I see SIRT hasn't visited the forum since July. Has anyone heard from Steve?
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Unfortunately Steve is no longer posting on the forum he is just fine and posts on ogauge blogs on Facebook. He is building a great new layout on his Florida home. Here is some of his fine work recently below.
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Thanks Don. That's a shame. His work as seen in those pictures was fabulous. I hope he enjoys his new layout. I miss his posts.
I also miss seeing the posts of hiss amazing RR craftmanship. Hopefully he will return soon!
I wonder if his departure was voluntary?
IIRC he had mentioned once that he wouldn't be posting here too often.
Too bad because he does some of the best 3 rail work I've seen.
Bob
I took a year or so hiatus and I've noticed drastic change in this forum's content. People arent posting Halloween pics, thanksgiving, and I haven't seen any Christmas layouts yet. I was just thinking there's a decline in interest.
Funny, I was just thinking about Steve earlier and thinking about posting a question about him - thanks Coach Joe.
There are quite a few members who seem to have dropped off this past year. Any way of finding out if they are ok or perhaps have passed? Many of us are getting older these days...
@gunrunnerjohn posted:I wonder if his departure was voluntary?
I believe it was. He had posted about his disatisfaction with some OGR forum policies, the details of which I'm not familiar with.
@chinatrain99 posted:I took a year or so hiatus and I've noticed drastic change in this forum's content. People arent posting Halloween pics, thanksgiving, and I haven't seen any Christmas layouts yet. I was just thinking there's a decline in interest.
I don't think there's been a decline in interest. Some things just transform over time. I never cared about Halloween or Thanksgiving layout pics. But recently, the Christmas/Winter Trains & Layouts - Lets See Yours thread from 11/16/21 was revived by Oscale Trains Lover on 11/19/23. Quite a number of posters responded with some nice Christmas layout/winter photos. The last post on this thread was yesterday.
So on this dynamic forum with many participants, don't blink, or you'll miss something. 
I miss Steve's posts as well. Love seeing all the weathered items he has.
Brad
Add me to the list of guys who miss seeing Steve’s fantastic work on the forum.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:I wonder if his departure was voluntary?
I would think so. His profile is still active.
Brad
Speaking as a general observation:
IF one is not pleased with the house rules and/or moderation at a forum/group/etc, then the thing to do is what Steve has done: Quietly leave.
This isn't an airport where your departure needs to be announced.
SO... if any of you get your panties in a wad about how this forum is run, or is not run... just leave. OGR and the forums will be fine.
Oddly, I have have found that if I comply with the requirements as well as treat others with respect, there's no issues whatsoever. Further, those times I've goofed it and posted a pic I didn't realize was still under copyright, once moderated (i.e. moderator removed the pic from my post and advised of the issue) I apologize and try to go forward being more aware of copyright. No big deal.
Andre
@laming posted:Speaking as a general observation:
IF one is not pleased with the house rules and/or moderation at a forum/group/etc, then the thing to do is what Steve has done: Quietly leave.
This isn't an airport where your departure needs to be announced.
Andre
I wish more folks had your reasoned and entirely reasonable attitude about forum/group membership, Andre.
@chinatrain99 posted:I took a year or so hiatus and I've noticed drastic change in this forum's content. People arent posting Halloween pics, thanksgiving, and I haven't seen any Christmas layouts yet. I was just thinking there's a decline in interest.
Have you looked in the other forums? Not everything goes in the 3-rail traditional forum, and that includes the stuff you mentioned. Try this one:
Recently I have had two posts moved to other sub forums. My first thought was "Why" , second was " I didn't even know that forum existed ". But hey it doesn't mean any difference in the end, the information is still there
@Jim R. posted:Have you looked in the other forums? Not everything goes in the 3-rail traditional forum, and that includes the stuff you mentioned. Try this one:
@Allan Miller posted:I wish more folks had your reasoned and entirely reasonable attitude about forum/group membership, Andre.
Thank you Allan.
It is said that being old and wise starts with being young and stupid.
I've got the "old" part covered in spades. I'm still hoping to attain that "wise" part.
Andre
@cbojanower posted:Recently I have had two posts moved to other sub forums. My first thought was "Why" , second was " I didn't even know that forum existed ". But hey it doesn't mean any difference in the end, the information is still there
The OGR Forum has become more fragmented as focused sub-forums are added. Mostly this is good - more precise - but, like most things, it has a down side: things get past me now that I might have spotted on a general Forum in the past, and I forget to - or don't want to - dive deeper. But, it's still a good deal. The rules about posting "other's" photos has reduced the usefulness of the OGR Forum for me somewhat as a source of data about prototypes and modeling them, but I do understand it - don't like it, but I understand it.
I believe that the "post content" shift is mostly a reflection of the general age and interests shift in the hobby as a whole, rather than a sign of deterioration. There is literally a different population of posters than there were when I joined the Forum 13 years ago.
@laming posted:Speaking as a general observation:
IF one is not pleased with the house rules and/or moderation at a forum/group/etc, then the thing to do is what Steve has done: Quietly leave.
This isn't an airport where your departure needs to be announced.
SO... if any of you get your panties in a wad about how this forum is run, or is not run... just leave. OGR and the forums will be fine.
Oddly, I have have found that if I comply with the requirements as well as treat others with respect, there's no issues whatsoever. Further, those times I've goofed it and posted a pic I didn't realize was still under copyright, once moderated (i.e. moderator removed the pic from my post and advised of the issue) I apologize and try to go forward being more aware of copyright. No big deal.
Andre
Well said. I recently visited another model train site that is not so tightly moderated - the off-topic and snarky comments refreshed my appreciation of the hard work that @OGR CEO-PUBLISHER and the other moderators (whoever they might be) do.
Also, it amuses me when folks ask about a forum member without flagging that person's user name. If you type an @ followed by the user name, that person will probably get an email, so they can react (or not) as they choose.
This is OGRs Forum. It is not our Forum. They own the stadium, the playing field the bats and the balls.
They allow us to play here. For legal and business reasons they make and enforce the rules.
So if you don't like it you are free to play elsewhere.
But I do like so I play here!
@D500 posted:The OGR Forum has become more fragmented as focused sub-forums are added. Mostly this is good - more precise - but, like most things, it has a down side: things get past me now that I might have spotted on a general Forum in the past, and I forget to - or don't want to - dive deeper. But, it's still a good deal. The rules about posting "other's" photos has reduced the usefulness of the OGR Forum for me somewhat as a source of data about prototypes and modeling them, but I do understand it - don't like it, but I understand it.
I believe that the "post content" shift is mostly a reflection of the general age and interests shift in the hobby as a whole, rather than a sign of deterioration. There is literally a different population of posters than there were when I joined the Forum 13 years ago.
I also don't like OGR having to adjust its posting copyrighted photos policy. We are a small company and the last copyright lawsuit took us months to recover from financially. If folks will just take more of their own pictures and post them AND post links to pictures they don't have permission from the owner to post, folks can click on the links to get the data they need.
@Mallard4468 posted:Well said. I recently visited another model train site that is not so tightly moderated - the off-topic and snarky comments refreshed my appreciation of the hard work that @OGR CEO-PUBLISHER and the other moderators (whoever they might be) do.
Also, it amuses me when folks ask about a forum member without flagging that person's user name. If you type an @ followed by the user name, that person will probably get an email, so they can react (or not) as they choose.
Thank you!!!!!!
@AlanRail posted:This is OGRs Forum. It is not our Forum. They own the stadium, the playing field the bats and the balls.
They allow us to play here. For legal and business reasons they make and enforce the rules.
So if you don't like it you are free to play elsewhere.
But I do like so I play here!
Let me add to Alan's comment. This forum exists because of the membership even though OGR "owns" it. We realize that without you there would be no OGR forum. BUT...since we bare the responsibility both legally and business wise, we have to have rules. None of us want rules but without rules, well....you know what happens. AND...yes, moderation on this forum is a lot of times "heavy" but because regardless of those folks that look at our moderation in a negative way, we do our best to keep the forum as civil as possible and avoid possible legal situations. So far we have been able to be successful WITH YOUR HELP! To those that feel this forum is shrinking or dying, that just "ain't" the case. We had 2 million more pages views this past November than a year ago and December so far is trending toward a record high. Costs keep going up and are at a record high each month! (bad and a problem) That will be an issue that will need to be addressed in the coming months and/or years but that is a different topic for another time...stay tuned.
Finally, I am closing this thread because even though I agree with all of you about Steve's work...it is top notch, however Steve had been working up for some time to leave the forum. The conversation that Steve and I had about this is private and I would not think of sharing it because frankly folks should trust others to keep conversations between themselves unless both parties agree otherwise...and even at that I likely would not comment on the details. Lets just say that as we had to changes certain policies and procedures on the forum, some folks were not comfortable with that. Sometimes it is more complicated.
