Minimal information to provide when asking for help. Marty Fitzhenry said it best so I am re-posting this! For the 2022 Holiday Train Season.

Good info and worth a re-post.  Sure wish Marty was still around to post it personally.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Good info and worth a re-post.  Sure wish Marty was still around to post it personally.

You and me both!

Well stated and worth repeating. 

@MartyE posted:

You and me both!

Me to. So many things I could just give him a call or drop by the house. 

10.) Be pleasant. If you begin asking for help with a chip on your virtual shoulder it’s awfully hard to have a lot of sympathy for your situation. Don’t start with something like “Rusty Wingnut makes nothing but garbage and now I have one of their expensive scale Toonerville Trolleys and the catenary isn’t sparking 4 times a second like it’s supposed to.” 

11.) Try to use your eyes twice as much as you type. (This is the forum equivalent of listening twice as much as you talk.) If good hearted souls take the time to write a long, exact solution to the problem don’t ignore it with more questions, pontifications or observations that they’ve generously answered. At that point they have every right to type, “Go do a search,” and retreat to their layout and suffer the fool no more.

My two cents.

And a photo is always helpful.

The photo(s) might be the most helpful along with the tersely stated problem(s).

Just re-upping this as we get more folks getting their trains out for the holidays and have issues.

Also if you get the problem corrected it's always a good idea to let us know what the solution was.

Please folks.....use spellcheck....it helps.....Merry Christmas all....

I need some advise.  Engine wont run.  What now!?! 

When you don't know the answer; it's hard to know what's needed  to have someone else answer the question.  It's a good list to start with.

When I plug in my thing it don't work. What's wrong??

Marty loved those the best. I could see him getting hot behind the keyboard and maybe yelling a few words in that great Boston accent!!

"Help, the dingus is busted" will NOT get it fixed!

I would boil that down to state as many relevant details as you can. As Alan says, newbies don't always even know how to frame the question. Obviously if it's an engine people need the model, and if it's a newer engine, what sort of operating system you are using. And of course the exact problem.

Even more to the point, I would be somewhat specific in the title of the post. Post topics like "Engine won't run" or worse "I have a problem" or "Help" are more than annoying. They just waste peoples' time. Everyone has their own areas of expertise and they don't know if a topic is something they can help with if it is vague.

Speaking of Marty, I had to go back to check and see that Marty died less than a year ago. How is that even possible? It feels like 10 years. Well, Marty, if you are reading this, we all miss you, but thankfully you didn't have to go through this year.

Good Idea Marty. Nick

I'd like to add: learn before you buy.  There's a guy on YouTube who reviewed a #145 Gateman and was very upset that the man wasn't scale.  He's only been in constant production since the mid 1930's... a little research before clicking the "BUY NOW" button would've helped.

Also, read the instructions before you post.

Jon

On the flip side also realize that people asking for help may never see this post, or think to search something like this.  Many people may be coming to this place for help for the first time, they don't know what questions to ask or information to give and even the correct terms to use.  They may truly not know what they have or how to gather that information.

Taking a queue from Roadhouse, BE POLITE!

Don't be condescending, ask questions and give information that could help them discover the answers.

Be patient.

Don't disparage someone because they bought used of eBay.

Be concise, don't overload and keyboard vomit every possibility under the sun.  I see posts which give newcomers information overload and go into way too much detail.  This only adds confusion and frustration.

Good point.  I knew a guy who would ask a potential customer so many questions, they'd run from the train store without buying anything.

Jon

@TexasSP posted:

On the flip side also realize that people asking for help may never see this post, or think to search something like this.  Many people may be coming to this place for help for the first time, they don't know what questions to ask or information to give and even the correct terms to use.  They may truly not know what they have or how to gather that information.

Taking a queue from Roadhouse, BE POLITE!

Don't be condescending, ask questions and give information that could help them discover the answers.

Be patient.

Don't disparage someone because they bought used of eBay.

Be concise, don't overload and keyboard vomit every possibility under the sun.  I see posts which give newcomers information overload and go into way too much detail.  This only adds confusion and frustration.

I wouldn't expect everyone to see this but if they do it helps them help us.  I think most of us are a good group of folks ready and eager to help.  Most are polite and do our best to get the information to give a good answer but your points are well taken.

@KOOLjock1 posted:

I'd like to add: learn before you buy.  There's a guy on YouTube who reviewed a #145 Gateman and was very upset that the man wasn't scale.  He's only been in constant production since the mid 1930's... a little research before clicking the "BUY NOW" button would've helped.

Also, read the instructions before you post.

Jon

Same guy who posted here about the same topic a month or so ago?

This seems like it could be timely as we get our trains out for the holidays.  Please read the entire thread.  Both those asking for help and those trying to help.

I personally think that some of the posts with minimal information are done by people typing it into their cell phones.  I'll bet some of them even have non-smart phones where they have to press, say, the number '2' three times to bring up the letter 'c'.  I say this because my sister-in-law still has that, and I sometimes get asked by my wife to translate a cryptic text from her.

@texgeekboy posted:

I personally think that some of the posts with minimal information are done by people typing it into their cell phones.

You may be right, I don't do forums with my cell phone, I sit at a real keyboard with multiple monitors, it's much easier to type a real post this way.

I think this is a great post, maybe we could get Allen to pin it?

@gunrunnerjohn,

Yep, I may sometimes type it in on my iPad, but the iPhone drives me nuts.  My fingers are too big!

I just want to add for people new to the hobby: 

#2 Item Number is the product number on the box, NOT the cab number of the locomotive.

If you don't have the box and don't know the product number, provide as much detail regarding the item as possible.  Road name, cab number, control type (conventional, TMCC, Legacy, Lionchief, Lionchief+, Lionchief+ 2.0, DCS, etc), rough time frame it was produced, etc.

Many manufacturers have produced the same cab numbers in many variations.

@PSM posted:

I just want to add for people new to the hobby:

#2 Item Number is the product number on the box, NOT the cab number of the locomotive.

If you don't have the box and don't know the product number, provide as much detail regarding the item as possible.  Road name, cab number, control type (conventional, TMCC, Legacy, Lionchief, Lionchief+, Lionchief+ 2.0, DCS, etc), rough time frame it was produced, etc.

Many manufacturers have produced the same cab numbers in many variations.

Thanks I updated the original post.

@MartyE, great thread, great timing, and everything has already been said, my ad is he was a great ambassador of this wonderful hobby. He is missed. Happy Railroading Everyone

I sure miss having him on here. Nick

I hear Marty’s words every time something goes wrong with an engine and how to diagnose the problem. He is sorely missed by us all.