Why not add a new open category that the moderators can classify for uninitiated members? The objective would be to have nothing in the open category after it has been moved to the appropriate forum.
@CBQ_Bill posted:I have been an OGR Magazine subscriber for over 25 years and an OGR forum member from the its inception. I plan to become a supporting member soon.
I really hope that you will not delete my threads if I mistakenly post them in an "wrong" sub-forum.
However, I will only make this time investment if my posts will be saved. This time investment is unreasonable if my posts are subject to arbitrary deletion due to my posting them in the "wrong" sub-forum.Please advise. Thanks in advance.
So this forum should be all about you, and not any inconvenience to the moderators, who provide this service without any contribution from 95% of its members.
Unfortunately for all involved this stinks. It stinks for those posting that have every intention of putting a post in the correct section and either inadvertently put it in the wrong section or put it in the section that doesn't best fit it's subject matter and gets deleted.
It stinks for us as forum users because I feel this could drive away some potentially great posts for fear of a thread being deleted because of the above. What if I put all this work into a post and zap it's gone and especially when there are useful replies that may help everyone that become collateral damage. It's always bad when folks get frustrated.
It stinks for the OGR folks who have to make this determination and try to figure out what belongs where and then hear about it if it is deleted for not being in the proper area. They also have to take a tremendous amount of time to do this. I'm not sure how many moderators there are for OGR but I'm betting it's not many and with the amount of traffic here it can't be easy. I'm sure this also takes away from the time needed to focus on other aspects of the OGR business.
It's really a no win situation for most involved. There are a few I see happy over this decision and ironically they are some of the folks that never go out on that limb to start a thread but are the first to point out that the thread is in the wrong section with a judgmental post rather than just using the "Alert Button" and letting the forum administrators deal with it.
My suggestion is to really pay attention to where you are posting. If it is a large post, create it in a word type doc so if it is deleted you can re-post to the proper section without losing everything.
My suggestion is to really pay attention to where you are posting
We have a winner! I’m with you, Marty.
"This is the largest, best and most viewed O Gauge Train Forum on the internet!"
"Uh Oh! This is the largest, most unmanageable O Gauge Train forum on the internet!"
Maybe it's time for those "one liner" descriptions that show up from the main directory pages to be revisited and /or enhanced a little? I was surprised at the one mention above of not knowing what HONGZ meant. But I guess if you were not active on the forum at the moment it was started (and was possibly a sticky thread, I don't recall), it has no description whatsoever under it right now.
Even 3 Rail Scale, the description simply restates the title and uses the 3RS acronym, without saying what it actually is defined as!
-Dave
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@Dave45681 posted:"This is the largest, best and most viewed O Gauge Train Forum on the internet!"
"Uh Oh! This is the largest, most unmanageable O Gauge Train forum on the internet!"
Even 3 Rail Scale, the description simply restates the title and uses the 3RS acronym, without saying what it actually is defined as!
-Dave
On the 3-Rail Scale Forum, there is a "sticky" titled "What is 3-Rail Scale", with 4 pages of discussion. Should be plain enough for any new person visiting that forum.
OK....my attention has been called to this thread and I have read (and deleted) all of the posts so far. Here is my take: I understand the frustration of all of the different categories. Note that the current staff of OGR inherited the forum format some of which can't be changed because it is baked into the software. I am not so sure we need so many categories but I can tell you that the history of how all of them came to be is because so many folks on this forum requested to have a specific category that could easily be found through searches without having to search through a category that had dozens of unrelated topics. I think the intent of my moderator that started this post was to call member's attention to the problem and it certainly worked! I am thinking (and agree with some of you) that perhaps a re-evaluation of the categories needs to take place IF in fact the software allows us to do so without great expense to OGR. If nothing else, perhaps a more precise definition of each category is in order ... but it seems that some of the categories already have definitions and folks just don't read those definitions! I think this is going to take an effort on both sides to make it work the way it is intended. The forum has become a place where folks come, even if they are not members, to do research and that research is much easier when one does not have to wade through a category that is littered with hundreds if not thousands of threads that have little in common with the subject matter of that category. For now, just do your best and I will make sure that we consider moving a thread first before deleting it. All that we ask is for you to try a little more to place your threads and posts in the most logical area. By the way, sponsors are allowed to post in any category other than the for sale/trade. This is part of their agreement with us in exchange for their paid advertising. Their main goal is to promote their products and services and so limiting them to one category on the forum defeats the purpose. Hopefully you understand.
Thanks to everyone!
Alan
