Yelrow Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 There was a lot of discussion prior to new forum, being released, that there would be a new section,even names were discussed. Has this been totally ignored by Hornby Towers, and if so, what was the point of asking our opinion, in the first place?. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB51 Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 There was indeed a discussion and names suggested but at the moment the matter sits with Hornby. R- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yelrow Posted February 17 Author Share Posted February 17 Hi, Rog, not a problem, Just Saying. You must be kinda busy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 That is probably not a good idea. The administrators lock any thread that is controversial at the moment so they would be busy 24/7 if we had an off topic chat. Even with the current system the posts are declining, so that would probably alienate even more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brew Man Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 Well I've made my views on off-topic forums clear. I think on a forum like this they are a really bad idea. I could see the whole place descending into chaos in a short time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rallymatt Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 I don’t have enough history on the Forum to know how much posts have declined overall. I do know the TT:120 section is usually very active and lots of good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelerXYZ Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 When I first came on there was always a hive of activity. Posters like Chrissaf and Graskie were always about and ready to help. Alas, now neither can post any more due to being dead. In the 13 years I have been on the Hornby forum, posts have definately slowed down a little. XYZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTSR_NSE Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 Not sure why an off-topic section should/would immediately attract more controversial posts than any other section? Once the new rules have been made available, they will still govern all sections. Simply allowing a broader range of discussions doesn’t have to immediately reduce etiquette & thought before submitting a post. Naturally any indiscretions would be treated the same way regardless of the section used! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveM6 Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 I suspect the current lull in posts is a byproduct of the forum being offline for a couple of days combined with a new format - it will take time for users to find their way back. As for off topic posts, I feel the old way of allowing a little drift is fine but anymore is risking anarchy. Take a look at RMWeb where many of the threads are absolute gibberish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yelrow Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 I don’t particularly want an off topic thread. Just a tad of latitude, like days of old, when Banter, (Graskie) style, was allowed, without the police immediately arriving. I understand it’s Hornby driven, but, a little off piste, never hurt anyone. Just out of interest our our emails within the forum going to be spied on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moccasin Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 The current style of moderators firmly nudging us back to topic, with deletion for heinously off topic posts, is probably OK but then I don’t remember how it was in The Good Old Days (despite apparently being a member since 2011, that was just when my Hornby account was created and I only started here a year ago). The direct messaging may help a little, since a group of users could presumably message each other offline without disrupting public threads. As long as that is friendly offline discussion, I’d hope that would be allowed and not closely monitored. It’s new for the moderators as well as for users, so we will see. There are potential safeguarding issues for younger users with direct messaging however and I presume that any problems in that area (or personal abuse directed at users by direct messaging) will lead to the feature being turned off. As users we do have a responsibility to use the forum for its intended purpose, but making it a friendly place to be will hopefully drive engagement. I have a tendency to post tongue in cheek comments to keep tone light where appropriate but appreciate that’s not to everyone’s taste. It’s never intended to offend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 A few points here. 1. Moderators have no sight of personal messages between members. What you say amongst each other is up to you. It is down to your own notification settings how you get these messages. 2. The new forum rules have a caveat that members must be over 18 to use the forum. Some new legal thing that is being looked into. How that affects younger members I am not sure. Will they need a note from parent or guardian or be excluded from the forums I have no idea at this time. It would be bad for the hobby and the forum image if they were excluded. 3. At least now when you report something there can be closed doors feedback and discussion about it with the reporter if necessary. Previous there was no way to let a reporter know what had happened except by way of an open post on the forum, which was not always appropriate. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rallymatt Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 A level of light hearted ‘side comment’ does add to the social aspect of the forum. I prefer to think of the forum as our Model Club rather than a Power Point Presentation on next quarters projections 😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellocoloco Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 10 hours ago, ModelerXYZ said: posts have definately slowed down a little. XYZ Fully agree here. I joined just over 7 years ago and there has definitely been a marked decrease in posts and posters, but I don't think in the quality. There used to be plenty of posters who seemed to feel it was their duty to make some sort of comment on every thread regardless of how necessary it was. Fortunately most of these have gone somewhere else. Another thing that may be responsible for a decreasing number of posts is the huge selection of model railway related groups on other forms of social media. This forum was the first social media I engaged with. I have since joined three other forums, Facebook - where I have followed countless model rail groups - and I also follow a number of MR related YouTube channels. 10 hours ago, SteveM6 said: many of the threads are absolute gibberish. Absolutely. I do appreciate the firmer control exercised here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moccasin Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 (edited) Moderators are doing a great job of keeping the worst social media traits of Facebook, YouTube etc off this forum. Even RMWeb can be very spiky at times and I don’t post there any more. The decrease in posts is quite marked at the moment, but then it’s a quiet time in terms of model releases at the moment. Things will likely pick up shortly as they arrive. Edited February 18 by Moccasin Added comment on level of engagement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rana Temporia Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 Elloloco, like you I have joined a number of other forums but have left down to the outright and blatant nastiness of a minority of the people on there. This forum is moderated properly as it is a commercial forum for a manufacturer. Some of the other forums are readable without a log in and that’s good enough for me most of the time. Getting used to this one now, as we all will. Speaking of some of the people who used to post a lot has anyone heard from Sarahagain or what she changed her name to (sorry I can’t remember, I think it was Thorston or something similar), she used to post some great information on here and had a massive amount of knowledge. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbo2 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 I can remember the old days on here where a good technical discussion would then drift off topic into some parallel universe, really unhelpful TBH when trying to stay focused on the technical side you were researching. Sometimes its good for the soul to break away from the detailed technical stuff as long as its separate to main discussions, which I thought was the proposal. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 1 hour ago, Rana Temporia said: Elloloco, like you I have joined a number of other forums but have left down to the outright and blatant nastiness of a minority of the people on there. This forum is moderated properly as it is a commercial forum for a manufacturer. Some of the other forums are readable without a log in and that’s good enough for me most of the time. Getting used to this one now, as we all will. Speaking of some of the people who used to post a lot has anyone heard from Sarahagain or what she changed her name to (sorry I can’t remember, I think it was Thorston or something similar), she used to post some great information on here and had a massive amount of knowledge. She used to post under the username Ruffnut Thorston as well as Sarahagain. Last post 2022. Here is a link to an old post where she is tagged as @sarahagain but her posted name is now Ruffnut Thorston . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yelrow Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 This is SOT, son of Triangman. There is no one on forum, more knowledgeable on Triang. He became. Ruffnot Thornton. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brew Man Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 Wonder what happened to her then 🤔. She was a regular contributor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yelrow Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 It was not a her, it was SOT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brew Man Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 Well now I'm confused. This seems to contradict what Rob is saying. And your account says, 'Ruffnot Thornton', not, 'Ruffnut Thorston'. Who is Sarahagain then? Mod note (to get round the locked thread) . . . Mods can see her real name and she is not Paul Johnson (SoT). She originally posted as Sarahagain then changed it to Ruffnut Thorston (a fiction character - google it). You can work that out from the post I linked to where folk speak about her sarah name in post but the thread avatar shows her new name. Back in the day when you could change your name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yelrow Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 , Rob said she posted under name Ruffnot Thorston, ( sorry, tis an age thing). SOT, posted as himself, and Ruffnut, and Sarahagain. At least thats how i understood it. No doubt, SOT, will clarify in due course. All posts from all 3 names, were always usually Triang based. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB51 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 We’re going round and round. Thread locked. R- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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