open letter to all forum members

Don't people usually just go along to a railway, chat to someone, decide to join and then arrange when they can start? That's what I did.

 

Decopod

I went to the railways concerned, chatted. went back, chatted again. agread what i wanted to do and then left it that they would contact me. To this day ive heard nothing. BUT i have since posting this thread had private messages from other railways that i will be following up.

regards D

 

That's good - strike while the iron is hot! I think adaptability is key - show willing to turn your hand to any task, within reason.

 

OK everyone.
I may have got it a bit wrong in the way i posted my thread. But i stand by what i said. I found this site by pure chance, like any other member of the public can, and i can only say what i feel about what i find after one month. I accept that it might not have been a good month but i worry about the image given of our hobby.
I could say a lot more but i wont. Ive stirred up enough already
To the people who have taken time to pm me, many thanks, i will contact you directly.
regards to all D

 

Hi del965

Sorry to hear you haven't had a reply from these two railways. Maybe they missed placed your request form? Just out of interest which two railways are you hoping to join? Don't give up to soon.

 

It may just be timing...
In general the forum is organic, breathing and feeding of its membership, like anything organic occasionally an event occurs and the everything starts getting excited, notable moments are when tornado returned to steam... And 70013, but also less positive events.

There is one overriding thing...
Everyone is here freely pursuing there passion, and people respond because they care... Look at the LNWR crane for example, or those coaches recently saved from Wolverton etc etc.. One thing the forum does well is spreading the word when it's needed...
Just imagine what may have been preserved today if this forum existed in the real time nature it does ...but in the 1960's.

 

Firstly congradulations on your divorce, I`ve always found a few broken marraiges along the way is character building and good for the soul. Personally I find the site an excellent source of information, any negatives are outweighed by the incredible achievements and progress made by the preservation movement. Just enjoy the site, be happy and take away from it the things you find useful.

 

Proactivity is key. When I joined the SVR, (having already joined as a member in preparation), I telephoned the VLO in the morning, drove there and met them in the afternoon, they allocated me to Arley station that very day having entered my details into the necessary databases, I visited Arley that Sunday and introduced myself, and a fortnight or so later did my first turn as trainee platform staff.

I think a danger is to have one's details taken down by the Volunteer people, who pass it on to your prospective department, the Inspectorate of which are invariably very busy! An email or phone call from them is all it takes, and perhaps departments across the board can be better at reaching out to prospective volunteers the details of which they have been given, but it is easy to lose a scrap of paper with a number on it, or for it to slip one's mind.

Much better to turn up at a Station/MPD/Signalbox and say 'Here I am! Where do I go from here?'

Or if you wish to read the above in a less convoluted fashion, read the Saggin' Dragon's post!

 

I'm intrigued to know how many other internet discussion boards you frequent? As has already been pointed out, this one is pretty much the norm as far as I can see and compared to many, rather tame. All I frequent are probably at least 90% garbage, so you have to apply a heavy filter to quickly pick out what you're interested in without wasting too much time.

As soon as you allow people to discuss things in a situation where they can pretty much anonymously hide behind a computer, people will say things that they never would in a face to face discussion. The more opinionated often dominate the discussions whether they're right or wrong. For many, "trolling" is a hobby. Those who enjoy this activity might pop onto a discussion board, stir things up a bit, then sit back and enjoy the responses, often with the occasional stoking of the fire. Your initial post to this thread could easily be interpreted in that light (although I believe it was genuine), but it does seem to display something in the way of naivity as far as discussion boards go, which is why I asked the original question.

Anyhow, welcome to the forum. Hopefully, you'll manage to find the 10% of information on here that's useful and interesting to you, and mostly ignore the nonsense. While it would be nice if all discussion boards were 100% friendly, useful, informative places, pretty much none of them are, unless they are extremely heavily moderated, which generally defeats the object of a discussion.

 

As a regular reader, and very occasional poster, I find I have mixed feelings about all this. I read this forum because I appreciate the news and information that comes out of it. There are occasions when some really interesting discussions go on, and I feel I have learnt quite a lot from it. It has also been good to see the variety of viewpoints and ideas that circulate around the preservation scene, and which provides such variety for us to enjoy around the country.

Clearly with any internet forum of this sort there will be times when stuff gets posted that is nonsense, but normally this will be balanced out by other posts. I found I quickly began to recognise those who knew what they were talking about, and value the time and effort they put in. The big thing seems to be not to take everything too seriously. We do need to be careful of too much uninformed speculation, or accusations, as that can be damaging to the railways concerned if it is wrong, and if it is right might make resolving the problems harder.

What, though, I feel is totally unacceptable is where the discussion gets personal, insulting and offensive. In the end it benefits nobody. From what has been posted occasionally it is clear that some of the "movers and shakers" in the railways have backed off from giving good information "from the horses mouth" (so to speak) simply because they get attacked and accused of everything from ignorance to incompetence whenever they do. They don't have to contribute to this forum, and we lose out by not having their contributions. Much better to keep it clean.

Regards
Steve B

 

In summary the above post is right.

There used to be several high profile contributors but they were driven away by the tone and direction that this forum so often takes. It is widely referred to as the "little boys forum" or the "must rush home and post my picture" forum and that is all too often what it is.

Those of us who have spent a lifetime in the industry, and in preservation tend to take an interest in management issues, where companies are going, and where they are going wrong; and where they could do more to promote themselves and create additional revenue - without betraying their status as "preserved" lines. It is there that much conflict often arises as the long term view of preservation seems to be at odds with those who can't see that variety doesn't need to be fiction.

Comment on main line issues also becomes restricted as if we were dealing with some kind of state secrets or as if comment on procedural issues does not affect the entire industry.

The forum could be a wider base for information and education if such sensitivities were given proper consideration and if some voices asking for suppression of debate were told that they need to sit back themselves and learn.

 

I only came to this Forum when I was quoted on it without my knowledge. I believe there is a line between informed discussion and slaging off. It is up to the moderators to establish the line and then enforce it. Allow free speech within the bounds of common decency.


At present I tend to see this place as "The little boys forum" which is probably a shame as there are no doubt many usful posts. It is just a case of learning how to find them!


There is sadly a devide between those who get on with the work and those who sit and pontificate. It is often the later group that decend to slagging off! This is of course true of all walks of life.

 

Is there one?!

 

I think there are some pretty harsh comments, as there are the moderators ans administrators here that do a fantastic job. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

There is always a vocal few that cause problems.

 

I might have to adopt the following as I think it fits quite nicely here.

 

Who would they be? I can only think of Bongo and Ian Riley, though both left for different reasons?

I do think that there is informative input from those in the "know". Though i'd guess there is only so much information that people in these positions could ever comment on or put in writing on a public forum.

National Preservation is certainly a mild and has been suggested a polite forum, certainly compared to others I have been too. It certainly has a wealth of first hand news, that often can't be gleaned elsewhere. That said, I do think, and agree that there are some threads, where there are calls from individuals to close the thread, or move on, not discuss it anymore etc. Sometimes this is during a healthy debate and discussion. The recent Tangmere thread was a good example. If we didn't post, comment, discuss, or pass on views, then I dare say, there wouldn't be a forum!

 

By the standards of groups in other fields, this forum is the apotheosis of moderation and erudition! Just look at the e-correspondence sections of your local newspaper for spite and ignorance and the sometimes foul mouthed motoring blogs where people hold forth about motor cars they have never even sat in, yet alone driven.

Yes there is a large dollop of gricerishness which is often at odds with rational decision making in the "movement" as a whole. On the other hand some threads have been most valuable. I recall in particular one which touched on the widely variable fusion temperatures of the ash content in various seams of Welsh coal. This explained a lot to me about my experiences with this frustrating fuel over the years

Paul H.