Alan,
You left out a category: "I do not care." 
Anyway, if I voted (I do not remember now), I probably voted "yes" as I realized that I do not have to read it but others might like to read/post in it.
I want thank you for giving the form members the opportunity to vote on the issue.
Somehow I missed the survey but I am glad of the outcome. I also would have voted No. I read this forum because of an interest in O Gauge trains and to get away from stuff like politics. I never could understand why people constantly rant about politics like they do on Facebook. I definitely didn’t want that stuff here. That’s why I read this forum MUCH more than Facebook. Thank you Alan.
I missed the survey as well but I'm pleased with the outcome. Roo.
Hudson J1e posted:Somehow I missed the survey but I am glad of the outcome. I also would have voted No. I read this forum because of an interest in O Gauge trains and to get away from stuff like politics. I never could understand why people constantly rant about politics like they do on Facebook. I definitely didn’t want that stuff here. That’s why I read this forum MUCH more than Facebook. Thank you Alan.
I did reply in the negative, but aside from that, the above pretty much sums it up.
I voted in the negative as well. I think we can all discuss the positives and more importantly the negatives and issues without personal attacks and ignorant comments. Some of the best results comes out of those conversations where we check the emotions at the door and intelligently discuss the issues.
Besides most of the forums I see with less moderation are usually gripping about other forums.
I come to this forum for train info and related items, I go to the other forums if I want to shoot the breeze, I also learn from some of there topics.
With that said I personally feel ( and don't even read ) titles like how many have such and such engine or car. ( usually to me it's just to brag they bought a $1500 - and up engine. ) Is a form of the BAM even thou it's train related.
Now ones like check out my layout or is anybody else having this problem with such and such engine/car Is interesting to me, as it can tell me of possible problems with that production.
"To brag what they bought" like Bill said just above: one of the reasons that made me leaving a french forum!
That's why I also went on the OGR because US trains were not welcome for some people!
To have an open thread to discuss about all and nothing: inevitably it will turn into politic; the best way to make a mess (foutre le bordel in French!!!) inside the forum.
Just an "other side of the pond" opinion!
jpv in France
CTT, Model Railroader, and Model Train Journal all have off topic threads. CTT and MR start a new one each month. Politics and religion are strictly forbidden. They allow you to sort of form ideas what different people are like. People tell of things going on in their life.
The What did you do on your layout today is up to 597 pages.
Thank you Alan for being open minded to provide the opportunity for Forum members to vote on this idea. I am here for trains and good fellowship with others. I find open forums can provide for a free exchange of ideas, but most often some folks get mad at each other. There are other places for that, which I do participate in from time to time with people I know.
If I want to discuss something else I will go to another form for that purpose I want to discuss trains here and this forum as plenty of information here let's not fog that up with other BS
"I want to discuss trains here and this forum as plenty of information here let's not fog that up with other BS"
Precisely.
OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:Aldovar posted:I didn't vote either way as I get enough of other nonsense elsewhere but didn't want to impede on anyone else since I wouldn't have participated in the OT stuff.. That said...
I wouldn't mind the other side of it. I've gotten way more than 12 dollars worth of enjoyment and knowledge out of this place. If you offered the 12 dollar "Premium" forum subscription with some of the other discounts and things that you were planning... I bet there would be a fair amount of people who would pay it. Maybe even give them another forum tag like you for digital subscription.
I blow 12 dollars on a lot of things that don't give me near the amount of return that this forum has.Thanks so much for this particular comment as I've had some private emails sent to me about offering a "premium" forum subscription. Some years ago when it became apparent that the forum was costing OGR a good chunk of change, there was a proposal to charge a membership fee. While I was not a member back then, I have heard that the membership made it clear that they would not pay that fee. I was given the impression that perhaps the membership thought we were just trying to fill our pockets. It seems that a few dollars per year was asking too much? I don't know. Anyway, we had to do something because the costs did not justify keeping the forum. In comes this guy about 5 years ago who asked advertisers to use the traffic here to help both their sales and support the costs of the forum. I promise you...I know the numbers and subscription income is not enough to keep the forum going so whenever you can do business with a forum sponsor, please consider doing so....everyone benefits. Now, to be honest, we still don't cover all the costs of this forum through ads but it is much better than it used to be.
If you added an option to purchase a premium forum membership along with being a digital subscriber , I would do so.
I voted NO and I think trump train sumed it up “we are guess here” thank you for letting us vote. I don’t have Facebook or any other nonsense forums that stuff is not for me. This forum is about Trains and like what Mark Boyce said “ to fellowship with other members” and we need to support each other in our Train Hobbies of all kinds. this past year has been the most fun I’ve had on this site. Thanks for not turning it into a “pay to rant forum” Lee D.
I've been a moderator on a couple of car forums for about 15 years. On both of them we have a lounge section which is an open forum. Years ago we banned all religious and political topics and it was the correct thing to do. Those topics always and I do mean always end up with bickering. People get insulted and those feelings end up spilling over into other sections of the forum. The lounge is the area that ends up requiring the most moderator interference. We tried an unmoderated section for a while and it was a disaster. I for one see no need for a lounge style area here.
Fred, I believe what you say. As hard as I try to forget it, if I see someone has a very different view on politics especially, but also religion, I still remember when we are talking trains. If I had been in a typing disagreement with that person on those issues, I hate to think it, but I may type something I would wish I could take back on a train topic.
There is a train forum I view and post on occasionally that has a “any Topic” sub forum. I never go there because I see how feelings spill over onto the train topics.
I might add, I am an admin on a couple Train groups as well. In the rules they state, no religion or politics. When someone even unwittingly brings up one of those topics, someone will counter and it can get ugly quickly. Fortunately 99.9% of the time members adhear to the rules. If we had a sub forum for anything goes, I’m sure it would spill over into trains!
i admire the great job our moderators do here! This is by far the best place to be for trains that I have seen, no matter what scale or Gauge the other forums specialize on!!!!!!
Mark/Fred, it doesn't even have to get to the discussion/argument stage for things to go south. I managed a thread on a TV forum where one member said he wasn't sure he could trust my technical expertise because of my political leaning. I don't remember how the subject came up, but just the fact that we differed in politics was enough for him to discount my expertise. And this was after we'd had more than a year long association prior. It's ridiculous how people can't agree to disagree and not let it affect every aspect of their relationships. I've had some very good online discussions with folks over the years, but for some reason, they always eventually went south. Heck, I've seen some people here get irate when discussing pros and cons of SCARM vs RR-Track software, so I'm in the camp that says an open forum is not needed here. 
Dave, I believe your story for sure. I have seen that kind of thing before. Nothing you say about anything could be right, even though there is evidence from the past where you are an expert on the topic. I've run into people who have done just that. And yes, I have seen the SCARM vs RR-Track 'discussions'. In fact, a fellow condemned SCARM as not as accurate as RR-Track privately to me and redid the plan you did for me in RR-Track. I appreciate what he did. I'm not as accurate as either program, so either will work just fine for me!
Message to RR-Track and SCARM enthusiasts, I appreciate that it works for you. I'm not saying one is better than another. I'm with all of you in both camps! 
Mark, if you have the RR-Track file, I'd sure like to take a look at it. I've yet to find where the 2 programs didn't agree, except for known errors that were quickly fixed, so I'm really curious. I didn't take the time to convert your layout to RR-Track because I knew you'd be making adjustments/changes as you build. I also haven't heard of a design from either program that couldn't be built as shown, so you have peaked my interest.
Dave, He only sent me a capture so far. I'll get a file from him and continue this conversation via email.
Thank you!
Mark, you don't need to go through any trouble or if he doesn't want to share, I'm just curious is all.
Dave, I got you! Yes, I didn't really question him for it at the time.
fredswain posted:I've been a moderator on a couple of car forums for about 15 years. On both of them we have a lounge section which is an open forum. Years ago we banned all religious and political topics and it was the correct thing to do. Those topics always and I do mean always end up with bickering. People get insulted and those feelings end up spilling over into other sections of the forum. The lounge is the area that ends up requiring the most moderator interference. We tried an unmoderated section for a while and it was a disaster. I for one see no need for a lounge style area here.
I have been on and moderated forums, this is the only way OT forums can work. As such, I didn't care one way or the other whether OGR included one, as if they did I wasn't going to pay extra for it, and if they didn't, it changes nothing for me.
There are several on here who constantly feel the need to put their political spin on everything, always the same few. I am good with the rules on the forums and especially the FS forums as is, as long as they're applied equally. There was a time it seemed some prominent members were allowed to ignore the rules on the FS forum with impunity, that time has since passed and it seems pretty evenly applied now.
I hope your right Tex.
Personally I would like the For Sale Forum to disappear. It's interfering with the outstanding knowledge and assistance that this forum provides and has since I been an avid reader.
So many individuals put information and assist us that this FS stuff seems to be interfering with the more important objective of OGR. IMHO
EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE, and SHARING that with the rest of us.
I'll get heat but that's fine. It's just my simple observation lately. E-bay and all the rest of those sites are for that.
A maybe solution : Post a I want with no responses allowed.
If you have it and want to correspond e mail them and tell what ya got.
Larry
Just a thought.
I'd miss the FS section. It has often brought something "new" to my attention.
I think the inability to ask questions detracts from some info being easily accessed, but I "get it".
I honestly think a required beginning of each FS post with "FS","TRD",or"WNTD" would help shrug off the dissapointment of opening a thread in the assumption of a topic, but finding it's an ad in reality.
And I bet that is what annoys most folk; misleading FS titles. As much as it interests me to see some folk's advertising prowess, it can be more annoying than interesting when it becomes obvious it's deceitful on purpose to mirror a recent thread.
E.g. post "Lionel 6-xxxxxx" and folks may think you want help, or posted a video on it, or can't load a feature etc..I.e. there is no way to avoid the FS section without reading all the sections seprately.... unless they are manually marked "FS" (etc) by the poster . Even if it didn't allow additional postings, it would still pull one of the thorns from these folk's soles.... souls?
The FS, trade, and wanted ad can actually be a source for learning option and feature differences between versions when multiple versions are available. I wish we could figure out a way to have the best of both worlds.
My bottom line on this is pretty simple-minded. I voted in the positive. The survey was so open-ended that I wasn't actually sure what was being asked! But my feeling was and is that if this new sub-group would help OGR and OGR Forum, then I am FOR it. If not, then no--why bother.
This hobby is really making my retirement more enjoyable. I'd like to see it thrive. But trying out new things, which might be the key to growth and thriving, doesn;t seem very popular. I just don't get it.
Don Merz
Hallelujah! Another victory for train sanity!!
Now we can all get back to our joy inspiring addiction!!
I for one would not mind paying a few bucks a years for a premium forum membership. I use this forum a ton and nothing in life is free.
