TCA DIRECTERY OF INFORMATION, R.I.P.

I think an online directory would be really nice. I would enjoy knowing if there are other members in the area. I mean it has to exist in their files already, right?

I thought the TCA directory was in the members only section and it is still there as of one minute ago

Tom

TCA 86-23972

Well I know there were a number of reason they stopped printing it

 

1) Cost

2) People freaking when they showed up on eBay etc

3) Many folks saying "I really don't need one"

 

I would like the online one, but I can hear the concerns about hackers getting the entire directory and TCA not really having the security knowledge to protect it and how those roving gangs of train thieves would be getting the guide to know who to rob

The TCA membership directory is available on their website.  Just go to the members pull down located on the top border and select "members only information".

 

It will take you here:

http://tcamembers.org/membership/membersgateway.htm

 

Log in (or create your account) and you can then select the directory and view alphabetical or geographical after you enter the site provided directory password.

 

I understand and agree that the printed version's days have passed.  However, I still have my copy of the last printed version.  Sometimes it's faster to pick up the book and look up a member by name/region/number than it is to go online, log in, and search.

No question about it that the printed version, no matter how convenient it was to have and use, became simply too costly to produce.

 

I have not tried to access the online version, but will register and do so--possibly as early as this evening--and let you know what I think of it in terms of ease-of-access, etc.

Well one problem I see already is that the link to the members list doesn't look like it's secure using encryption (SSL).  The indicator is that it is using http: instead of https:  (the "s" indicates a secure encrypted page).  Ditto for the link to create your login account.

 

That's not helping to safeguard from someone hacking into that site to harvest all the membership info there your nor your account details.

John is right!  I just noticed that myself.  I did not register and will not do so on a site that is not properly secured.  The Internet is risky enough as it is.

Plus, I feel with the 2 signature rule gone I am very Leary about transactions and the such now. Don't get me wrong even with the 2 signature rule you had to be careful, but now there is no effort on someone's part to get into t.c.a. whereas before it was like someone was vouching for you and Mabey in some way that helped the integrity level a little.

They still have the probationary period.

 

The 2-signature rule had two problems with it as I saw it:

 

One, it's been noted that TCA members would just haphazardly sign for anybody that handed an application form to them without really taking the time to know the person anyway, and two, it created a burden for those that live in rural/remote areas where finding anybody local to sign for them was next to impossible.

 

So it seems that the TCA 2-signature rule was well-intended but really amounted to being as effective as placing gauze in front of a runaway semi truck, to paraphrase Robin Williams.

I too miss the paper directory, but it did become a very significant expense for the TCA at a time of declining membership. I only hope the online directory becomes a secure site.

As an aside, the TCA membership voted to eliminate the two signature rule and so be it. It seems to me that the entire vetting process for TCA membership had been gradually diluted in the past decade or so with membership applications (with two signatures already in place) being handed out freely at York. Personally i will no longer accept personal checks from TCA members with membership numbers later than the year 2000.

I only hope the two signature elimination has the desired effect of increasing membership. But again my personal feeling is that i would hope the TCA could get its financial house in order, and then restructure to become a viable organization with 20,000 or fewer loyal and active members, rather than a struggling one needing 30,000+ members.

jackson

TCA 82-21538

Well, the two-signature rule--which I always favored and still do favor--went away primarily because a small number of members violated both the purpose and intent of that rule.  A real shame in my opinion.

 

As for those who claim that they live in remote areas where they couldn't get together with a couple of sponsors, there were other courses available that could be followed to gain membership (initially contacting division officers for that particular region, for example).

 

But that signature rule is gone now.  I'm quite confident that its elimination will not do anything, over the long run, to either boost membership or to enhance the quality of the membership ranks.  There was, indeed, a certain sense of "security" that one had in dealing with fellow members in earlier years.  That, too, is now gone unless you are dealing with one of the longer-term members.

 

ALL of the national train clubs have membership retention concerns.  It was an inevitable development that could be easily seen by anyone who had been associated with the hobby for a period of time.  If club officers had only had the foresight to see the writing on the wall back in the latter years of the previous century, it might have been avoided or at least significantly mitigated.  At this point, they will have to be very creative in coming up with innovative ways to hold onto what they already have, let alone grow (the LCCA is at least most definitely trying).  I offered a suggestion or two re: TCA memberships and the organization's future in the past, but that apparently fell on deaf ears.  Oh, well, that's the way the cookie crumbles!

They have a name for that, it's called "feel good" documentation.

 

I think that's a little unfair to say about newer members.  The true character of anybody reveals itself sooner or later, and everyone is new once.  You still have the probationary period to give ample time to make any objections or recommendations for removal of the applicant.

The SSL or https only encrypts the data from your computer to the server. Credit card data and the like would be easy for a hacker sitting outside your house grabbing keystrokes.
While encrypting your user name and password into their data display can be done it has nothing to do with a hack of the server itself. The http://tcabuysell.org is not running https as there is no "sensitive" information being transmitted.

The join and login for this forum is not running SSL so I'm not sure what people here are excited about.

Well today someone can join the TCA without a single member ever having  met this

person.

 

Snf should this complaint [thread] have been posted on a TCA forum?

A good point!  I hadn't check the forum it was placed on, so will move it now.

I too found the paper directory very useful.  However for everyone's FYI, the directory in it's last year of publication cost about $80,000. to print!!

 

Paul Edgar

I noticed that the member directory has password protected PDF files. Problem is with some commonly available software I was able to decrypt it and make it printable in under 5 seconds

I too found the paper directory very useful.  However for everyone's FYI, the directory in it's last year of publication cost about $80,000. to print!!

Paul,

 

I'd say the same goes for the Headquarter News: it's overloaded with unnecessary print. Compare it, for example, to the LCCA's InterTrack(/). There is a quality publication, printed on quality paper, with only interesting and pertinent information. And, as a bonus, it has a table of contents on page 2 where it belongs.

 

 

Paul Edgar

 

Now there's a publication they could do away with entirely, in my view, and save a pile of money. 

 

--Important information for members could be incorporated into an expanded Quarterly magazine and/or (depending on the type) posted online.

 

--Probationary member list info might just as well disappear altogether now that the signature rule is gone.

 

--Member classifieds can all go to the online site.

 

--Ads could be offered in the Quarterly to offset increased costs of an expanded version of that publication.

 

--Etc., etc.

 

quote:

Probationary member list info might just as well disappear altogether now that the signature rule is gone.

 

I thought that part of the justification for the elimination of the signature rule was the idea that "bad apples" would be caught in the probationary member listings.

 

That's already been happening anyway.  Do you really think there's that much of a difference between that and letting someone join that you only met for 5 minutes?

You want the page to be encrypted when logging in and accessing it.  Because the lack of it is the largest point of failure from a security perspective when accessing online resources.  Hacking into an online website is fundamentally no different than hacking into the server, because the server is hosting it.

quote:

 And, they do it on a much smaller budge...Go figure

 

The LCCA is a fine organization, as is the TCA.  As far as I know, the LCCA does not have to support a museum or library.

 

Perhaps the TCA could link up to the FBI background check info. 

I wonder how many members even take the time to briefly scan, let alone carefully review, those listings? 

Actually, John, I think there is.  Even a relatively brief face-to-face, one-on-one meeting can reveal a whole lot about an individual.  Depends on what you ask them and how they respond.