another site also running BBCode (the program behind RYPN). I have tools that let me see if someone is sockpuppeting (creating multiple accounts to hide their identity). Those tools are more than sufficient for cleaning up this site.

What I have observed on here is just, in general, a hands-off approach from moderators. This has its benefits and its drawbacks.

If full names are required to sign up for this website, I would leave immediately. And this is coming from someone whose last name is already in their username.

Preach, brother. It’s also very true that people fleeing domestic violence can’t afford to say much online under real names, or that those who work for a Class 1 are, in many cases, better off with a good alias. The difference seems to be a “real-sounding” full or partial name.

When people can say anything they please with a goofy and disposable name, it seems to encourage the nastier stuff. Having a trustworthy overmod is the crucial condition. If they know who’s really who, nothing else is needed. (As for “Hot Water” being an alias, anyone claiming to be a “steam insider” without knowing that is suspect.)

I have no idea why people place such a value on real names on a forum.
So, someone's being a putz or you just don't agree with them; how does knowing their real name make any impact? My real name is on every post I make, but what difference does that make?
The biggest putz on this forum (in my opinion that is) has his name proudly displayed here. Same for another almost as bad. What do I get out of knowing either of their real names? Will either get to be the same putz to me in person? Unlikely.
People are different online than they are in person. I've seen people personally confront internet jerks a couple of times.
I watched a guy beat another guy to a bloody pulp (didn't know either of them) and afterward, a pal of the 'beater' said it was because of things the other had posted to him online.
I once had a total jerk online come up to me at a (non RR-related) event and not realize who I was but I was warned ahead of time. I introduced myself to him, told him exactly what I thought of him, and reminded him that you never know who you'll run into in real life. I've never seen the color drain out of anyone's face that fast who wasn't in serious medical distress.
But those are very uncommon scenarios.
I ask again; what do you get out of knowing someone's real name? Do you really think that's going to change anything they're going to write?
Sure, there are folks who don't wanna get in trouble at work or put their businesses in peril by posting with a real name. But other than that, why is this such a big deal to anyone?
And for that matter, how do you know someone posting that they're "Steve Lee" or "Doyle McCormack" really are the guys we know by those names, just because that's their login name?
Ah yes, the age old, "The generation after me has no work ethic, respects their elders, etc," shtick. When I was a kid, my WW2-vet Uncle told me it was biological when you get to a certain age to think this of the generations after you (never yours or ahead of you). I'll be darned if he wasn't right, I started feeling that when I hit my 30s, thinking of course of those younger than myself.
In fact, anyone who seriously (and impartially) studies history will find both good and bad in each generation.
Nobody ever said it better than this:

-from "Wear Sunscreen" by Mary Schmich

When we require a name on registration, that name is not shown on the forum, just the chosen moniker is shown. Same for location like city where the person is. If someone wants to be totally anonymous that is OK, give fake information or fill in the form blank, but either they are CIA on protective cover or skulking . They can post name if wish but most of the members already know each other as they belong to some national organizations as paid members there.

I use a VPN, because of one of my businesses so I appear always to be at the same location.

Yes I watch where they come from. If someone signs up as Walter Mondale or Cesar Chaves. The first 2 posts get moderated on sign up but that almost always is waived upon approval to join. Alfred Newman gets the first 2 posts moderated. Depends on the site subject. RYPN one is nearly all middle to older age American citizens. Not many radical political topics here.

Dan McNames in California but at the moment working in Asia.

You guys can call me anything you want but don't call me late for dinner. :)

I do want to address one point I have seen come up in more than one thread: that the pre-Internet days were some sort of golden age of civility in this hobby. I started out in rail preservation with a large excursion-operating NRHS chapter right before the Internet came out - and I can say that even then there were some very prickly people in the hobby, as well as some who were scammers when it came to the money side of the equation, and had the court judgements against them to show for it. One of the nicknames discussed above was, and continues to be, a difficult personality to work with - and was definitely an insider into one of the larger steam operations out there. That came with the territory. So these aren't new developments in this business, in case anyone comes away with that conclusion.

I have been a moderator here since the early 2000's... I have used my own name, but have been called many others along the way...

When I started as moderator I received many documents to guide my decisions... some policy, some guidance.

From one of those documents...

• We strongly encourage the use of real names as opposed to screen names, and would prefer not to have anonymous posts. The purpose of this guideline is to try to keep information posted on the INTERCHANGE as accurate as possible by asking people to stand behind their posts. Although posting with a screen name will not of itself result in removal of a post, posts by anonymous parties are will receive increased scrutiny from the moderators.

• We strongly prefer 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." If this is a concern for you, may we suggest obtaining a separate e-mail account for use on the INTERCHANGE only. Free e-mail accounts are available from numerous sources on the Internet such as Yahoo and Hotmail. The purpose of this guideline is to give parties with conflicting opinions the opportunity to resolve differences off-line. Although posting without a working e-mail address will not of itself result in removal of a post, posts by unreachable parties will receive increased scrutiny from the moderators.

We accept anonymous posts, because we welcome views from industry insiders, who cannot speak publicly for their organization or employers, yet have insights into our industry.

Over years of moderating, I have had private discussions with many of our anonymous posters... and they have legitimate reasons to maintain their privacy...

RYPN is not a democracy nor a dictatorship... for now if up to me, (and I do have some authority) we will allow anonymous posters, but as we have in the past with increased scrutiny.

In years past, while still active in the equipment building industry, there were times when an alias had some use. Nowadays, retired for a long time and only participating on one discussion site, it hardly matters.

A lot of things don't seem nearly as important now as they did a few years ago.

PC