Is this group dead or what

My server shows 83 posts since Monday morning, of which about 8 were spam.

Seems to be OK to me, although it's quieter than it was. We've had about half a dozen spam messages against a fair few "real" messages, so no problems. If you want to see more model railway posts, you're welcome to contribute :-)

Think I just hit it on a bad day then.

thanks guys.

It has always been pretty quiet on this newsgroup, in fact it only seems to be OT topics that create much discussion. I think that most modellers use Yahoo Groups or forums like RMWeb these days.

Fred X

If you look at the message volume via Google groups you can see the volume peaked around 2003 - 2004 and has dropped by maybe 40% since; personally I agree yahoo groups and web forums have taken over.

I've noticed a significant drop in the number of postings to web based sites over the same period. My guess is that the novelty of owning a PC and being able to post to the internet has simply worn off for many people.

(kim)

Or people are now actually talking to each other whilst they huddle together under a brolly outside the pub having a smoke !

Chris

I think it depends very much on the forum; for example the BRM forum has gone from fairly active to tumbleweed, whereas RMweb has gone from nothing to 5000 memebers or whatever. I do agree there is often a 'novekty factor' involved with afair few people, it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years.

but its quality vs quantity. On RMWeb some posts an opinion and lots of me too post follow. Then someone disagrees and more me too post follow (some from same people). Then it descends into bickering and a moderator closes the thread. Some threads with criticism of manufacturers or media are closed very quickly. Finally tis very clique driven. Personally prefer the anarchy available here. cheers, Simon

...

Me too!

Greg.P. ;-)

I get more out of the specialist email lists, like the 7mm and GWR lists on yahoo. But it's still worth being here because topics that interest me do come up.

Me too!

Greg.P. ;-)

ha you are so un-'me too' that if you were in solitary you would happily argue with yourself for hours :-)

Cheers, Simon

While I don't read the forum, I get the impression that railway modellers are a lot more sensitive than other modellers about criticising manufacturers. We worry that if some mentions that the loco has the wrong number of wheels then the manufacturer will take his ball home, while military fans moan that a model is disgusting waste of plastic because of some minor error which takes a few seconds with a file to sort out.

(actually, anyone know of a English (or maybe German) forum/group for eastern European railway modelling? I'm after a HO(ish) TEM2, and I'm sure someone must do something suitable to convert, apart from the US firm which hand-builds them at higher cost than I have in mind. If not, it is down to copying a Polish paper kit in plastic)

I have found most people / manufacturers will accept constrictive criticism if done with tact & diplomacy. The major manufactures know what a knowledgeable ( or fussy :-) ) lot model rail enthusiasts can be (!).

Having never been interested in military models I am at a loss why they are so different in their attitude to ready to run (use) models ? In real combat conditions may military vehicles are =91customised=92 by their crews and have =91attachments=92 / =91embelisheme= nts=92 never intended by the original manufacture.

Being part of a group without a moderator can have it=92s drawbacks but at least you can say what you want about who you want.

Once of the worst kind of groups can be those owned / moderated by the same person ( says he who has his own moderated group ) I tend to only have to remove =91members=92 who join simply to spread spam. Those groups who have a =91single=92 minded owner / moderator tend to =91die=92 quickly = or have a hard core of members who think the same as the owner. Electronic self perpetuating back slapping !

Chris

I find the quality and accuracy of the info on Model Rail Forum far higher than that on RMWeb. It seems to be a bit more "grown up".

Having visited once, I will not be going back to "New Railway Modellers".

MBQ

How many of those 5000 members are active though? I'm a member, but I just can't get on with web forums so don't use it. I'm much happier with email or usenet forums such as E4um and Templot where I get to see any new posts without having to hunt them down.

I can't see the point of that latter type of forum, but you're right in that they fizzle out quite quickly. The other type of forum I dislike is where the moderator steps in with threats if a thread hints at going slightly off-topic - P4_talk comes to mind. In real life, discussions do wander off topic. The best is E4um where the current hot mega-thread is about cars and not model railways! One of the worst was the Festiniog Railway Society email forum - that is so cliquey as to be totally impenetrable to anyone except the inner circle.

Some of the criticism of the current very high quality RTR offerings has been beyond belief. Hornby or Bachmann will release a superb new model, and someone will complain that the wiper blades are a scale inch too short. What happened to railway modelling?

I doubt if more than 10% of those members post regularly,but that's still a lot of people; to the point it gets very difficult to sort out the wheat from the chaff: and I do agree that some threads get shut down too quickly for my liking these days, so it's useful to have an unmoderated group to hang around on as well. :-) . Personally I find MRF very 'dry' and humourless, so I don't hang around there much. I use the 'vew new posts' 'view your posts' and thread subscriptions on RMweb to try and keep track ( ha ha) amongst the background noise.