MR Forum

I just checked out the general interest forum at the MR site. Wow! It looks like RMR a number of years ago. Lots of posts and interesting threads. It looks like there are a lot of people over there. A little OT is scattered around and it does not seem to be overly moderated. Can't say for sure though as all the posts about peoples thoughts on MR magazine are glowing accounts. That's odd.Wonder what would happen if I posted something critical of MR. Never the less it seems more free wheeling and active than other forums and the groups. The MR forum looks like a very promising place to talk trains and a place that ideas, questions and answers abound like they used to here. You can post pictures and they are talking about a scratch building contest this fall. Seems like fun. If you haven't seen it yet give it a look. Bruce

Bruce:
I've been on the MR forum for some time now, it seems to be as busy as RMR once was. A recent thread on RMR was about how slow things are, and many suggested a lot of the regulars have migrated to such forums as MR, the Atlas one, and Yahoo Groups.
As for glowing accounts of MR, there have been dissenting voices all along. With so many posts, I don't imaging you had the chance to check out too many. Here's a recent one: http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID6448
Seems in the May MR (haven't got my copy yet) the editorial refers to changes in the magazine, one of which is the dropping of the local show listings. This generated a lot of talk, almost all of which was against the move. There have been similar threads bashing MR as being too simplistic these days, catering to the RTR crowd, only featuring large expensive layouts, not many construction articles, etc.
The only censoring that is evident is to certain individuals who do not abide by the forum rules. One particular jerk has been kicked off but keeps sneaking back in, but they delete his threads when they are noticed. He was using foul language, demeaning other modelers, etc. He was supposed to have been banned from the Atlas forum, but he's back with a current thread under a new name.
They also have a language filter that replaces naughty words partially with asterisks. It seems to be too functional at times, replacing innocent words, but it isn't a real problem.
I think on the other thread re quiet times on RMR I may have mentioned that I follow other newsgroups related to photography, and they have become almost useless due to the relentless efforts by resident trolls. They post the most vilest messages, personal attacks, and other disruptive tactics. So following the MR forum is like a breath of fresh air after all that crap.
I recently joined the Atlas forum after hearing a lot about it, about people moaning about it being down at times, etc. It's about the same as the MR one, with less traffic and many of the same posters and same messages too. But it is moderated, so hopefully they will keep the deranged under control.
The MR forum has become to me the RMR that it once was. Give it a try!
Bob Boudreau

Not that it matters and is just a typo but did anyone notice the review for the N scale diesel had the data from the HO 2-8-8-2 reprinted. With all the editors MR has you would have thought they would catch something the obvious.

Gentlemen:
To **** with MR and their ****ing censorship. There are ****ed fool ****ing idiots in Usenet, for sure, who **** up the airwaves with their ****ed up ****, but if we would ****ing ignore them, most of those ****ed ****-****ers would go and **** their own ***** and leave us the **** alone to discuss productive **** like the ****ing U-(tm)- P-(tm)-. There are always going to be ****ing newcomers, too, who aren't used to the friendly *******s on Usenet and feel a need to ***** and moan back at them. I used to be a ****ing **** like this, but after a while it becomes obvious that the best response is to **** off and let the *****es do their own *****ing. **** it all, Usene* is a ****ing democracy, which makes it a *****fest from time to time, but it's better than being the *** ***** of a ****ing magazine , whether its editor is a ****** or not.
P. S. Who wants to spot the non-English cuss word?
Cordially yours,
Gerard ****ing P.

Gentlemen:
To **** with MR and their ****ing censorship. There are ****ed fool ****ing idiots in Usenet, for sure, who **** up the airwaves with their ****ed up ****, but if we would **** ing ignore them, most of those ****ed ****-****ers would go and **** their own ***** and leave us the **** alone to discuss productive **** like the ****ing U-(tm)- P-(tm)-. There are always going to be ****ing newcomers, too, who aren't used to the friendly *******s on Usenet and feel a need to ***** and moan back at them. I used to be a ****ing **** like this, but after a while it becomes obvious that the best response is to **** off and let the *****es do their own *****ing. **** it all, Usene* is a ****ing democracy, which makes it a *****fest from time to time, but it's better than being the *** ***** of a ****ing magazine , and if I want to refer to somebody as a ******, I may not be insulting him, but referring to his ancestry...
P. S. Who wants to spot the non-English cuss word?
Cordially yours,
Gerard ****ing P. President, the ****ed Sparta Railroad.

Bob, I was the one who started the Quiet Times Thread. It may have been your mention of the MR Forum that prompted me to check it out. I joined the Atlas forum quite some time ago and check into it every now and then but it seems a bit dull. Same with the Bachmann forum. I've participated a few times on both but in no regular way. The Yahoo groups are good and I belong to several. Mostly I read them to keep up with what is going on in a particular special interest area, but not so much for discussion as many are not that active. In fact I have posted some rather specialized questions to a related group but got answers only after posting here. I'd say about 85% of what I have learned about Model Railroading came from people that did not share my fairly narrow modeling focus, scale or gauge so I at least to me the general discussion group seems the most valuable. When I found RMR years ago I was surprised how much knowledge I lacked, how many ideas I picked up, and at some of the new areas of interest I developed. The controversy and flames didn't bother me much. Some were even fun. I've never seen to much spam on RMR but that's probably due to my internet provider. The only truly persistent trolls I can think of were really all just one person who has not been around for quite a while now. Anyway that period for RM. has passed on and the MR. Forum looks like the new information exchange hot spot. Bruce
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I was trying to keep up with the MR Forum for several months but decided there were too many kids and newbies on there to be of much interest to me. I tried to help a couple out but more and more I got responses like, "It's my railroad and I can do what I want.", so finally I just stopped going there. The Atlas Forum seems a bit better to me.
Most of my online time now is spent reading and participating on the Yahoo model rr lists. I've been trying to cut back, though, as I'm supposed to be prepping the basement so I can build the layout!
Paul - "The CB&Q Guy" Modeling 1960's In HO.