Why can't I post to or see certain forums or threads here?

[Dave V]

That one belongs in the trash I think...

[peteski]

That one belongs in the trash I think...

I wouldn't shed a tear over that.

[DeltaBravo]

The moving of threads to the crew lounge and then making the crew lounge off limits is not cool. I was following several threads I no longer have access to. This is very discouraging to folks like myself, who read a lot but don't comment often.

[Dave V]

The moving of threads to the crew lounge and then making the crew lounge off limits is not cool. I was following several threads I no longer have access to. This is very discouraging to folks like myself, who read a lot but don't comment often.

Well honestly, we would prefer people contribute rather than just read...  Otherwise it's a take and take versus a give and take relationship.  We try not to move threads to restricted boards when newer members are participating but sometimes it becomes necessary because of drift.

Remember that the Crew Lounge is not part of our "outward facing" existence...and we want to keep it that way.  It's the place for all the non-railroad or off-color banter that we reserve for active members.

I can understand being a passive member of a forum.  I'm mostly a lurker over on a large scale forum.  I've posted a few threads but I wouldn't call myself active.  Because of that I don't feel entitled to tell them how to organize or run it.

YMMV.

[Ron McF]

Because of that I don't feel entitled to tell them how to organize or run it.

Nobody disputes that the administrators alone have the right to decide how a forum will be run.

However, locking interesting and/or informative threads away where newbies cannot read them does nothing to encourage them to stay, much less contribute to the discussion.  Take a look at pretty much any thread here and you'll see that almost every post comes from someone with several thousand posts, with few (if any) comments from people with under 100, or even 1000 posts. Then do the same with any other MR forum.

But it's your forum, and if you guys want to exclude the folk who might otherwise look to you for help and guidance then that (as I've said) is your right.  Fortunately, almost everything worth reading here is also available elsewhere.

Ron McF   

[tom mann]

Ron,

You're over thinking this.  All we're doing is asking folks to post 25 times before they gain access to the whole forum.  Why?  Because in the past, there have been junk users who sign up just to:

1.  Try to get access to user emails.
2.  Try to scam people out in sales/trades.
3.  Try to start trouble because they see something that they don't like.

So the 25 post gate is necessary to filter out people who are only here to cause trouble.  Yes, the unintended consequence is some good people with <25 posts might not see some threads, but making 25 posts isn't too much to ask, right? 

[Ron McF]

but making 25 posts isn't too much to ask, right?

Not at all ... so long as you don't mind folks making a bunch of junk posts, just to get their count up. (Which was the point I made in the first place.)

[Dave V]

Not at all ... so long as you don't mind folks making a bunch of junk posts, just to get their count up. (Which was the point I made in the first place.)

As was mentioned elsewhere, this strawman argument tends not to be the case in reality.  We've very rarely had anyone do this just to see the Crew Lounge.

In general, though, I guess I have to ask (in the spirit of being honest and open)...  What does the forum gain by going out of its way to cater to lurkers?  You're absolutely right that most of the posts are made by those of us with post counts in the thousands.  Shall we assume, then, that this activity is what attracts new members?  We would like to attract members who can contribute to this activity with new ideas, new modeling, new layouts, etc.

I'm not bashing lurking; I do it myself.  But a forum has no incentive to actively recruit and cater to lurkers as they don't add to to the improvement of the forum body.  Rather we have every reason to recruit active folks--both who model and who want to share their modeling.

[eric220]

Not at all ... so long as you don't mind folks making a bunch of junk posts, just to get their count up. (Which was the point I made in the first place.)

Hey, three more posts and you're in!

[peteski]

Hey, three more posts and you're in!

That's what I was thinking too.

[tom mann]

so long as you don't mind folks making a bunch of junk posts, just to get their count up.

Actually I see junk posts all the time, even from those of us who have 1000s of posts.

But "filler posts" to get to 25 doesn't really happen.  Only once I can think of.

[EspeeGoldenState]

Honestly that 25 posts was a struggle for me as this board seems more N scale oriented for the most part, and being primarily HO with N being a secondary it was a little tough at times to even post relevant stuff, was easier to be a lurker most of the time.

Chris

[Ian MacMillan]

Honestly that 25 posts was a struggle for me as this board seems more N scale oriented for the most part, and being primarily HO with N being a secondary it was a little tough at times to even post relevant stuff, was easier to be a lurker most of the time.

Chris

Yes that would be true. But, TRW is generally an N forum and known as such. I'm trying to build a larger HO contribution but it's gonna be hard.

[peteski]

I'm trying to build a larger HO contribution but it's gonna be hard.

Banish the thought!  I think we should rename this forum "The Rail-N-wire". 

[nscaler711]

I must be purty special cause at the time of this post I have 15 posts and the trading post popped up and I can see it.
Either that or someone knows me from other forums...
Now does that 25 post count affect editing profiles to? I would love to add a signature and avatar! :p