Is the NMRA worth joining?

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Oh boy, is that a can of worms!

I joined several years ago and got appointed as membership chairman of my region. One of my duties was calling ex-members to see why they had quit. Almost without exception, the answer was that it cost too much for what they got.

That prompted me to look into the costs. Turned out the greatest part of the national budget (not counting the magazine which is a separate cost item) went to administration, including an imposing headquarters building, and to a library which very few of the members (1 in 100 or so) ever used.

Very little of the dues went to the standards setting or contests activities and none whatsoever to the various conventions. In fact, the national convention is a money maker. So are the local and regional conventions but that's where they get most of their money - they get little or no financial support from national.

After a couple of years trying to change the situation, I gave up and resigned.

Now, after all that negative comment, I'll say that I really enjoyed the local and regional activities and the great majority of the members were nice folks. At one time in the distant past, you could join a region without having to join the national. If that ever becomes true again (hah!) I'd join my region in a flash.

If you can ignore where your dues money is going the activities at the local and regional groups may well be worth joining.

I especially enjoyed the regional conventions with their workshops and layout tours. Special kudos to the ones put on by Canadian members, as they made a real attempt to keep the costs down. The ones in the US tended to be at expensive hotels :-).

It'd be great if we could have an organization with those conventions without the budget and politics of the NMRA as it stands.

Now I'll don my flameproof suit and wait for all the responses from "life members", an option no longer available to new members.

Folks:

Just a word of neighborly caution...before we go up in flames one way or another, let's also remember that this thread was started with the specific hope that we'd do just that.

Let's also remember that, whatever we think of NMRA standards, history has shown us that even poor or fair standards are superior to a complete lack thereof...5280 feet may be a clunky quantity, but imagine if the best we had to say was "about that far"...

I'm not a member of the NMRA but I do own the gauge...I just wish I could find it...

Cordially yours: Gerard P. President, a box of track and some L-girders.

I am a Life member but had the opposite experience...I wanted to join a local NMRA club but even as an NMRA life member I was not allowed unless I also joined the ME Region. I refused as, IMO, the NMRA regions are an unnecessary echelon in the organizational structure.

That, of course, has been changed as the re-organized NMRA now is structured so that everyone is a member of one's region although w/o paying dues one will not receive the region newsletters etc.

Frank: For a guy who uses the signature line "DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS," sometimes you have trouble following your own advice.

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:15:05 -0500, I said, "Pick a card, any card" and "Mark Mathu" instead replied:

He doesn't use that sig line in his post.

-- Ray

Well, either you or I are wrong... a simple search at Google which show how many times he's used that sig line:

I am a member for the Insurance program. Other than that I don't get much out of it since I don't go to any of the conventions or regional meets.

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:42:49 -0500, I said, "Pick a card, any card" and "Mark Mathu" instead replied:

Irrelevant, Mark. He didn't use it in that post. That's what I wrote and that's what I meant. If you are so bent on anyone but you being "wrong" then do continue this until you are satisfied.

-- Ray

Irreverent my ass! When I wrote "uses the signature line DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS," I meant it. Even you saw the 500 instances where he used it.

And NO, you did not write "in that post," you should at least know what you wrote before make incorrect statements to f ollow up on incorrect statements.

That was a nice slip of the fingers! "Irrelevant ..."

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 20:41:34 -0500, I said, "Pick a card, any card" and "Mark Mathu" instead replied:

Irrelevant yet again. Next time, cite one of the posts where he does that instead of one where he doesn't. You made yourself and your own post irrelevant, mate.

-- Ray

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 20:59:46 -0500, I said, "Pick a card, any card" and "Mark Mathu" instead replied:

Irrelevant. And you remain yet again so.

How ironic that you made your entire premise irrelevant.

-- Ray

I don't know if that was Mark's intention or not, but I know it wasn't mine. I'd love to see them get their budget priorities right - when/if they do I'll be the first in line to rejoin.

And yes, they've done a great deal of work in the standards area which benefits all model railroaders. But it was done by dedicated volunteers (thank you all) with little or no financial support from members dues.

Yes, Mark, I probably have used it some years ago. However, I did not use it in this series of posts. If I feel that there is a troll post, I simply do not respond to it and put the poster in my kill filter. The sig that you so conveniently cut is below, please tell me exactly which word is the troll.

Probably? See the Google link which shows you've used it 500+ times.

The word is in this sig line which you have used: +-------------------------+ | DO NOT FEED | | THE TROLLS | +-----------+-+---------+ | | | | | | | | ....\\|.|/....

The sig line in your current message which was "conveniently cut" was snipped for brevity (as is customary on usenet)... but a link to your *full* post was included on the second line of my original reply: (doubts? see news:-JadnciIs_KmsGfYnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com) and I'm sure that your original message is still on most people's servers.

Ahhh... I notice you haven't posted (until this recent thread) for about three weeks, which probably explains what's going on here. Look at previous posts from the person who originated this whole thread and you'll soon see that he/she should be in your kill filter.

Can you explain that?